Greco-Roman religion in the context of "Roman pantheon"

Paganism (from Latin paganus 'rural, rustic', later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the Roman Empire, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population, or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ). Alternative terms used in Christian texts were hellene, gentile, and heathen. Ritual sacrifice was an integral part of ancient Greco-Roman religion and was regarded as an indication of whether a person was pagan or Christian. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry".

During and after the Middle Ages, the term paganism was applied to any non-Christian religion, and the term presumed a belief in false gods. The origin of the application of the term "pagan" to polytheism is debated. In the 19th century, paganism was adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. In the 20th century, it came to be applied as a self-descriptor by practitioners of modern paganism, modern pagan movements and polytheistic reconstructionists. Modern pagan traditions often incorporate beliefs or practices, such as nature worship, that are different from those of the largest world religions.

Byzantine Palestine or Palaestina refers to the geographic, political, and cultural landscape of Palestine (also known as Land of Israel or Holy Land) during the period of Byzantine rule (early 4th to mid-7th centuries CE), beginning with the consolidation of Constantine’s power in the early 4th century CE and lasting until the Arab-Muslim conquest in the 7th century CE. The term generally designates the territories reorganized into the provinces of Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia (or Salutaris) between the late 4th and 5th centuries (covering most of modern-day Israel and Palestine and parts of Jordan and Syria.

The title "Byzantine" is a modern and artificial term which has been called "imaginary". This division is not unique for Palestine and related to the historiographical line between Ancient history and the Middle Ages. The Byzantine period in Palestine was politically a direct continuation of Roman rule, which began with Pompey’s conquest in 63 BCE and, from 395 CE, persisted in the form of the Eastern Roman Empire. Culturally, it followed a historical continuum that began in 332 BCE with the conquest of Alexander the Great and the incorporation of the Levant into the Hellenistic world, later evolving into a Hellenistic–Roman–Byzantine sphere. The Byzantine period is most distinguished from earlier times by major religious and demographic changes. Christianity became the state religion and Palestine assumed a central place in the Christian world, while the Jewish, Samaritan and polytheistic populations, facing increasing restrictions, became a minorities. The Jewish community declined in influence relative to diaspora communities, with the Babylonian Jewish community emerging as the leading center of Judaism.