Intolleranze religiose nel mondo greco? Divinità straniere e pratiche magiche nell’Atene di età classica

The modern category of «tolerance» is born in the setting of the late-ancient Christian culture to define the «forbearance» (tolerantia from tolerare, «bear») of religious forms which, although disapproved, are not repressed. Its opposite, intolerance, occurs when the repression prevails over endurance. But to what extent these categories, born in a Christian context, are applicable to the Greek world? The article examines the question in the light of two different documentary strands: the introduction of foreign gods and the so-called processes for magic in the classical Athens. We demonstrate, in the first case, that the worships of foreign gods are not prosecuted as such, but only if unauthorized; in the second, that the Athenian law does not punish the magical practices tout court, but crimes possibly related to the giving of filters and potions, such as murder and poisoning.