Okay, fair enough about the time period. But I am interested in the evolution of it as well, so it is interesting to hear about it as a funeral rite.
As for the lack of much persecution of the Christians, I seem to remember reading about that elsewhere some years ago, but I do not recall what it was I read on that topic. (Maybe it was an excerpt from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Did he say something along those lines?) It was in the days before everyone was online, so it has been a while.
Christians seem to always exaggerate the levels of persecution that they face.
As for the lack of much persecution of the Christians, I seem to remember reading about that elsewhere some years ago, but I do not recall what it was I read on that topic. (Maybe it was an excerpt from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Did he say something along those lines?) It was in the days before everyone was online, so it has been a while.
Christians seem to always exaggerate the levels of persecution that they face.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
