He is also the nominal addressee, and thus probable instigator, of a decree that renewed a prohibition on the pagan practice of haruspicy, as well as several laws against heretics and Jews. Those in the latter group, in particular, have been said to display a conspicuous 'anti-Jewish tendency contrary to Theodosius's usual policy'. Cynegius has been identified with the high official who received the Missorium of Theodosius I and was probably depicted on it. A country house found by archaeologists near Carranque in Spain has been attributed to Cynegius. Anti-pagan activities and reputation Maternus Cynegius has received widespread attention and notoriety in scholarship due to evidence that he instigated numerous acts of vandalism against pagan shrines throughout the east. The evidence from ancient sources is listed as follows. The 6th-century Greek historian Zosimus, a pagan, blames Cynegius for the systematic closure of temples and suppression of traditional rituals throughout the east while en route to, and then in, Egypt. A similar story is told by the Consularia Constantinopolitana, a Latin-language almanac issued at Constantinople. The Antiochene rhetor Libanius, a pagan and contemporary of events, reports a series of outrages committed against pagan shrines in Syria during Cynegius's term of office, and specifically denounces an unnamed official (usually identified as Cynegius himself) who, at his wife's instigation, destroyed a temple in Osroene (likely at Carrhae or perhaps Edessa) without the emperor's permission. The 5th-century ecclesiastical historian Theodoret reports an unidentified eastern governor's attempt to demolish a temple of Zeus at Apameia, Syria, with the aid of the local bishop, Marcellus. Zosimus's explicit mention of Cynegius and the contemporary actions reported by Libanius and Theodoret have led many authors, like Otto Seeck, John Matthews and those of the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, to attribute the main responsibility for the disturbances to Cynegius. Paul Petit, following Libanius, portrays Cynegius as encouraging bands of monks to destroy rural shrines across the east, coordinating operations while based at Antioch in 385–386, though Petit identifies the vandal of Theodoret as a different, lower ranking official instead. In 1982, Polish archeologist Barbara Gassowska tentatively ascribed the demise of the temple of Al-Lat in Palmyra to Cynegius. Olszaniec takes for granted that Cynegius was the official described by Libanius and that he was acting at the behest of emperor Theodosius. In 2005, Neil McLynn cast doubt on Cynegius's reputation as a destroyer of temples, arguing that