I was reading a medieval work commissioned in 1252 by Alfonso X of Castile called “Estoria de España”. In a section about the founding of Seville there is a story about Pompey and Caesar, the statue of Alexander and a strange dream. Idk I found it funny and wanted to share it.
“…and he (Hercules) put there six great pillars of stone and he placed on top of them a very great slab of marble upon which were written large letters which said: “The great city will be founded here”. And on top of this he put a stone stone figure, and it had one hand towards the east, and on the palm of the hand was written: “Hercules reached this point”, and the other hand faced downwards, pointing to the letters on the marble with one finger. And so it was that, in the time of the Romans when they were the lords of the world, there was a great disagreement between Julius Caesar and Pompey, who were father-in-law and son-in-law, and both emperors. In Rome, it was decided to send Pompey to the east, and Julius Caesar to the west, to conquer all the lands which did not yet obey Rome, and they were told to return to Rome in five years, and if either of them did not do this, they would not be received as emperor any more. In those five years, Pompey conquered all of the lands of the east, but Julius Caesar, in the space of five years, conquered only as far as Lerida, which is a city in Spain, in the land known as Catalonia. And as Lucan, who wrote this story, tells us, when these five years had passed, the Romans ordered him to return, and if he did not, he would not be received as emperor. Caesar, in contempt, did not wish to do this, but said that since he was an emperor he would take another five years to finish what he had started. And so, in the other five years that he took, he conquered the whole of Spain. And when he reached that place where the city of Talica was first founded, it seemed to him that it was not in a good place, and he went to find another place to rebuild it. And when he came to the place where were to be found the pillars on which Hercules had put the statue, he looked at the great slab of marble which was scattered broken in pieces on the ground. And when he saw the letters, he ordered the pieces to be put together and he read that this was where the great city was to be built. So he ordered it to be moved from where it was and rebuilt there where it is to this day, and he gave it the name Ispalis, just as it had first been called when it was built on stakes of wood in a place called Almedina, which is near Cadiz. And according to Lucan, after he had rebuilt the city he went to Cadiz, where there was a great city. There he found a temple which the people of that place had made in honour of Hercules, and amongst the images in the temple he found one of king Alexander, and everyone said that this statue was Alexander’s likeness in size and looks. And when Caesar saw it, he spent a long time looking at it and thinking. And then he said that if Alexander had been so small of body and so ugly, and yet had done so many good and great deeds, he, who was so large and handsome would surely do as great, or even better deeds. And while he was thinking this, he went to his house and he dreamed that night that he impregnated his mother. On the next day, he called for a fine seer who he always had with him, and he told him what he had thought and dreamed. 15 The seer explained his dream, and told him that his mother was the land, and just as he put her beneath him and dominated her, so he would conquer that land and be lord of everything. So he went from there and went to Rome, and afterwards he was lord of the world, just as his history relates. But now we return to speak of Hercules, to tell of his deeds in Spain.”
That’s what allow them to do it, not what cause them to do it, which is what OP was asking about.
Why do people deconvert from Paganism or convert back to Christianity?
pagan