Derived from Latin paganus, the Roman term for a rural dweller, this word came to be applied to those who were not ChristianChristian Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church to designate all members of the church., particularly the followers of the classical religion of Greece and RomeRome This Italian city was the capital of the Roman Empire and, with the primacy accorded to the bishops of Rome (the popes), the centre of the Western Church from the late-Antique period onwards. Rome was not only the administrative centre, but an important source of innovation, relics and liturgy. Missionaries from Rome played an important role in the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England from late 6th century onward. and those who followed the pre-Christian religions of Europe