Roman & greek roots of christian demonology?

[Virilis]

Salvete daemons!

I would like to know how extensively ancient greek & roman gods / goddesses affected the views of demons in the eyes of early christians? I mean the legs of Pan, trident o Neptunus etc. How straightforwardly these were transferred to christian "demonology" in general? :evil:

[ValentinianVictrix]

I also wonder if the depictions of Roman Emperor's with 'star rays' coming from the top of their heads on coins also led to a certain amount of demonisation as coins of the more Christianised Emperor's generally depict them as having the imperial diadem headwear.

[Lyceum]

Hi. I'd like to disclaim the fact that I've been trained as a Classicist nor an early Christian Historian (I almost tongue in cheek said Christologist then, but I don't think theological jokes are my forte) and with a much greater, specialised, emphasis on Greek stuff. I'd say that this really isn't a question that can be answered by such a person, that it's one of those things that needs not just an in depth but a loooooong range study and is better suited to something like intellectual history.

Christian engagement with the Classics isn't just complex, it's something that is insanely varied and I think in many aspects the hight of this interaction is the renaissance, not the post-classical period. So this is often a learned relationship, not one of evolution. As in people in later periods picking up texts.

My biggest problem with those, usually Christian historians and laymen, is in how they treat Greek and Roman Religion(s). I'm not just talking about the typical confusion between mythology (both native and imported) and actual cult practice but across the board. Often you get people trying to point out the "survival" of specific Greek (to take an example I'm very well versed in) cultic practice or religious idea sometime in late antiquity. Typically the behaviour they're talking about will belong to the classical age, most often Athens. Except the problem is that there are always massive changes in religious practice and Greece and Rome are no exception.

These religions depend on state and social functions in a specific way and these things tend to meld away or mutate not long after the Macedonians come south. By the time you get to the Christian period what we call Greek religions have changed and developed in new ways. So, since early Christians weren't highly trained Classicists with access to a good amount of sources, often these "similarities" exist in the minds of certain scholars. There COULD be no influence there because compranda A has changed so much.

The poor Romans have it worse in that their incredibly complex and varied religious practice (seriously, one of the most interesting and difficult areas of antiquity) tends to get caricatured. People will focus on, say, Ovid or Virgil (and those unaware of actual religious practice can never get what makes their manipulations so smart) and ignore actual religion, which differ MASSIVELY from Christianity and also from Greek Religions too. We all too easily gloss variegated religious practice as similar to our own Christian heritage.

What does this have to do with all this? Well to point out in many cases posited influences can't exist: Comparing late antique Christianity with late Republican Roman religion is bad because the Romans themselves have changed. Secondly, too point out that Christianity has a long history of interaction with classical texts even after the civilisations died. So they don't necessarily need to get it from Roman sources. I mean how would you define people of the Renaissance and Early modern period, devout Christians but Latin educated, writing on demons and such?

That said anyone interested in Romano-Christian interaction really ought to read Augustine. Also early Orthodox Christianity is very much a Roman religion too, people often foolishly say that of Catholicism since they're unaware of the context of how that developed. But, honestly, anyone aware of Roman state religious practice would be VERY surprised at how much turns up in a Byzantine garb.

Sorry for the length, I'll try to come back and edit it down and improve and expand certain points later.