jan 1, 155 - Fronto

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140-170 CE

A cluster of typified polemical charges emerge against early Christians, possibly popularized by the famous Roman rhetorician Marcus Cornelius Fronto. The charges are perhaps most memorably put as “incestuous banqueting”, involving a scandalous story of the intentional overturning of the lamps after a gluttonous communal dinner, leading to promiscuous intercourse in the dark. This was further seen as incestuous due to the Christians’ use of the terms “brother” and “sister” to refer to each other. Said meal was also claimed to involve the eating of human flesh (a baby child sacrificed as a meal), perhaps a warped understanding of the Eucharist. These charges are broadly attested in the apologetical writings of this era, where they are typically rebuffed by way of the Pee-Wee defense (“I know you are but what am I?!?”), by which the author claims that it’s actually the pagans who practice all such things.

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