Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations :
The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire

J 2018

Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire

FOUSEK, Jan, Vojtěch KAŠE, Adam MERTEL, Eva VÝTVAROVÁ, Aleš CHALUPA et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire

Authors

FOUSEK, Jan (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Vojtěch KAŠE (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Adam MERTEL (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Eva VÝTVAROVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Aleš CHALUPA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution)

Edition

PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2018, 1932-6203

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

60304 Religious studies

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 2.776

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/18:00105310

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208744

UT WoS

000454416400033

Keywords in English

Early Christianity;Transportation; Network Analysis; Culture; Urban Geography

Abstract

V originále

Christianity emerged as a small and marginal movement in the first century Palestine and throughout the following three centuries it became highly visible in the whole Mediterranean. Little is known about the mechanisms of spreading innovative ideas in past societies. Here we investigate how well the spread of Christianity can be explained as a diffusive process constrained by physical travel in the Roman Empire. First, we combine a previously established model of the transportation network with city population estimates and evaluate to which extent the spatio-temporal pattern of the spread of Christianity can be explained by static factors. Second, we apply a network-theoretical approach to analyze the spreading process utilizing effective distance. We show that the spread of Christianity in the first two centuries closely follows a gravity-guided diffusion, and is substantially accelerated in the third century. Using the effective distance measure, we are able to suggest the probable path of the spread. Our work demonstrates how the spatio-temporal patterns we observe in the data can be explained using only spatial constraints and urbanization structure of the empire. Our findings also provide a methodological framework to be reused for studying other cultural spreading phenomena.

Links

MUNI/M/1867/2014, interní kód MU

Name: Generativní historiografie antického Středomoří: Modelování a simulace dynamiky šíření náboženských představ a forem chování (Acronym: GEHIR)

Investor: Masaryk University, INTERDISCIPLINARY - Interdisciplinary research projects

Citovat

FOUSEK, Jan, Vojtěch KAŠE, Adam MERTEL, Eva VÝTVAROVÁ and Aleš CHALUPA. Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire. PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science, 2018, vol. 13, No 12, p. 1-14. ISSN 1932-6203. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208744.

@article{1484184,
   author = {Fousek, Jan and Kaše, Vojtěch and Mertel, Adam and Výtvarová, Eva and Chalupa, Aleš},
   article_number = {12},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208744},
   keywords = {Early Christianity;Transportation; Network Analysis; Culture; Urban Geography},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {1932-6203},
   journal = {PLOS ONE},
   title = {Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire},
   url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208744},
   volume = {13},
   year = {2018}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 1484184
AU  - Fousek, Jan - Kaše, Vojtěch - Mertel, Adam - Výtvarová, Eva - Chalupa, Aleš
PY  - 2018
TI  - Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire
JF  - PLOS ONE
VL  - 13
IS  - 12
SP  - 1-14
EP  - 1-14
PB  - Public Library of Science
SN  - 19326203
KW  - Early Christianity;Transportation
KW  - Network Analysis
KW  - Culture
KW  - Urban Geography
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208744
L2  - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0208744
N2  - Christianity emerged as a small and marginal movement in the first century Palestine and throughout the following three centuries it became highly visible in the whole Mediterranean. Little is known about the mechanisms of spreading innovative ideas in past societies. Here we investigate how well the spread of Christianity can be explained as a diffusive process constrained by physical travel in the Roman Empire. First, we combine a previously established model of the transportation network with city population estimates and evaluate to which extent the spatio-temporal pattern of the spread of Christianity can be explained by static factors. Second, we apply a network-theoretical approach to analyze the spreading process utilizing effective distance. We show that the spread of Christianity in the first two centuries closely follows a gravity-guided diffusion, and is substantially accelerated in the third century. Using the effective distance measure, we are able to suggest the probable path of the spread. Our work demonstrates how the spatio-temporal patterns we observe in the data can be explained using only spatial constraints and urbanization structure of the empire. Our findings also provide a methodological framework to be reused for studying other cultural spreading phenomena.
ER  -

FOUSEK, Jan, Vojtěch KAŠE, Adam MERTEL, Eva VÝTVAROVÁ and Aleš CHALUPA. Spatial constraints on the diffusion of religious innovations : The case of early Christianity in the Roman Empire. \textit{PLOS ONE}. Public Library of Science, 2018, vol.~13, No~12, p.~1-14. ISSN~1932-6203. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208744.

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