WALKA PAŃSTWA RZYMSKIEGO Z POGAŃSTWEM I HEREZJĄ W OCZACH PÓŹNOANTYCZNYCH HISTORYKÓW: FILOSTORGIOSA, SOKRATESA, SOZOMENOSA, TEODORETA I ZOSIMOSA
THE STRUGGLE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE WITH PAGANISM AND HERESY IN THE EYES OF LATE ANTIQUE HISTORIANS: PHILOSTORGIUS, SOCRATES, SOZOMENUS, THEODORETUS AND

Summary/Abstract: The article is a reflection on the politics of Roman Christian emperors against heretics and pagans, as presented in the Ecclesiastical Histories by Philostorgius, Socrates, Sozomenus and Theodoretus, as well as in the New History by Zosimus. The research is focused not only on similarities and differences in the approach towards this aspect in the enumerated works, but also on comparison of the picture revealed in the analysis with the one based on the Theodosian Code. As it is stated in the conclusion, the two pictures are not contradictory, though historians highlight only selected aspects of the process being described here. Sozomenus is the only one really interested in the impact of law on reality, while all of them contribute to our knowledge of law execution. Historians provide us with more valuable and reliable source when law in practice is included in their descriptions than when they deliberately try to convince the reader about a certain legal state.

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