Killjoy? Augustine on Pageantry

Abstract

Augustine’s position on civic spectacles should be evaluated in connection with his fears about a resurgence of paganism in late Roman North Africa. Notwithstanding contemporary claims that those fears were cover for early fifth-century prelatical efforts to manage commercial and political culture, evidence suggests that paganism in North Africa survived and was seductive.

Keywords

• Augustine pageantry
• paganism
• theater
• amphitheater
• Emperor Honorius