>>17803464
>He literally reconquered lost territories, restoring Rome to its normal size. You don't know what words mean
You don't know what the Romans, and later people thought of as conquest. Aurelian was not claiming new lands. He was taking back land that everybody still regarded as Roman back under central control by winning civil war. That's completely different from conquering a foreign territory in the eyes of people at the time and for the practical way it was achieved. By the same logic Valens conquered half of the Roman Empire from Procopius.
>A strong and influential minority, included in the educated elite.
This minority was exactly that. They simply did not have the numbers to be important and especially for Theodosius II the only known pagan in out of the dozens of high ranking officials was Zeno. His court was almost exclusively Christian and his disbelief in there being pagans really left as a group isn't really that strange with non-elites having even less of a reason or attachment to paganism. He knew there were pagans, he knew one personally. The law is concerned with the practical outcome of its enactment, and this is where is doubt comes into play.
>See for example Hypatia
Hypatia was illegally murdered by a mob and Cyril was almost deposed and exiled for facilitating it. His reputation would not recover for over a decade after it.
>They were not overlooked at all
Except Symmachus and other later pagans all still were capable of having highly successful public careers and managed to practice the rites of their faith. Theodosius could have dismantled the Priestly College and disbanded all of the state cults if he wished, but he didn't. The College was filled with powerful senators who all openly aligned themselves with paganism and even spoke in its defence, and yet they were all allowed to practice it and nobody stopped them. Zeno under Theodosius II made multiple pagan patronages and nobody stopped him.

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>Destroys Greco-Roman civilisation>Is called "the Great"Explain.

>Destroys Greco-Roman civilisation
>Is called "the Great"
Explain.