Porphyry on Asclepius’s and the Gods’ Departure from Rome

What is it about?

Abstract Eusebius transmits a fragment of Porphyry’s Contra Christianos in which the philosopher claimed that a disease or plague had seized the city for many years because there was no longer any sojourn of Asclepius and the gods there. Since Jesus was honored, no one experienced any public help from the gods. Porphyry’s claim that Asclepius and the gods no longer dwelt in Rome resembles one of the elements of the ancient Roman ritual of evocatio, in which the tutelary deities were called out of a city by a Roman commander. It is only an analogy, since the Christians did not promise the tutelary deities that their images would be carried to their own city and given a cult, and they certainly did not make use of an obscure Roman military ceremony.

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Why is it important?

It is a claim that the Christian worship of Jesus caused a plague in Rome

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