The Meaning of "Pagan"
Jenny
jennyg@compuserve.com
Tue Apr 27 09:49:53 1999
Most modern Pagans believe that the word "Pagan" comes from the Latin "paganus", meaning "a dweller in the country".  The Old Religion survived longest in the country, and so the (primarily urban) Christians contemptuously called non-Christians "pagani" ("rustics").*p*This isn't true.  The first sentence is sort of accurate, but very misleading.  The second is purely mythical.*p*Paganus is a very old term, with a variety of different meanings.  Linguistically speaking, it does indeed come from the Latin "pagus", "countryside".  So it's technically correct to say that "paganus" means "rustic" or "country-dweller".*p*However "paganus" lost that meaning quite early, back in the days of the "Pagan" Roman Empire.  By the time that Christians started called people Pagans, the word meant something completely different.*p*The early Empire made a huge distinction between Roman citizens and non-citizens.  Citizens enjoyed a host of legal rights denied to non-citizens, and citizenship was dearly prized.  Unfortunately you had to be a resident of Rome (later Italy) to be a citizen.  All the others, the people of the provinces, were members of the Empire -- but *not* citizens.*p*The easiest way to become a citizen was to join the army.  Soldiers were granted citizenship after several years of service, and this was Rome's principal way of convincing provincials to join the military.  Many provincials did this, so that in time the Roman army was largely composed of non-Roman peoples.*p*(We're getting to the "Pagans" -- bear with me. <g>)*p*Thus in the provinces, you tended to have two types of people.  Citizens, ex-soldiers, who enjoyed greater rights;  and civilians, the original residents of the province, who didn't.  In Latin, the words for these two groups were usually "milites" ("soldiers") and "pagani" ("country-dwellers").  Provincials were called "rustics" or "country-dwellers" because they lived outside of Rome.  NOT because they lived in the real country.  Many didn't.  Romans called urban provincials "pagani" just as much as farmers.*p*By the time that Christianity became popular, the older meaning of "paganus" had largely disappeared, and the word was used to mean "civilian" (as opposed to soldier) or "non-citizen".*p*So why did the Christians call us Pagani?  Because they adopted this military/imperial imagery to describe their faith.*p*Christians called themselves the "Milites Dei", the "Soldiers of God".  They spoke of a kingdom of Heaven or city of God.  Christian milites were citizens of this "empire", just as earthly milites were citizens of the Empire.  Non-Christians were pagani:  provincials, non-citizens.*p*Close reading of early Christian sources confirms that this, not "country-dweller", is what Christians meant when they called us "Pagans".  The word was first applied to urban Roman Pagans, not people living in the country.  Probably it was meant to shock them.  Roman residents were by definition citizens;  there was no conceivable way that they could be "provincials".  Christians called them "pagani" to show that (in their minds) there was another, greater empire than the Roman Empire.  And non-Christians were missing out on the rights they could enjoy, because they were "pagani", not citizens of the heavenly empire.*p*Robin Lane Fox (_Pagans and Christians_) has more on this subject.  And if anyone reads French and would like more information, I can dig up a good scholarly article on the subject.*p*Jenny*br*