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[German Version] Roman emperor (c. 180–251 ce). After a senatorial career, Decius was chosen as (anti-)emperor in 249 at the Danube. In his efforts toward the political order and cultic unity of the empire, he issued a universal sacrificial order ( supplicatio). All citizens of the empire had to have their performance of the sacrifice officially confirmed ( libelli); the refusal of many Christians sparked a major persecution (I) (Eus. Hist. eccl. VI 41.9 f.). After fighting the Goths in the Balkans, Decius fell in 251. Johannes Hahn Bibliography R. Selinger, Die Religionspolitik des K…

[German Version] was the granddaughter of Emperor Vespasian. In 95 ce, she and her husband, T. Flavius Clemens (then consul), were charged with atheism and banished by Emperor Domitian, her uncle (Suet. Dom. 15.1; Eus. Hist. eccl. III 18.4). She donated a burial place (later called the cemetery of Domitilla, on the Via Ardeatina). It is uncertain whether she was a Christian, as claimed by Eusebius ( ibid.), or Jewish. See also exegesis: VII, fig. 1. Johannes Hahn Bibliography M. Sordi, II Cristianesimo e Roma, 1965 (Italian); ET: The Christians and the Roman Empire, 1994, 44–47.

[German Version] I. Pre-Hellenistic Period – II. Antiquity I. Pre-Hellenistic Period Gaza was considered the most important city in southwestern Palestine, with a large, fertile trading area on the highway from Egypt to Syria, the destination point of the Frankincense Road from Arabia to the ¶ Mediterranean. It has been almost continuously inhabited since the second half of the 2nd century bce. The history of Gaza began, according to the evidence of its name (Canaanite ‘azzat, Heb. ‘azzāh, “strengthened, fortified”), toward the end of the Middle Bronze Age with the est…

[German Version] The “Constantinian turn” in 312 ce, after which Christianity and the church were massively promoted by the state, was not matched by a general decline of pagan (polytheistic) cults in Late Antiquity and the centuries immediately following. The 2nd and 3rd centuries had witnessed new religious developments such as the invasion of Eastern cults, worship of the sun, and the increasing popularity of oracles. Now in the 4th century, despite growing imperial pressure (conflict over the altar…

[German Version] (Athenais; died Oct 20, 460). Eudocia of Athens was the well-educated daughter of the pagan rhetorician Leontius; on Jun 6, 421, she was married to Theodosius II after being been baptized and taking the name Aelia Eudocia. A devout Christian with increasing influence on her husband, she was styled Augusta in 423. In 438 she went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With the …

[German Version] (c. 247, Thessalonica – Feb 26, 420), bishop c. 395–420, previously staurophylax in Jerusalem. His vita, preserved in divergent Greek, Syriac, and Georgian recensions (dependence unsettled, pace Peeters), is said to have been composed by his deacon Marcus, but it cannot antedate the mid-5th century. The subject of the vita, one of the most colorful pictures of the struggle between paganism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, is the work of Porphyry in Gaza: his ¶ fostering of the small Christian community, his mobilization of imperial support against the…

[German Version] Roman emperor from 306 to 312 (Marcus Valerius Maxentius; 279 – Oct 28, 312). The son of Emperor Maximianus, Maxentius was excluded from the line of succession in 305, ursurped power in Rome in 306, suspended the persecutions of Christians (I) soon thereafter, fell out with his reactivated father in 307, and allied with Constantine against Galerius; he broke with Constantine in the middle of the year 310. The conditional freedom of religion granted to the Christians by Galerius in…

[German Version] (Valerius Licinianus Licinius; c. 250, Dacia – 325, Thessalonica), Roman emperor 308–324 ce, was the son of a peasant who became the friend and staff officer of Galerius. In 308 Diocletian promoted him to the rank of Augustus of the West. Involved in the power struggles of the tetrarchy from 311 onward, Licinius adopted a friendly attitude toward the Christians (so-called Toleration Edict of Milan, Feb 313). Having become ruler of the East after checkered military campaigns, he was defeated by Constantine the Great, banished, and then executed in 325. The anti-¶ Christia…

[German Version] (Publius Licinius Valerianus; 199 – after [?] 260), Roman emperor 253–260 ce, of noble birth. After the murder of Trebonianus Gallus in Raetia in 253, Valerian was proclaimed emperor by his troops and headed to Rome, where he was proclaimed emperor by the Senate; his son Gallienus became co-regent. In August of 257, attacks in the East induced Valerian – probably adopting the policies of Decius – to proceed against the Christians (Eus. Hist. eccl. VII 10f.): ban on assembly; supplicatio by the clergy before the Roman gods on pain of banishment (Persecutions o…

[German version] The phenomenon of begging (πτωχεία, ptōcheía, Latin mendicitas, rarely mendicatio) is only sporadically documented in antiquity and hardly ever the subject of economical or social analysis. Also, as a rule, begging disappears behind an undifferentiated concept and conception of  poverty, and it is therefore only rarely possible to get a clear grasp of begging as the most bitter, and furthermore socially stigmatized, form of poverty. It is, however, obvious that contemporaries were aware of…

