Persecution and Response in Late Paganism: The Evidence of Damascius Author(s): Polymnia Athanassiadi Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 113 (1993), pp. 1-29 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/632395 . Accessed: 01/12/2013 12:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 198.105.44.150 on Sun, 1 Dec 2013 12:02:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Journal of Hellenic Studies cxiii (1993) pp 1-29 PERSECUTIONAND RESPONSE IN LATE PAGANISM: THE EVIDENCE OF DAMASCIUS* THE theme of this paper is intolerance: its manifestation in late antiquity towards the pagans of the Eastern Mediterranean,and the immediate reactions and long-term attitudes that it provoked in them. The reasons why, in spite of copious evidence, the persecution of the traditional cults and of their adepts in the Roman empire has never been viewed as such are obvious: on the one hand no pagan church emerged out of the turmoil to canonise its dead and expound a theology of martyrdom, and on the other, whatever their conscious religious beliefs, late antique scholars in their overwhelming majority were formed in societies whose ethical foundations and logic are irreversibly Christian.