Introduction
To
the student of the origins of Christianity there is naturally no period
in Western history of greater interest and importance than the first
century of our era; and yet how little comparatively is known about it
of a really definite and reliable nature. If it be a subject of lasting
regret that no non-Christian writer of the first century had sufficient
intuition of the future to record even a line of information concerning
the birth and growth of what was to be the religion of the Western
world, equally disappointing is it to find so little definite
information of the general social and religious conditions of the
time.The rulers and the wars of the Empire seem to have formed the chief
interest of the historiographers of the succeeding century, and even in
this department of political history, though the public acts of the
Emperors may be fairly well known, for we can check them by records and
inscriptions, when we come to their private acts and motives we find
ourselves no longer on the ground of history, but for the most part in
the atmosphere of prejudice, scandal, and speculation.The political acts
of Emperors and their officers, however can at best throw but a dim
side-light on the general social conditions of the time, while they shed
no light at all on the religious conditions, except so far as these in
any particular contacted the domain of politics.As well might we seek to
reconstruct a picture of the religious life of the time from Imperial
acts and rescripts, as endeavour to glean any idea of the intimate
religion of this country from a perusal of statute books or reports of
Parliamentary debates.The Roman histories so-called,
to which we have so far been accustomed, cannot help us in the
reconstruction of a picture of the environment into which, on the one
hand, Paul led the new faith in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome; and in
which, on the other, it already found itself in the districts bordering
on the south-east of the Mediterranean. It is only by piecing together
labouriously isolated scraps of information and fragments of
inscriptions, that we become aware of the existence of the life of a
world of religious associations and private cults which existed at this
period. Not that even so we have any very direct information of what
went on in these associations, guilds, and brotherhoods; but we have
sufficient evidence to make us keenly regret the absence of further
knowledge.Difficult as this field is to till, it is
exceedingly fertile in interest, and it is to be regretted that
comparatively so little work has as yet been done in it; and that, as is
so frequently the case, the work which has been done is, for the most
part, not accessible to the English reader. What work has been done on
this special subject may be seen from the bibliographical note appended
to this essay, in which is given a list of books and articles treating
of the religious associations among the Greeks and Romans. But if we
seek to obtain a general view of the condition of religious affairs in
the first century we find ourselves without a reliable guide; for of
works dealing with this particular subject there are few, and from them
we learn little that does not immediately concern, or is thought to
concern, Christianity; whereas, it is just the state of the
non-Christian religious world about which, in the present case, we
desire to be informed.
If, for instance, the reader
turn to works of general history, such as Merivale’s History of the
Romans under the Empire (London; last ed. 1865), he will find, it is
true, in chap iv., a description of the state of religion up to the
death of Nero, but he will be little wiser for perusing it. If he turn
to Hermann Schiller’s Geschichte der römischen Kaiserreichs unter der
Regierung des Nero (Berlin; 1872), he will find much reason for
discarding the vulgar opinions about the monstrous crimes imputed to
Nero, as indeed he might do by reading in English G H. Lewes’ article
“Was Nero a Monster?” (Cornhill Magazine; July 1863) —and he will also
find (bk IV chap III.) a general view of the religion and philosophy of
the time which is far more intelligent than that of Merivale’s; but all
is still very vague and unsatisfactory, and we feel ourselves still
outside the intimate life of the philosophers and religionists of the
first century. If, again, he turn to the latest
writers of Church history who have treated this particular question, he
will find that they are occupied entirely with the contact of the
Christian Church with the Roman Empire, and only incidentally give us
any information of the nature of which we are in search. On this special
ground C J. Neumann, in his careful study Der römische Staat und die
allgemeine Kirche bis auf Diocletian (Leipzig; 1890), is interesting;
while Prof W M. Ramsay, in The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D.