[German version] I. Greece No organized medical service developed in the context of Greek warfare. Alongside regular assistance to fellow soldiers, including that from warriors knowledgeable in the art of healing (an early reference in Hom. Il. 4,190-219 and 11,828-848, Machaon and Podalirius), there are sporadic references from the 5th cent. BC onwards to physicians treating the wounded, but this treatment was mainly improvised (cf. Xen. An. 3,4,30). It was rarely administered on the battlefield, b…

[German version] The term simony derives from Simon [8] Magus, who tried to buy from the Apostles the miraculous power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8,18-25), and correspondingly describes the illicit trade in clerical titles and particularly material benefits in the purchase of benedictions and offices. Corresponding practices, together with resistance to them within the Church, can be observed from the beginning of the 4th cent. (AD 306: Synod of Elvira, canon 48 [1. 305 f.], against charges for bapti…

[German version] A. Definition Alms are gifts to the poor. Without any claim to mutuality or compensation, alms expressed mercy -- a feeling of condescending solidarity with the person in need based on compassion and a willingness to help. Thus, the prerequisite of alms was social distance and an economic gradient that demanded equalization. To that extent alms constituted an important form of money transfer between rich and poor outside the scope of governmental regulation. The term alms (from Greek ἐλεημοσύνη; eleēmosýnē, mercy, compassion) is not classical and only appear…

[German version] Originally, Christian communities met the costs for the Eucharist and their charitable activities through the voluntary gifts from their members (καρποφορίαι/ karpophoríai); these donations continued to represent one of the most important sources of income for the early Church. By the 3rd cent. AD at the latest, the communities had their own property, which might consist of liturgical objects and robes, buildings for holding services, and cemeteries (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 7,13); the legal basis for owner…

[German version] The term poverty indicates a situation in life marked by privation, often not to be improved out of one's own efforts, and comprises both descriptive analytic as well as judging and normative aspects. In spite of differences in the perception and judgment of poverty during the course of history, which were determined by their historical and cultural background, several basic observations on problems concerning poverty do also apply to pre-industrial societies and especially to Ant…

[German version] I. Definition Violence embraces a range of meanings covered by the Latin expressions imperium, potestas, potentia, vis and violentia; in Greek literature, the term ὕβρις ( hýbris) comes closest to expressing the modern concept of the use of illegitimate force. The term violence is today usually used to describe the use of physical force; relationships of violence are one-sided social relationships based on force, and not on mutuality. In the following, violence is understood in this sense, and discussed pr…

[German version] (ξενοδοχεῖον/ xenodocheîon; Lat. xenodochium). In Late Antiquity, the xenodocheion was a charitable church institution that served as a hostel and a hospital. In the xenodocheion, the Christian tradition of taking in fellow-Christian travellers without payment found an institutionalized form. Unlike the commercially run inns, xenodocheia (which were established, and often endowed as well, by bishops, monasteries and affluent Christian individuals), generally offered accommodation without charge to the needy as lodgings for p…

[English version] I. Griechenland Ein organisierter medizinischer Dienst bildete sich im griech. Kriegswesen nicht heraus. Neben regelmäßiger Kameradenhilfe, auch durch heilkundige Kämpfer (so bereits Hom. Il. 4,190-219 und 11,828-848 Machaon und Podaleirios), wird seit dem 5. Jh. v. Chr. zwar vereinzelt von der Behandlung Verwundeter durch Ärzte berichtet, doch erfolgte diese improvisiert (vgl. Xen. an. 3,4,30), zudem selten auf dem Schlachtfeld, vielmehr meist in nahegelegenen Siedlungen, und besc…

[English version] I. Definition G. umfaßt begrifflich ein Spektrum von Bedeutungen, das durch die lat. Ausdrücke imperium, potestas, potentia, vis und violentia umrissen wird; in der griech. Lit. entspricht am ehesten der Begriff ὕβρις ( hýbris) der mod. Vorstellung von illegitimer G.-Anwendung. Heute wird der Terminus G. meist zur Bezeichnung für die Anwendung physischen Zwanges verwendet; als G.-Verhältnisse gelten einseitige soziale Beziehungen, die auf Zwang, nicht auf Gegenseitigkeit beruhen. Im folgenden wird G. in diesem S…

[English version] Der Begriff S. leitet sich von Simon [8] Magus her, der den Aposteln die Wunderkraft des Hl. Geistes abkaufen wollte (Apg 8,18-25), und bezeichnet dementsprechend den unzulässigen Handel mit geistlichen Würden und bes. materielle Zuwendungen beim Erwerb von Weihen und Ämtern. Entsprechende Praktiken und zugleich der innerkirchliche Widerstand dagegen sind seit dem Beginn des 4. Jh. faßbar (306 n. Chr.: Synode von Elvira, canon 48 [1. 305 f.], gegen Entgelt für Taufe), als durch d…