earlier (Lane Fox 1986, 481–82)—accounts which are deeply suspect for
their mirroring of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death—sheds little light on
events a century later. At any rate, we have in the Martyrdom of Pioniusan
example of some sort of rivalry: either two-sided (Christians and pagans,
with Jews ameliorating) or three-sided (Christians and pagans, with Jews
taking advantage). The circumstances are abnormal—persecution of Chris-
tians was only sporadic—but the pattern of interaction may not have been.
DEFECTION FROM PAGANISM
Evidence for pagan defectors is harder to come by, as we might expect.
Indeed, some might say that the absence in Greco-Roman culture of the
principle of exclusive commitment or firm boundaries, such as character-
ized Jewish and Christian communities (even if the reality was somewhat
different), seems to exclude at the outset the notion of defection/apostasy.
Yet we do find examples that look very much like the phenomena we have
already surveyed in Jewish and Christian texts, some of which, interestingly,
suggest that boundaries were sometimes firmer and more exclusive than
our usual picture of laissez-fairesyncretism would lead us to expect.
One of the more interesting examples is Peregrinus, the publicity-hun-
gry philosopher lampooned by Lucian. Peregrinus late in his career took the
name “Proteus,” which Lucian sarcastically suggests was appropriate in
view of his constant transformations. According to Lucian, Peregrinus was
an adulterer and a corrupter of youth, who had to leave his homeland after
killing his father. He turned up in Palestine and joined the Christian move-
ment, where he became a renowned “prophet, cult-leader, and head of the
synagogue.” Imprisoned—by whom and for what reason is not said—his
fame increased, and many gullible Christians supported him with gifts
and money, revering him as a “new Socrates” second only to their Christ.
Running into difficulties, apparently for eating idol food, he abandoned
the Christians, went to Egypt for ascetic training, and returned to Italy a
Cynic, promoting a blend of Cynicism and popular religion. Expelled from
Italy, he ended up in Athens, where, eventually, egged on by his followers,
he publicly demonstrated his indifference to death in an act of self-immo-
lation. Soon after, an oracle and statues were erected in his memory.
We need to dig beneath Lucian’s satirical veneer, of course, but if we
accept the broad outline of his version there is little doubt that Peregrinus
was both a convert to and an apostate from Christianity. What motivated
him to join and defect was probably a lot more complex than Lucian allows
us to see. Perhaps his defection was simply a matter of unacceptable behav-
iour (consuming idol food); perhaps the gullible began to suspect his sin-
Rivalry and Defection 67