2. What were the main features of the religions of the late antique period (c.

250-800 CE) and to

what extent have they influenced modern understandings of ‘Religion’?

In this essay I will be attempting to show and explain the main features of religions in late antique
(c.250-800 CE) what even is a religion in antiquity? The terms ‘religion’ and ‘late antiquity’ seem
simple words with simple meanings however many scholars of religions would disagree such as
Thomas Hunt in his opening section in a companion to religion in late antiquity 1. He argues that
religion is the creation of the scholar in order to give meaning to the material products and
behaviours of humans and that the study of late antiquity originated in order to help understand
both the religious and political formation of Europe after the reformation. Looking at the fact that
both key words, ‘religion’ and ‘late antiquity’ originated to help scholar shows that theses terms
were not from the period, this shows us that in late antiquity there was not the same concept of
religion.

Brent Nongbri in Before Religion : A History of a Modern Concept in the section titled ‘lost in
translation2’ looks at the word religion and concludes that though words such as ‘religio’ (Latin) or
‘Dīn’ (Arabic) have come in modern day to be translated as religion and though the course of
antiquity came to be used as a sort of classification it as Nongbri says should be confused with
modern meanings of religion.” Nongbri argues this as the aspects of life which religion impacts such
as law or social order are very different to the private ideas associated with the modern underrating
of religion.

With the understanding that religion as we see it in modern day was very different to antique it is
importance to understand the context which surrounded religions. In order to see what shape
religions took. Some scholars believe that Religion in Antiquity in the context of a political unit were
something which it was used to help service an empire, city, or town though a variety of features.
Kindt3 in “polis religion” attributes the coining of the term “polis religion” to Christiane Sourvinou-
Inwood who used it to describe the “embeddedness” of Greek religion in the polis as the basic unit
of Greek social and political life. Which easily demonstrates the alignment between the religion and
the goals of an ancient state. This means that rules were used this to realise the pollical agendas of
these institutions.

There were many features which religions in antique had one of which was that they had an object
of worship. For some this was a deity. So, there was a physical or artistic representation of the god in
order for the people to turn to and express their worship to. We see in ancient Athens the colossus
statue of Athena which lived or was situated in the Parthenon. The god would have been in some
way aligned with the government or emperor in the case of the Parthenon Athena would have been
seen as vital in order to keep the polis safe. They also had a place of worship, or a physical space
such as as the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Captoime hill, Rome this is the largest
temple from antiquity this was the principle God of the roman empire though it does not still stand

1
Hunt, T.E. (2018). Religion in Late Antiquity—Late Antiquity in Religion. In A Companion to
Religion in Late Antiquity (eds J. Lössl and N.J. Baker-Brian).
2
Nongbri, B 2015, Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept, Yale University Press, New
Haven
3
Kindt, J., 2009. Polis religion–a critical appreciation. Kernos. Revue internationale et
pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique, (22), pp.9-34.
we can see artistic representations on coins from the time and this would have acted as the focal
point of worship for the romans. There was also the activity of worship cultic practices the sacrifice
of fattened animals as well as eating together however not always animals as interest in animal
sacrifice fell away around first century where other things were such as food or other items of value
were scarified. Sacrifice would have been part of daylily life, and everyone would have taken part as
it would have been seen as their duty.

Why was this all done? As people did not sacrifice time money and goods for nothing. This was done
to secure safety not just for the individual but for the whole of the polis. The individual had a duty
much like homeland security. We can see this as many gods were seen as victory deity’s and were
given higher status if they ‘helped’ win a war or a battle. The most famous example is that of the
Christian God who was patronised as a victory deity by Constantine after winning The Battle of the
Milvian Bridge and many accounts tell of Constantine seeing visions and this was also minted onto
coins.

Within late antiquity regions were mainly Civic cults where the gods worked for the state with Ritual
performances and Representations of Gods used to convince the average person. Furthermore,
religion was used heavily in warfare not only to help them win a battle with divine favour but also by
legitimised a ruler’s decision.

There is however new evidence though mostly material evidence which has added more and greater
texture to how we understand the ways that the ordinary citizen interacted with civic religions and
local expressions of cult, and this has developed to the concept of lived religion This differs from
polis as polis is religion in service to the polis, pollical unit or empire city or town. Lived is religion
apprehended by individuals in antiquity and religion as practiced by ordinary people. Lived religion
was a deeply local affair. Even though there were massive temples and grand services people went
to local temples had local priests and had local things it was a local affair. Localism was highly
important when looking at lived religion

Though the ancient world is very very different to the modern world however the human experience
is the same or similar. Just as religion was used for health and security in antiquity it is similar used in
the modern world. The idea of lived religion has always been there, but it has taken a while for it to
become meta or mainstream we can see an example of this in a lead table of curses found in Bath at
the temple of Sulis Minerva importance as bathing was Very important was a unionising of the
classes all from high to low came there and was a very social activity The tablet wises cures upon
someone who stole their clock and so went to their God not only for protection but also for
vengeance However, in the east We see that the gods here were also portioned for healing heath
and well being

When examining religions in late antiquity one interesting case study is that of Manichaeism. In the
modern-day Manichaeism is used in us politics to describe a binary political position. However, it is a
religion, or a set of religious teachings developed by Marni. Marni was a Persian Christian in 216-
276CE. Manichaeism spread from ancient Iraq-Iran to the roman world at the end of the third
century we have St Augustine who is one of the more famous coverts Mani called himself the seal of
the prophets or the last prophet He names his predecessors such as Adam, Seth, and Jesus. The seal
of the prophets is a title which has also been bestowed upon other realigns leaders such as
Muhammad. He preached a highly aesthetic form of Christianity Attributes a religious value to the
body For Marni, the body was the prison for the soul and was a vessel of evil. Followers had to purify
the body/ subjugate the evil Matter/body evil soul divine Very black and white theology. The soul is
everything, the divine spark. The context of 2 nd and 3ed c gnostic teaching

One of the substantial changes to religions were the emersion of empires not only with expiation of
territory but also with the expiation of trade. To have good trade you need good trade routes good
trade routes relay on ROADs. Religious leaders travelling along roads they facilitate missionary.
Religions who start in small communities started to spread out accidentally with the vast movement
of people Religions changed from not being aligned to a place or ethnos and became disembedded
the religions that did this best can be seen today in the modern day with Judaism Islam and
Christianity especially in the west with the spread of religious committees come with religions
meeting each other led to religious pluralism. The rise of scriptural religions was aided with roads
the movement towards canonisation.