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Early Pagans Outlook On Life
The Pagans lived for the material world and did not think that their life had any real affect on their after-life. So earthly glory, power, riches and fame was the primary focus of life and all that really mattered was the continuation of the State and their family ancestry. The practice of remembering ancestors suggests that citizens seen the significance of their lives to be worthy of remembrance. Family mansions and homes had rooms that had wax portraits of previous owners and family that were not allowed to be taken down, even if the house changed ownership. Rational opinions of significance were determined by the Roman Empire's hierarchical class system. The emperor was more significant than a senator, who was more significant than a freedman who was more significant than a slave. Pagans would have been aware of this and saw themselves as playing a small part in the grand scheme of the entire Roman Empire. The family was the building block of society; Emperors encouraged and even made laws in regards to the birth rate and marriages as to keep society in balance, given that many would die in battle the birth rate was an important part of society and significant in the continuation of the Empire. According to lex Papia Poppaea every woman between 20 and 50 had to be married. Religious practice was significant in the Pagan lives, they thought that if the gods were appeased with sacrifice and celebrations, they would protect the state and the state had the responsibility to protect the people, so worship was a component of their daily lives. When the Romans started to have problems from barbarians and other ethnic groups warring with the Romans and defeats were happening on the battlefields, the Pagans would feel they had not appeased to the gods enough. Roman Pagans placed significance in authority and obedience. It was expected that you obeyed those in authority to the letter, else you were severely punished. This added to the general desire to achieve high positions of authority in order to gain power. Pagan’s and life after death In regards to the Roman Pagans belief about what lies beyond death there is a great variety of beliefs some Pagans believed that after death Hades was where they entered a kind of immortality in a shadowy underworld that may consist of deprivation, torment and punishment. However there are also explicit denials of any afterlife in some of the grave inscriptions found that implied life was either to end at death or to continue in some miserable existence or a spirit in the specific tomb. These seem to be the most prevalent types of inscriptions that are found. For example one grave stone inscription said this “I did not exist, I was born; I existed, I do not exist; so much for that. If anyone says anything different he will be lying: I shall not exist” This does give us an insight into the thoughts of some of the Pagans in regards to their death and even their existence. Among the upper class the speculation about the afterlife was framed around the idea that the afterlife was in the realm of the divine, it was free form deformity, pain or any other burden that was attributed to their mortal lives, in contrast to the Christian view the idea of a bodily resurrection seemed like a startling idea and was at odds with everything that passed for wisdom among the educated. It was common for the Pagan world to believe in the immortality of fame, even those that were not to care about the afterlife such as the philosophers of the day, went to great lengths to ensure their names were written on their books. The concept was that fame could not die and that if you accomplished well in your life and had great fame your ideas, actions and accomplishments would essentially be immortal. The Pagans had knowledge that even if they lived a good life they could not escape their Fate, however some believed if they died young they had abandoned prematurely which seems to be inconsistent to idea that when your time ends that is your fate. Pagans did not place the same emphasis on a life after death as the Judeo-Christians did. Punishment and blessings from the gods would occur in the material world so there was no need to ensure an afterlife which in contrast to Judeo-Christian beliefs is quite different. In general the afterlife for Pagans did not offer much hope in comparison to the Judeo-Christian concepts of the after-life, so Pagans would live for the present with a concept of live life now for tomorrow we die. Many epitaph inscriptions suggest an absence of hope in an after-life due to the recording of the exact age of the deceased. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com |
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