A Man and His Gods
A Man and His Gods
This chapter focuses on the place traditional religion held in the lives of certain men of the fourth-century elite, not only Libanius but also his friends and acquaintances. In doing so the chapter turns to the rare instances of orthopraxis (standardized rituals and cult acts, including prayer) that occur in Libanius's work. A general sense of his everyday religious practice is missing; most of the time he appears only as an observer in religious contexts. Libanius's epistolary reveals two distinct groups of pagans: those who supported paganism with some energy and those more moderate pagans (herein referred to as “gray pagans”) for whom paganism was a way of life rather than a cause to sustain.
Keywords: traditional religion, fourth-century elite, orthopraxis, Libanius's letters, paganism, gray pagans, moderate pagans
Cornell Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
