000			02232 a2200265 4500
008			180105b c2017 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781509812325
082			_a270.2 _bNIX
100			_aNixey, Catherine
245			_aDarkening age: the Christian destruction of the classical world
260			_bMacmillan, _c2017. _aLondon:
300			_axxxix, 305 p., 16 [unnumbered pages of plates] : _bill., maps ; _c23 cm.
365			_aINR _b1748.20
500			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aThe Darkening Age is the largely unknown story of how a militant religion deliberately attacked and suppressed the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in centuries of unquestioning adherence to 'one true faith'. Despite the long-held notion that the early Christians were meek and mild, going to their martyr's deaths singing hymns of love and praise, the truth, as Catherine Nixey reveals, is very different. Far from being meek and mild, they were violent, ruthless and fundamentally intolerant. Unlike the polytheistic world, in which the addition of one new religion made no fundamental difference to the old ones, this new ideology stated not only that it was the way, the truth and the light but that, by extension, every single other way was wrong and had to be destroyed. From the 1st century to the 6th, those who didn't fall into step with its beliefs were pursued in every possible way: social, legal, financial and physical. Their altars were upturned and their temples demolished, their statues hacked to pieces and their priests killed. It was an annihilation. Authoritative, vividly written and utterly compelling, this is a remarkable debut from a brilliant young historian.
650			_a Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.
650			_aRome--Civilization--Christian influences.
650			_aGreece--Civilization--Christian influences.
650			_aChristianity and other religions.
650			_aReligious adherents.
650			_aReligious adherents -- History -- To 1500.
650			_aViolence -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.
650			_aViolence -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History -- To 1500.
942			_2ddc _cCR
999			_c46841 _d46841