Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire religions that we now label "paganism" was seen as the result of the religious intolerance inherent in the monotheistic Christian faith. The classic expression of this view occurs in the work of Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." As historian Herbert Drake puts it, "It is difficult to overestimate the influence of Gibbon's interpretation on subsequent scholarship." Herbert Drake takes issue with the historiography of Gibbon, arguing that while persecution certainly occurred for religious reasons, that the underlying motivation was consolidation of power in the Constantinian dynasty, which was offered in the form of promoting the cult
The Fall of the Roman Empire (film) historical events. However, in the long-established view of Roman history, Marcus Aurelius is considered as the last of the Five Good Emperors whose time is considered the best of Roman imperial history. Commodus is generally considered to have fallen far below the standard set by his father and the four earlier Emperors, and his reign is considered as the beginning of the decline - though that would still take several centuries. In the winter of 180 A.D., the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius fights to keep Germanic tribes from invading his northern territories on the Danube frontier (a war which in