Auctoritas Maiorum in the edict of Galerius of 311 ad

Abstract

The phraseology of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius in 311 reveals a unique motive on the part of the emperor for his persecution of Christians: the Christians had abandoned the religious convictions of their ancestors and made their own laws, which consequently had led them - allegedly - into atheism. Galerius issued an order that they (the Christians) should return to the practices established by their own forefathers. Thus, the re-establishment of mos maiorum, endangered by Christian 'atheism', was Galeirus' prime motive for confronting the new religion. If this was the real motive, it was carefully chosen: mos maiorum was the key point for the preservation of traditional (pagan) religion, social order and the Roman Empire, as Ciciero and Symmachus put it. When Galerius proclaimed, on his death­bed, that Christians should pray for his salvation, he remained devoted to his polytheistic convictions.

Keywords

• The Edict of Toleration of 311
• Galerius
• mos maiorum
• auctoritus maiorum
• Lactantius
• Eusebius of Caesarea
• persecutions of the Christians