The Darkening Age
The Christian Destruction of the Classical World
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4.8 • 9 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
'A searingly passionate book' - Bettany Hughes, author of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
In The Darkening Age, historian Catherine Nixey tells the little-known – and deeply shocking – story of how a militant religion deliberately tried to extinguish the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in unquestioning adherence to the 'one true faith'.
The Roman Empire had been generous in embracing and absorbing new creeds. But with the coming of Christianity, everything changed. This new faith, despite preaching peace, was violent, ruthless and intolerant. And once it became the religion of empire, its zealous adherents set about the destruction of the old gods. Their altars were upturned, their temples demolished and their statues hacked to pieces. Books, including great works of philosophy and science, were consigned to the pyre. It was an annihilation.
A Book of the Year in the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator, the Observer, and BBC History Magazine
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Nonfiction
'Nixey combines the authority of a serious academic with the expressive style of a good journalist.' – The Times
Customer Reviews
Enlightening
I learnt so much from this book. Very enjoyable and an insight to the appalling behaviour of the early Christian cult.
Grim and eye-opening reading
The violent and almost unremitting destruction of tolerance, culture, human expression, philosophy and critical debate by early Christians makes you weep. There are so many resonances though the centuries, especially in some of the political and “moral” movements today that we should all read it and look at what we are doing to ourselves.
Despite the depressing nature of the content, the author writes deftly, with humour and a stinging tongue. Excellent stuff indeed.