Casting Islam as revived paganism reframed crusade as continued Roman martyrdom struggle

Evidence

If Islam is seen in the familiar and despised guise of ancient paganism, then the struggles of Christians against it will be seen as part of the continuing struggle against the pagan persecutions of Roman days. With the notion of opposing paganism, naturally came the ideal of martyrdom: the chroniclers compared the struggle with the “pagan” Saracen to the struggle against the ancient pagans of Rome. The patent falseness of these stories is obvious to anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Islam. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 664

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the rhetorical mechanism — assimilating a new enemy to an old, familiar one — that vault sources like Aziz/Razack identify in modern securitization of Muslims; genealogy of a template.