WI: Julian the Apostate not killed in Persia

[Malta]

I've never read Gibbon, it's possible my sources o information have.

Boethius was also a late example of conversion to paganism from Christianity. I don't recall any serious attempts to repaganize the West. Christianity really completely overwhelmed paganism, there were a few pagan practices left behind in Christian culture , but I don't believe pagans ever mounted serious opposition, after Constantius, to Christianity, and the only time it could really be reversed, IMO, is with Constantine, who himself kept the title of Ponitifex Maximus.

I honestly am not surprised some people think that, the way I see the Theodosius Persecution and Massacres as being written it was like the Pagans were happy to have thousands of thousands of temples and shrines and worship sites Closed down. That just does not make sense. If you read into the avaliable accounts it shows that Theodosius had glhis work cut out supressing the religion across the empire. Their we're several Pagan politicians and generals that fought with their Chrisian counter-parts, but this was apart of a far wider period with Romans vs Goths, Urban vs Rural, etc etc so it's easy for historians of then and now to pave over what was the destruction of a people's way of life.

 

[CandyDragon]

Oh really? In the west, I seem to recall a large number of the Roman population in the western half of the Empire renouncing Christianity and returned to practicing the old pagan religions during the dawn of the barbarian incursions during the fifth century. It sort of helps that the barbarians that were inflicting destruction upon the Empire were Christians. Granted, someone could certainly exploit that.

Christianity was far from entrenched in the West. It was more so in the East.

I've always heard that that was very overstated.

 

[Mikestone8]

Oh really? In the west, I seem to recall a large number of the Roman population in the western half of the Empire renouncing Christianity and returned to practicing the old pagan religions during the dawn of the barbarian incursions during the fifth century. It sort of helps that the barbarians that were inflicting destruction upon the Empire were Christians. Granted, someone could certainly exploit that.

Does that mean that, had the Empire still been under Pagan rule when Rome got sacked, then Paganism would have suffered a loss of prestige, and Christianity have prevailed faster than OTL?

 

[Malta]

Does that mean that, had the Empire still been under Pagan rule when Rome got sacked, then Paganism would have suffered a loss of prestige, and Christianity have prevailed faster than OTL?

Maybe in Rome but I doubt in the other parts of the Empire. It was already being cut up by the various 'barbarian's

 

[Mikestone8]

Christianity was far from entrenched in the West.

But did Julian's brand of Hellenic-style Paganism have any more of a following?

The average Gallic peasant probably followed some brand of Celtic (or occasionally Germanic) paganism which dated back to well before the Roman conquest. But did Jupiter or Apollo (or Mithras) mean any more to him than Christ did?