‘Pagan’ Entertainment after the Theodosian Legislation

Non-Christian civic festivals, including theatrical performances, continued to play a central role in the social and cultural life of late antiquity, long after the official suppression of public paganism. Despite the Christianization of the Roman Empire, these events persisted as key sites of communal entertainment and civic identity. The participation of Christians in such festivities became a recurrent topic of concern among ecclesiastical writers, many of whom condemned attendance as morally corrupt or tantamount to idolatry. Church Fathers such as Severus of Antioch, and Jacob of Serugh reiterated and expanded upon the earlier condemnations articulated by Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, Augustine, or John Chrysostom, framing theatrical and festival culture as incompatible with Christian ethics and spiritual discipline. At the same time, Christian emperors often sought, through legislation and impromptu intervention, to preserve what they perceived as traditional and socially cohesive forms of amusement, recognizing the importance of festivals and spectacles for public order and popular morale. The persistence of performative and ritualized behaviours, songs, and expressions beyond the confines of formal entertainment venues further embedded these “pagan” customs within the rhythms of daily life. Consequently, Christian communities remained divided over the moral and theological implications of such practices throughout the late fifth and sixth centuries. This paper re-examines the tension between imperial policy, ecclesiastical discourse, and popular cultural practices concerning what was ‘pagan’ in later Late Antiquity. By situating the available literary, legal, and liturgical sources within their broader historical and social contexts, it seeks to illuminate how the boundaries between Christian and non-Christian forms of entertainment were negotiated, contested, and ultimately transformed in the late antique Mediterranean world.