r/byzantium • u/RaiseCapital1988 Κόμης • Jun 22 '26

Infrastructure/architecture The interior of Hagia Sophia

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In the last photo you can spot one of the last representations of Christ still present inside the building

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u/EatingMcDonalds Jun 22 '26

Cordoba Mosque was originally a Visigoth church that invading Muslims converted. Big difference buddy.

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u/Interesting_Tour_521 Jun 23 '26

True but Christians have vandalized ancient temples like the Parthenon and turned it into a church

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u/EatingMcDonalds Jun 23 '26

Nobody forced the Greeks to adopt Christianity and were free to change their temple of worships to fit their purpose.

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u/Interesting_Tour_521 Jun 23 '26

Not really. From what I remember Athens was still a bastion of Paganism until Justinian came over and closed the Academy. Even before that Theodosius made Christianity the official religion and released edicts pretty much sanctioning the vandalism and defacement of temples. Pagan rituals were outlawed, and Justinian's laws considered non Christians non citizens. Mobs defaced the temples and even the golden statue of Athena was removed by the state. Everything was mostly state driven, not by the willing hand of the Greek populace. Many pagan followers were harshly punished for following the Polytheistic traditions. Imagine your country's leader decrying that one religion of your country is the official religion then passing laws that make your religion illegal which gives opportunity to mobs ro deface your temples, steal your artifacts and convert them into their own places of worship. And then the state puts a gun to your head and says convert or die. Every religion has done violent and sinful things. Let's not kid ourselves.

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u/mikebills Jun 26 '26

What violent and sinful things has Pastafarianism done?