Pliny the Younger and Christians: An Attempt at Evaluation
Pliny the Younger and Christians: An Attempt at Evaluation

Summary/Abstract: The famous letter of Pliny the Younger concerning Bithynian Christians was widely commented by the lawyers, historians, theologians etc. Many generations of researchers tried to justify the conduct of Pliny and the later reaction of Trajan to it. From the legal point of view everything seemed to be fine. As a Roman governor Pliny was obliged to take any steps to retain the public order in his province. Yet, no one dared to ask whether he had to appeal to such drastic methods. It seems that he had not to. His conduct in relation to the Bithynian Christians destroys prevalent image of Pliny as a well-educated humanist and sensitive aesthete. The whole story puts in quite bad light also his superior – the emperor Trajan.

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