Antiquity
Persecution of Decius
249-251·Empire romain
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
the mandatory sacrifice also strikes Jews in the cities, despite their privilege
The persecution under Decius required all inhabitants of the Roman Empire to sacrifice to the gods and produce a certificate attesting to it. Jews in principle benefited from an ancient exemption, but as the order was universal and local commissions had no means to distinguish, they were troubled in several cities of the East.
Origen, then in Caesarea, describes the panic of communities subjected to the obligation to sacrifice; rabbinic literature preserves the memory of a period when it was necessary to decide what a man could concede under compulsion and what he must refuse at the cost of his life. The persecution ceased with the emperor's death.
- Period :
- Antiquity
- Type :
- Persecution
- Region :
- Western Europe
- Country :
- Empire romain
Origène, Contre Celse ; Eusèbe de Césarée, Histoire ecclésiastique ; Talmud de Jérusalem.