This page is part of the project LABedia: Еncyclopedia of Late Antique Balkans, 4th-5th c.,
financed by the National Science Fund, contract КП-06-Н30/6, 13.12.2018
Rossitsa Gicheva-Meimari
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Doctor
New Bulgarian University
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Intermingling of pagan and Christian religious notions in a funerary inscription from Doxato, Philippi, 3rd century.
The study presents a third-century Latin funerary inscription 2 discovered near the modern village of Doxato in Greece, north of the city of Philippi, probably from a vicus in the territory of its colony.
The person buried is represented as an initiate in the mysteries of Dionysos Bromios, who was rewarded with an afterlife in a special place because of two kinds of merit: on the one hand - participation in the mystery rites of Dionysos Bromios, and on the other hand - a chaste life, a virtuous heart, forbearance and benevolence.
The text provides a very rare testimony to the processes of intermingling pagan rites and beliefs with new Christian beliefs and morals at an individual and family level in a rural community. A hypothesis is presented about possible ways in which the transition from local ancient Thracian to early Christian religious beliefs took place - based on common elements in rites and beliefs related to life after death in pagan mystery cults and early Christian beliefs and notions.