Simon J V Malloch
Sub Specie Aeternitatis
And Man Created God: Kings, Cults, and Conquests at the Time of Jesus
By Selina O’Grady
Atlantic Books 393pp £20 order from our bookshop
In AD 390 the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I was held responsible for the massacre of seven thousand people in Thessalonica in retaliation for the murder of one of his generals during a riot. When Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, learnt of the slaughter, he threatened Theodosius with excommunication, and after seven months of penance the emperor was readmitted to the pale of the church. In 1619–20 Anthony van Dyck vividly captured the bishop’s power in a painting that showed Ambrose barring Theodosius from entering the cathedral at Milan.
Christianity had come a long way since the first century AD. Christians’ strict belief in their God forbade them from making sacrifices to the emperor and the pagan gods. In the early days they tended not to participate in public life, and could not practise their religion openly. There was
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
On the night of 5th July 1809, a group of soldiers kidnapped Pope Pius VII on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte. Munro Price looks at what happened next.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/bonaparte-meets-his-match
'She lived in a damp basement with her mother and sister, smoking roll-ups and talking to her parrot.'
Joanna Kavenna traces the life of the 'almost-forgotten poet' Charlotte Mew.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/she-hated-poetry-readings
'If, as James Wolcott once claimed, Roth was a miracle of modern medicine, he was also one of therapy’s notable failures.'
@leorobsonwriter on Philip Roth, that 'walking, wanking paradox'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-great-american-novelist