170 (London; 1893), is extraordinary, for he endeavours to interpret
Roman history by the New Testament documents, the dates of the majority
of which are so hotly disputed.But, you may say, what has all this to do
with Apollonius of Tyana? The answer is simple: Apollonius lived in the
first century; his work lay precisely among these religious
associations, colleges and guilds. A knowledge of them and their nature
would give us the natural environment of a great part of his life; and
information as to their condition in the first century would perhaps
help us the better to understand some of the reasons for the task which
he attempted.If, however, it were only the life and
endeavours of Apollonius which would be illuminated by this knowledge,
we could understand why so little effort has been spent in this
direction; for the character of the Tyanean, as we shall see, has since
the fourth century been regarded with little favour even by the few,
while the many have been taught to look upon our philosopher not only as
a charlatan, but even as an anti-Christ. But when it is just a
knowledge of these religious associations and orders which would throw a
flood of light on the earliest evolution of Christianity, not only with
regard to the Pauline communities, but also with regard to those
schools which were subsequently condemned as heretical, it is
astonishing that we have no more satisfactory work done on the subject.It
may be said, however, that this information is not forthcoming simply
because it is unprocurable. To a large extent this is true;
nevertheless, a great deal more could be done than has yet been
attempted, and the results of research in special directions and in the
byways of history could be combined, so that the non-specialist could
obtain some general idea of the religious conditions of the times, and
so be less inclined to join in the now stereotyped condemnation of all
non-Jewish or non-Christian moral and religious effort in the Roman
Empire of the first century.
But the reader may retort:
Things social and religious in those days must have been in a very
parlous state, for, as this essay shows, Apollonius himself spent the
major part of his life in trying to reform the institutions and cults of
the Empire. To this we answer: No doubt there was much to reform, and
when is there not? But it would not only be not generous, but distinctly
mischievous for us to judge our fellows of those days solely by the
lofty standard of an ideal morality, or even to scale them against the
weight of our own supposed virtues and knowledge.Our point is not that
there was nothing to reform, far from that,but that the wholesale
accusations of depravity brought against the times will not bear
impartial investigation.On the contrary, there was much good material
ready to be worked up in many ways, and if there has not been, how could
there among other things have been any Christianity?The
Roman Empire was at the zenith of its power, and had there not been
many admirable administrators and men of worth in the governing caste,
such a political consummation could never have been reached and
maintained. Moreover, as ever previously in the ancient world, religious
liberty was guaranteed, and where we find persecution, as in the reigns
of Nero and Domitian, it must be set down to political and not to
theological reasons. Setting aside the disputed question of the
persecution of the Christians under Domitian, the Neronian persecution
was directed against those whom the Imperial power regarded as Jewish
political revolutionaries. So, too, when we find the philosophers
imprisoned or banished from Rome during those two reigns, it was not
because they were philosophers, but because the ideal of some of them
was the restoration of the Republic, and this rendered them obnoxious to
the charge not only of being political malcontents, but also of
actively plotting against the Emperor’s majestas. Apollonius, however,
was throughout a warm supporter of monarchical rule. When, then, we hear
of the philosophers being banished from Rome or being cast into prison,
we must remember that this was not a wholesale persecution of
philosophy throughout the Empire; and when we say that some of them
desired to restore the Republic, we should remember that the vast
majority of them refrained from politics, and especially was this the
case with the disciples of the religio-philosophical schools.
Apollonius of Tyana
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- Apollonius Of Tyana Introduction
- The Religious Associations and Communities of the ...
- India and Greece
- The Apollonius of Early Opinion
- Texts, Translations, and Literature
- The Biographer of Apollonius
- Apollonius of Tyana Early Life
- The Travels of Apollonius
- In the Shrines of the Temples and the Retreats of ...
- The Gymnosophists of Upper Egypt
- Apollonius and the Rulers of the Empire
- Apollonius The Prophet and Wonder-Worker
- Apollonius of Tyana Mode of Life
- Himself and His Circle
- Apollonius Of Tyana Sayings and Sermons
- From His Letters
- The Writings of Apollonius
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