Orphée chez les païens tardifs: un marqueur de la compétition religieuse (fin IVe-début Ve siècle)

The article aims to analyze the role played by Orphic pseudepigraphy in pagan and Christian discourse in the time often referred to as that of the “last pagans.” To investigate the importance of Orpheus and his writings, we will focus on three texts from a limited period (from the 390s to the 430s) and of specific geographical and cultural contexts: the correspondence between the Christian bishop Augustine and the pagan dignitary Longinianus ; the speech of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus in Macrobius’ Saturnalia; and the anti-pagan polemical treatise of Theodoret of Cyr, A Cure for Greek Maladies. The proposed analysis shows that the figure of Orpheus plays an active role in this last phase of the competition between pagans and Christians and that the Orphic texts still represent a cultural reference and a religious authority in the eyes of the authors of the time.