Saint Caligula??!

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Yuelang

Banned
Oh, wow. Governing Rome is going to be awfully difficult after Caligula's murder--the masses or the mob will be furious, and the easiest way to placate them will be to hand over or punish the cabal of priests responsible for the plot. That could critically weaken traditional Roman religious institutions in the long term.

Is there really such a thing as a separate class of priests? It probably suits the writer of the hagiography to say so, but in reality I thought Roman priests were mostly just Senators and other representatives of influential families.

It gets complicated. Traditional Roman religious practice was strongly integrated with the governing aristocracy, but not completely so.

After Caligula's murder, the Pagan-derived offices are gonna to be erased and perhaps replaced by their Christian equivalent.

Caligula will definitely be remembered down the line as patron saint of governance and generousity... :D
 
After Caligula's murder, the Pagan-derived offices are gonna to be erased and perhaps replaced by their Christian equivalent.

I don't think that they'll be erased, they're too deeply rooted for that, and Christianity isn't nearly familiar enough to take up such a role even with the Emperor's patronage.

What might happen instead is a relative desacralization of various aspects of Roman government and leadership. The Senate may still be required to only formally meet in a temple, but such a building might be more ecumenical (so to speak) in the sense of the Pantheon than one devoted to a particular god's worship. The substance and much of the appearances of Roman government could remain the same, as might the orthopraxy of certain public events, but the cults or religious institutions underlying it all could even up more varied. That could integrate the Christians and a number of other popular but non-traditional cults into the Roman system without calling into question the structure of Roman government as a whole.

The Romans were terribly pragmatic about religion as it was--it was important to do the right things to ensure divine favor, but the specifics of which divine being that might be and what you believed about them didn't matter as much.
 

Yuelang

Banned
Ancient rendition of The Dialogues of the Apostles and the Emperor
Unknown Artist : circa XXX AD
:D

z2yB6Eq.jpg
 

Geon

Donor
Another Good One!

Again, another excellent picture Yuelang! I will try to reward that with an update in the next day or so, work schedule permitting!

Geon
 
Martyrdom!

Geon

Donor
Martyrdom!

This marks the end of the hagiography, but NOT the timeline. The next entries will be in a more normal narrative style. Please read, review, and enjoy!
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Now Caligula was very fond of the chariot races and often went to the Circus Maximus to watch them, even after his conversion. The Emperor would often invite the charioteers to his palace for a feast after the races and congratulate them on their skill. After he came to the faith, his love for the races continued. He would still invite charioteers to the palace and would often tell them of the faith. And because of this a number of these men were converted to the faith. Also, he would send gifts of money to the charioteers or to their families if one was injured or killed during the race. Thus his favor continued to increase with the people.

But Caligula would no longer go to the Circus Maximus to watch the gladiatorial games; for he did not think it fitting that a Christian should witness such cruelty. And even when invited by the Senators he refused. Now, one day in the summer of the year after his baptism Caligula was approached by several senators and told that the crowd had gathered at the Circus Maximus and were clamoring for the Emperor. When he inquired as to why he was told, “One of the Christians has been seized and is to be executed because it is said he worked sorcery in healing a young girl.” This was a lie by the senators for they were part of the plot to lure Caligula into a trap.

Caligula was much concerned and with his bodyguard he entered the tunnels which led to the Circus Maximus in order to speak to the crowd. As he drew near the entrance to the Circus several men with swords stepped out of the darkness. With a loud cry, “Death to the atheist,” they attacked the Emperor.

Caligula’s bodyguard defended the Emperor bravely, but there were many, and although ten of the conspirators were slain they still outnumbered the bodyguard and within a short time most of the guard were dead. The Emperor stood alone before his enemies. Caligula said simply, “Now do I lay aside this laurel crown for the crown of life.” Then did the evil conspirators fall upon him and stab him several times with their swords and Caligula died praying, “O Lord Jesus, my true King, receive me!”

But one of the guards had only feigned death. Though sorely wounded he had only swooned during the assault.He came to his senses after the assailants had departed and seeing the Emperor dead he wept bitterly. Then in spite of his wounds he rose and returned to the palace. There he took Tiberius, Caligula’s cousin and quickly took him to hide him. When Tiberius heard what had happened to Caligula he also wept bitterly and vowed those who had done this would meet a terrible fate.

Meanwhile the crowd in the Circus Maximus was told by several of the pagan priests, “The atheist is dead,” meaning the Emperor. When they heard this some in the crowd rejoiced but most of the crowd acted as one possessed. They cried aloud and immediately set upon the priests who had announced this terrible thing. Thus began the Great Riot of Rome.
 

Yuelang

Banned
Great, we all know how Romans feels toward their Gladiator events :D

Basically throwing shits to their Idols and pissing Zeus & co are nothing... just simple madness... but try to ban Gladiator Games and you will piss off a large part of "True Romans" among the traditionalists ;)

Nice touch! Will we see greater delving on Caligula trying to ban Gladiators and how he make enemies of several senators?
 
The Great Riot and Fire of Rome

Geon

Donor
Update-The Great Riot and Fire of Rome

From this point on the TL will take a more narrative quality. I will have a post script however explaining the "pedigree" of the hagiography just concluded. The repercussions of Caligula's short reign or just beginning!
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Most historical accounts agree that the Great Riot and Fire of Rome began in the Circus Maximus. The crowds had gathered for the gladiatorial games and were in frenzy when the news of the Emperor was announced by a group of priests.

