| he/him | INFP
Saint EudociaCurrently reading about Saint Eudocia and what surprised me so far was how small the Athens she grew up in was by 500 AD.
During its golden age under Pericles it was 200-250.000 people living in Athens (I’ve seen some people compare it to Venice during its height), but by the time of Eudocia 800 years later it had shrunk to just 10.000. Not because of a disaster or anything, having lost its empire and importance, people simply moved elsewhere - namely Thessaloniki and Corinth which “vacuumed” most of it trade and population by the time. And of course, there was Constantinople not that far away.
So the city a sort of Oxford, very small, not comerically important, but it retained a reputation for learning and philosopher tradition, which is what Eudocia’s father was - a philosopher of the pagan tradition at a time when the romans were decisively moving towards christianity. I think meeting a hellenic practitioner in this period would’ve been like meeting a yazidi in iraq or a buddhist in indonesia today - rare, but they’ve been there way longer thant he current religion.Jun 29, 2026
During its golden age under Pericles it was 200-250.000 people living in Athens (I’ve seen some people compare it to Venice during its height), but by the time of Eudocia 800 years later it had shrunk to just 10.000. Not because of a disaster or anything, having lost its empire and importance, people simply moved elsewhere - namely Thessaloniki and Corinth which “vacuumed” most of it trade and population by the time. And of course, there was Constantinople not that far away.
So the city a sort of Oxford, very small, not comerically important, but it retained a reputation for learning and philosopher tradition, which is what Eudocia’s father was - a philosopher of the pagan tradition at a time when the romans were decisively moving towards christianity. I think meeting a hellenic practitioner in this period would’ve been like meeting a yazidi in iraq or a buddhist in indonesia today - rare, but they’ve been there way longer thant he current religion.Jun 29, 2026
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