Abstract
The review of the opinion of a number of Church Fathers on Greek paideia in the previous lecture showed that the latter constituted a cultural heritage that became a neutral cultural space, shared by Christians and pagans alike. We must therefore abandon the expression " pagan culture ", which only makes sense in ancient times and in certain circles. Instead, we'll speak of secular Greek culture, or traditional or classical culture, to examine its fate in the face of Christianity. As the diachronic dimension is essential, we must begin by outlining the historical framework of the Christianization of Egypt.
The Christianization of Egypt
Within the former Roman Empire, Christianity initially coexisted with other religions, before becoming official with the creation of the Christian empire in the 4th century.
In Egypt, the state reduced and then cut subsidies for the construction and maintenance of cult buildings during the High Empire, leading to the disaffection of the temples and their cults, and creating a beneficial air draught for Christianity. After the triumph of Christianity and the " supreme resistance " to Christianity of the last pagans (Olympios, Hypatia, Horapollon), the decline of paganism seems to have been more rapid than hagiographic accounts or the reiteration of anti-pagan laws suggest. But it's difficult to keep track of paganism, which is socio-culturally very circumscribed and susceptible to fantasy by authors for polemical purposes from the5th century onwards. How, then, are we to assess the rise of Christianity and the resistance of paganism more accurately, while avoiding the impressionistic nature of literary sources?