After a moment of stunned silence the crowd reacted in different ways. Two clear factions emerged. One was led by the pagan priests who saw a Christian emperor as a clear threat to their influence, as well as several senators who also saw Caligula’s recent actions as those of a man “bewitched,” as some such as Tacitus would later claim. The other faction had many adherents among the poor and even among the upper classes who saw Caligula as a hero to the poor.

The factions quickly fell upon one another in the Circus Maximus with the violence spilling out into the streets of Rome. Armed mobs quickly took to the streets. The pagan faction led by the priests entered the poorer sections of Rome and began to actively seek out “the atheists”, their phrase for the Christians who refused to worship the Roman gods. Accusing them of sorcery many Christians were seized and were burned alive in their homes. Later accounts tell of whose families being consigned to the flames for the crime of sorcery, as it was believed at the time the Emperor had been healed by some form of magic performed by the Christians. Among those who perished was Clement who is said to have been stabbed several times with knives and then had his body burned.

However, many Christians were saved by their pagan neighbors. There is clear evidence that many neighbors of the Christians rallied to their defense. In some areas the mob found itself stopped by citizens who bravely defended their Christian neighbors.Unfortunately both attackers and defenders soon found themselves in peril from the fires set by the mob during its attacks.

But, while this was going on several of the upper class of Rome found they were in peril as well. The other part of the mob that survived the fighting in the Circus Maximus – where fighting was still raging – made their way into the richer sections of the city and began to attack the shops and homes of many of those there most notably the homes of the priests and many of the temples.

Although Suetonius is often noted for exaggeration here he appears to simply be reporting what happened when the mob entered the temple of Jupiter and proceeded to tear down the statue of Jupiter and killed several of the priests. Several of the other temples were also either destroyed or badly damaged during the attacks. In addition several Senators homes were broken into and at least one senator was killed along with his family by the angry mob with shouts of “Regicide!”

By evening several sections of the city of Rome were burning and the mobs of both factions were showing no sign of calming despite the pleas of Christian leaders on one hand and some of the senators on the other. Meantime the young Tiberius had been safely removed from the city to a nearby army camp, by centurions loyal to Caligula. Having heard of the death of his cousin, Tiberius Gemellus was more than prepared to mete out some serious vengeance - in the style of a true Roman.

From Lectures on Early Christian Rome by Professor G. Scott; 1989
 
Meantime the young Tiberius had been safely removed from the city to a nearby army camp, by centurions loyal to Caligula. Having heard of the death of his cousin, Tiberius Gemellus was more than prepared to mete out some serious vengeance - in the style of a true Roman.

Senator: "We still have all the men of quality!"

Tiberius: "And I have an angry mob that will roast and eat your men of quality in the ashes of the Senate house!"
 
I am really enjoying this interesting take.

I have to say Christianity may be more tolerant in this universe. With this quote from the dialogues, " b. As to closing the houses of prostitution, Peter takes a surprisingly mild tone. Caligula is not responsible for the behavior of all those in Rome, but he is responsible for the care of his own soul. He [and Clement] are reminded in the letter to avoid sexual immorality and to encourage their brethren in the faith to do the same, " you have it stated clearly that it is an individuals responsibility to themselves to avoid sin. Effectively it is saying the old lead a horse to water bit. You may have more Christians making it known for people that have problems if they eventually realize it that they have a place to turn to but won't go forcing their religion too much. Probably a little anachronistic thinking here, but still something to think about.
 

Yuelang

Banned
yeah, so say bye bye to moralist ban on prostitution ITTL. while some certain areas *cough* holy places *cough* will stay as verboten area to ply that kind of trade, some areas may be used as localization for the business of prostitution... maybe "conveniently" dumped near (former) pagan temples as well...


uh... so he's martyred now... wait...

btw maybe Caligula should look not quite Joffrey if he had darker hair ?
 

Yuelang

Banned
By the way, did Caligula forget to maintain his Custodes Germanicus (Julio-Claudian German Bodyguards) at full strength, or did he sent them on errand somewhere else when hes martyred?

Since even crazyass OTL Caligula is almost avenged by those loyal bodyguards... ITTL, I could see much earlier Christianization of Getman tribes as well ... (unless he disband that foreign bodyguards, thats it)
 
Frankly, I'm having a hard time squaring the implied early acceptability of Christianization in Rome with the hints throughout that history hasn't diverged too much from OTL. I could see that being the case if Caligula were just some kind of weird one-off where everything went back to normal afterwards, but if it doesn't, no, the divergences introduced are so massive that it's very unlikely that anything remotely close to OTL emerges.
 
Frankly, I'm having a hard time squaring the implied early acceptability of Christianization in Rome with the hints throughout that history hasn't diverged too much from OTL. I could see that being the case if Caligula were just some kind of weird one-off where everything went back to normal afterwards, but if it doesn't, no, the divergences introduced are so massive that it's very unlikely that anything remotely close to OTL emerges.

Well, expansion and consolidation are Realpolitik themes for this stage of the Empire. Add some missionary zeal, and while there are still massive butterflies, enough plausibly can wander down paths recognizable to OTL longer than a first glance would suggest.

There was no Gospel preaching about the abomination of lead plumbing, either...
 
I'm taking a class in Theater History and I'm curious to see if this will have any impact. Maybe some actors would be sympathetic to Christians and the ATL Catholic Church would take a more tolerant approach to theater as long as it stayed in line with Christian values?
 
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