Why Did Christianity Become So Popular
Life and Death in Ephesus is a collection of short stories. As such, it is episodic, and my research when writing it was episodic. The first three stories take place in Pagan Ephesus, when the gods were Greek and Roman (BCE). The three stories are ‘Herostratus,’ about the destruction of the Temple of Artemis, ‘The Flood,’ about the population shift that moved the settlement called Ephesus to its current location, and ‘Arsinoe’s Story,’ about the imprisonment and death of Cleopatra’s younger sister. Then comes ‘The Sons of Sceva,’ about St. Paul’s sojourn in Ephesus, ending with his hasty departure. From then on, Ephesus is Christian (CE) The Legend of the Seven Sleepers Those three stories span a period of 360 years, a lot of time about which I know very little. I’m a bit like the Seven Sleepers, who fell asleep when Christians were being persecuted and woke up when Christianity was the state religion. What happened in between? Why did Christianity become so popu