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3 - Christianity North of the Danube

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2018

Andrei Gandila
Affiliation:
University of Alabama, Huntsville
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Summary

This chapter tackles one of the most debated issues of the past decades: the empire’s religious influence beyond the frontier. Current interpretation present sixth-century Christianity in the lands north of the Danube frontier as the culmination of a centuries-long process of Christianization and Romanization. The validity of the standard narrative needs to be reassessed in light of the archaeological evidence. As part of the Empire’s political agenda of cultural integration, items with religious significance arrived north of the Danube as prestige objects for local elites or as Christian artifacts for believers; however, the archaeological context of such finds is inconclusive and their religious designation cannot be fully ascertained. No churches have been yet discovered north of the river and burials reveal a series of mixed practices. There are no imperial initiatives for the Christianization of newly arrived groups in the Danube region; furthermore, Christians from existing settlements were left to their own devices. Without a coherent institutional framework to guide and regulate practices, religion evolved in an unsystematic fashion.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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  • Christianity North of the Danube
  • Andrei Gandila, University of Alabama, Huntsville
  • Book: Cultural Encounters on Byzantium's Northern Frontier, c. AD 500–700
  • Online publication: 08 October 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108470421.004
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  • Christianity North of the Danube
  • Andrei Gandila, University of Alabama, Huntsville
  • Book: Cultural Encounters on Byzantium's Northern Frontier, c. AD 500–700
  • Online publication: 08 October 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108470421.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Christianity North of the Danube
  • Andrei Gandila, University of Alabama, Huntsville
  • Book: Cultural Encounters on Byzantium's Northern Frontier, c. AD 500–700
  • Online publication: 08 October 2018
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108470421.004
Available formats
×