No Jesus?

Honestly in Rome I imagine Nero would try to get the mob to do his dirty work, so to speak. Maybe a few fake confessions from "ringleaders?" I doubt there's more than a few tens of thousands of Jews in Rome - a larger population than the Christians of the same time period but definitely a small isolated foreign population that's totally at the mercy of any authorities who want to destroy them. I doubt Nero would deport them from Rome. After all, they're a less effective scapegoat if they're removed, no?

I mentioned Jewish support for the rebellions in Palestine to point out that I don't think there's sufficient Jews in this time period elsewhere to pose a meaningful threat. Those communities which exist elsewhere are isolated and disliked by their neighbors. After 70 CE the Jewish diaspora grows immensely, but at this point they're mostly a scattering on small groups, most of which I expect will seek to fly under the radar and hope to avoid persecution if it comes to war or a pogrom.

The mass deportation and enslavement OTL happened mostly in Palestine. Elsewhere, Jewish persecution tended to end in outright genocide or at least communal violence.
 

Fo_Real

Banned
[QUOTE="metalinvader665, post: 12501233, member: 34977"
Neoplatonism is probably the best route to that. Alternatively, grab a bunch of Greco-Roman philosophy, maybe add a bit of Persian and Indian religion (Manichaeism, Buddhism), and you could get something approximating European Hinduism. It can spread beyond the Greco-Roman world too, and like Hinduism, it will have a wide variety of practices by region. But the pantheon of gods is already there and were regularly compared to each other across linguistic and even cultural boundaries ("interpretatio germanica", where the Germanic peoples got the names of the days of the week from) from early on. But like Hinduism, it might be difficult to call this a single religion.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. Going off-topic, is there any way for this kind of philosophy and complex theology to find it's way up north and influence the norse and slavic pagans, even in a world where Christianity happens as usual? Say, for example, some member of the Varangian Guard turns out to be a very inteligent and religous fellow, and while in Constantinople he learns to read and write in greek and takes a liking for theology. He then starts to read the Bible and other christian and greek texts, and decides that he should write something like that for his own religion, and when he gets back home, he begins to spread those ideas? Would it be feasible for his ideas to become popular and lead to the formation of an organized faith?
 
Well, most Neoplatonist elements that were religious (things like theurgy and the whole applying Neoplatonic thought to traditional paganism) were long since banned and mostly forgotten by the time the Varangian Guard existed. By that period, it was only a matter of time as to when European paganism would be defeated by Christianity.
 

Fo_Real

Banned
Well, most Neoplatonist elements that were religious (things like theurgy and the whole applying Neoplatonic thought to traditional paganism) were long since banned and mostly forgotten by the time the Varangian Guard existed. By that period, it was only a matter of time as to when European paganism would be defeated by Christianity.
I see. Playing Crusader Kings 2 as a pagan and reforming the faith left me thinking if there was any way for something similar to happen
 
Manichaeism itself probably wouldn't arise since it was heavily based on Christianity, but another gnostic sort of religion could definitely become more prominent. Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, or variations thereof, could be introduced to the Roman Empire from abroad... And I've always liked the idea of a mass religion based on a mystery cult after some sort of reform "demystifies" it and keeps the basic framework but makes it more open, like making the Mithraic Mysteries open to women or making the Eleusinian Mysteries practicable anywhere and not just in Eleusis. Could go along with "marrying" deities like Mithra to Isis or something like that, or combining similar ones like Isis and Cybele and Demeter. Add some Neoplatonic philosophical foundation, and maybe you'll get something that looks like a religion.
 
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