DECIUS 1. Images of Decius1 Sources Describe The

CHAPTER SEVEN DECIUS 1. Images of Decius1 Sources describe the circumstances in which Decius attained the purple in 249 in diffferent ways. The most extensive accounts of Decius’ reign appear in Zosimus’ and Zonaras’ writings, composed respectively around 500 A.D. and in the twelfth century A.D.2 According to them, the ruling emperor Philippus Arabs had sent Decius to the Danubian legions as governor of Moesia and Pannonia in order to secure loyalty and restore discipline. After a few successes, these legions hailed Decius as emperor. Subsequently, Decius marched against Philippus Arabs and defeated him. Decius became emperor and remained so until his death in June 251 in battle against the Goths.3 He was the fĳirst ever Roman emperor who died in battle. Although Decius’ reign was short and the accounts of his rule given by the sources are fragmentary and not consistently reliable, he did not pass into oblivion. The main reason for this was an edict issued in 249, shortly after Decius’ accession to the throne, that urged all inhabitants of the Empire to sacrifĳice to the gods, eat the sacrifĳicial meat and swear that they had always sacrifĳiced.4 Unsurprisingly, this caused conflicts for the Christian minority of the population, and persecution of Christians resulted. Whether the edict, however, was targeted against Christians from the beginning is by no means clear and remains a subject of scholarly 1 On the image of the emperor Decius, see also Manders, “Communicating messages through coins”. 2 Zosimus 1.21–3 and Zonaras 12.19–20. See further Rives, “The decree of Decius and the religion of empire”, pp. 138–139. 3 Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, pp. 245–246. 4 Evidence for Decius’ decree: libelli (for the most complete collection see J.R. Knipfĳing, “The libelli of the Decian persecution”, HTR 16 (1923), pp. 345–390), writings of Cyprian (Epistulae 5–41, De Lapsis) and the letters of Dionysius of Alexandria (Eusebius, Histo- ria Ecclesiastica 6–7) as well as an account of a martyrdom in Smyrna (Passio Pionii, see H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, 1972), pp. 136–167). See Rives, “The decree of Decius and the religion of empire”, p. 136. 254 chapter seven discussion.5 Nevertheless, Decius’ decree can be seen as a turning point in how Roman authorities dealt with Christianity; ‘it is now the religious sentiment of the imperial court – rather than that of the local populace – that is to determine the well-being or otherwise of Christians’.6 Obviously, this edict provoked hostile responses from Christian writ- ers; Decius was seen as an execrabile animal and a tyrannus ferociens.7 Decius’ decree and its consequences, however, have not only been the most important points of interest in Christian writings on Decius. Most modern research on Decius also focuses on Decius’ religious policy. Whereas many scholars explain Decius’ decree by the emperor’s intended return to traditional religion,8 Rives initiated a breakthrough in this topic of research by setting Decius’ edict in the context of the restructuring of religious organization in the Roman Empire: It was in some ways the religious analogue to Caracalla’s citizenship decree: while the latter replaced the mishmash of local citizenships with a univer- sal and theoretically homogeneous citizenship, the former [Decius’ decree] summarized the huge range of local cults in a single religious act that sig- nalled membership in the Roman Empire.9 In a recent contribution to this debate Bleckmann contradicts Rives.10 That the persecutions of the Christians stopped at a certain point during Decius’ reign (mid-250) implies in Bleckmann’s view that the edict and the interrelated measures had a short-term aim, whereas the creation of an empire-wide religion would be a long-term ‘project’ covering Decius’ whole reign.11 Bleckmann prefers an alternative explanation for the issuing of the edict in December 249/January 250: after the disrupting civil war that marked the beginning of his reign, Decius was attempting to ensure the loyalty of all inhabitants of the Roman Empire.12 5 See for instance Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, p. 368 and Clarke, “Third-century Christianity”, p. 626. See above, p. 22. 6 Clarke, “Third-century Christianity”, p. 626. 7 Execrabile animal: Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 4.1. Tyrannus ferociens: Cyprian, Epistulae 55.9.2. 8 See for instance H. Pohlsander, “The religious policy of Decius”, ANRW 16.3 (1986), pp. 1826–42. 9 Rives, “The decree of Decius and the religion of empire”, p. 153. See also Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 243. For an analogue with the Constitutio Antoniniana see also Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p. 243. 10 Bleckmann, “Zu den Motiven der Christenverfolgung des Decius”, pp. 57–71. 11 Ibid., p. 62. 12 Ibid., p. 66..

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