Yesterday, I posted a thread concerning a POD
here, in which Constantine is defeated and killed at Milvian Bridge. In the thread, I deliberately left out the question of religious policy, in order to not distract from the discussion.
Here's what I'm considering as a scenario for a possible TL scenario:
As stated, Constantine is defeated and killed at Milvian Bridge or an ATL equivalent in 312 AD. Maxentius is left victorious in the West. Maximinus Daia then goes on to defeat Licinius in 313 AD--not to hard to pull off, considering he was a fairly competent commander with a larger army of seasoned veterans at his command and his defeat by Licinius was arguably the influenced by the losses he suffered due to bad weather and conditions on the march through Anatolia. Perhaps he doesn't take the offensive here and Licinius invades Anatolia instead, alarmed by the death of his ally, Constantine (in OTL Daia did the same after Maxentius' death).
So, the Empire remains in pagan hands. A few years down the road, Maximinus Daia then begins promoting the cult of Sol Invictus and patronizing the leading Neoplatonist philosophers at his court in Nicomedia. Perhaps he brings
Iamblichus or his pupil,
Aedesius, to Nicomedia and gives him free reign to set up a Neoplatonist school there.
What then would a Neoplatonist religion under State sponsorship look like?
I imagine Sol Invictus is promoted as the common God of the Empire through a Neoplatonist lens? Something along the lines of Sol Invictus is the Celestial Demiurge (emanating from Aion the "Pre-Essential" demiurge, himself emanating from "the One"), who rules the cosmos as both Sol Jupiter (the invisible sun or Nous) and Sol Apollo (the visible sun), in hypostases, with other deities existing beneath him and participating in his divinity as lesser emanations in the cosmic hierarchy?
Other ideas I have in mind (with varying degrees of plausibility) include:
- Neoplatonist monasteries, for those wishing to devote their lives to "returning to the Monad" by studying the Enneads and contemplating the One, say to achieve union with the cosmic soul and thus spiritual purification from rebirth.
- An organized Imperial church, with the larger cities of the Empire all having a college of pontifices to oversee the worship of Sol Invictus. Or perhaps some other organization is implemented, similar to that of the Christian church?
- A strong tendency for syncretism
Any thoughts or further ideas?