Cross posted from https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/trippinthroughtime/p/790340/not-credible
Not so close when the Romans came tho.
Jesus and his ~~12~~ 11 friends.
The more friends you have, the more likely it is that one of those friends will betray you.
Not a friendship group, it's a cult!
Not weird back in the day. When you have to actually talk to people to socialize you end up with better socialization skills. It was notable when someone became a hermit or recluse back then since you really needed a whole bunch of other people to help you survive.
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek γνωστικός (gnōstikós) 'having knowledge'; Koine Greek: [ɣnostiˈkos]) is a collection of different religious and philosophical ideas and systems that fully developed by the mid-2nd century among sects of early Christianity and other faiths. It is not a singular, homogeneous tradition or religion, but an umbrella term used by modern scholars to describe different groups and beliefs that shared certain characteristics. These diverse Gnostic groups generally emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the authority, traditions, and proto-orthodox teachings of organized religious institutions.
TLDR: be spiritual; but also as weird as possible
Rule 0: Don't be a dick.