This selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career—both early as well as more recent—in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.
Preliminary material /M. J. Vermaseren -- THE HELLENISTIC CONCEPT OF THE ENVIOUSNESS OF FATE /G. J. D. Aalders H. Wzn -- THE LEGEND OF CYBELE'S ARRIVAL IN ROME /JAN BREMMER -- THE CISTA MYSTICA IN THE CULT AND MYSTERIES OF ISIS /M. S. H. G. HEERMA VAN VOSS -- DER SCHATTEN IM HELLENISTISCHEN VOLKSGLAUBEN /P. W. VAN DER HORST -- BOTPYC BOHCEI. The Age of Kronos and the Millennium in Papias of Hierapolis /H. J. DE JONGE -- THE REALITY OF THE INVISIBLE. Some Remarks on St John XIV 8 and Greek Philosophic Tradition /TH. KORTEWEG -- JERUSALEM, WOHNSITZ DER WEISHEIT /J. C. H. LEBRAM -- PROVIDENCE AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNIVERSE IN EARLY STOIC THOUGHT. With Some Remarks on the “Mysteries of Philosophy” /J. MANSFELD -- THE INTERPRETATIO JUDAICA OF SARAPIS /GERARD MUSSIES -- ILLNESS AND SIN, FORGIVING AND HEALING. The Connection of Medical Treatment and Religious Beliefs in Ben Sira 38, 1-15 /SIJBOLT NOORDA -- THE CULT OF THE IBIS IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD. With Special Attention to the Data from the Papyri /K. A. D. SMELIK -- FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS AND THE MYSTERIES /W. C. VAN UNNIK -- SOME REMARKS ON THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF MONICA, MOTHER OF SAINT AUGUSTINE /CORNELIA W. WOLFSKEEL.
This selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career--both early as well as more recent--in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.
Until now, there has been no comprehensive study of religion in Athens from the end of the classical period to the time of Rome's domination of the city. Jon D. Mikalson provides a chronological approach to religion in Hellenistic Athens, disproving the widely held belief that Hellenistic religion during this period represented a decline from the classical era. Drawing from epigraphical, historical, literary, and archaeological sources, Mikalson traces the religious cults and beliefs of Athenians from the battle of Chaeroneia in 338 B.C. to the devastation of Athens by Sulla in 86 B.C., demonstrating that traditional religion played a central and vital role in Athenian private, social, and political life. Mikalson describes the private and public religious practices of Athenians during this period, emphasizing the role these practices played in the life of the citizens and providing a careful scruntiny of individual cults. He concludes his study by using his findings from Athens to call into question several commonly held assumptions about the general development of religion in Hellenistic Greece.
Preliminary material /R. Van Den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren -- LIST OF PROFESSOR QUISPEL'S PUBLICATIONS /R. Van Den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren -- TRACES OF AN ALEXANDRIAN ORPHIC THEOGONY IN THE PSEUDO-CLEMENTINES /J. VAN AMERSFOORT -- THE RELIGIO-HISTORICAL RELEVANCE OF LK 20:34-36 /UGO BIANCHI -- THE CREATION OF ADAM'S PSYCHIC BODY IN THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN /R. VAN DEN BROEK -- DAĒNĀ, LICHTJUNGFRAU, ZWEITE GESTALT /CARSTEN COLPE -- THE ANGELS OF THE NATIONS AND THE ORIGINS OF GNOSTIC DUALISM /IOAN P. CULIANU -- GNOSTISCHE SPUREN BEI PLUTARCH /H. DÖRRIE -- ODES OF SOLOMON AND PSALMS OF MANI /H. J. W. DRIJVERS -- ELEMENTS GNOSTIQUES DANS L'ŒUVRE DE MACROBE /JACQUES FLAMANT -- SAMARITAN DEMIURGICAL TRADITIONS AND THE ALLEGED DOVE CULT OF THE SAMARITANS /JARL FOSSUM -- CHARGES OF “IMMORALITY” AGAINST VARIOUS RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN ANTIQUITY /ROBERT M. GRANT -- THE PROBLEM OF THE ANTI-GNOSTIC POLEMIC IN RABBINIC LITERATURE /ITHAMAR GRUENWALD -- LES SÉMITISMES DANS L'ÉVANGILE SELON THOMAS ESSAI DE CLASSEMENT /ANTOINE GUILLAUMONT -- POINTES ANTIGNOSTIQUES D'ORIGÈNE: LE QUESTIONNEMENT IMPIE DES ÉCRITURES /MARGUERITE HARL -- AN ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF THE STORY OF THE FLOOD IN THE APOCALYPSE OF ADAM /A. F. J. KLIJN -- LE LIVRE D'ADAM GEORGIEN /JEAN-PIERRE MAHÉ -- BAD WORLD AND DEMIURGE: A 'GNOSTIC' MOTIF FROM PARMENIDES AND EMPEDOCLES TO LUCRETIUS AND PHILO /JAAP MANSFELD -- CATALOGUES OF SINS AND VIRTUES PERSONIFIED (NHC 11,5) /GERARD MUSSIES -- JEWISH ELEMENTS IN CORPUS HERMETICUM I (POIMANDRES) /BIRGER A. PEARSON -- HELLENISTIC MAGIC: SOME QUESTIONS OF DEFINITION /ALAN F. SEGAL -- INTERPRETAZIONI GNOSTICHE E MISTERIOSOFICHE DEL MITO DI ATTIS /GIULIA SFAMENI GASPARRO -- ABERAMENTHŌ /MICHEL TARDIEU -- L'ICONOGRAPHIE D'ATTIS MOURANT /MAARTEN J. VERMASEREN -- UNE ANAPHORE INCOMPLÈTE? /H.A.J. WEGMAN -- GNOSIS AND THE MYSTERIES /R. MeL. WILSON -- “TERRA AUTEMSTUPIDA QUADAM ERAT ADMIRATIONE” /J.C.M. VAN WINDEN -- JEWISH GNOSTICISM? /EDWIN M. YAMAUCHI -- “THE TEACHINGS OF SILVANUS” (NHC VII,4) AND JEWISH CHRISTIANITY /J. ZANDEE -- INDEX OF SOURCES /Roel B. Van Den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren -- INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS /Roel B. Van Den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren.
This insightful read traces the development of the principal Western religions and their philosophical counterparts from the beginnings of Alexander the Great's empire in 331 B.C.E. to the emergence of the Christian world in the fourth century C.E.
Articles in this volume, orginally presented at the 1998 Symposium Hellenisticum in Lille, discuss theological questions that were central to the doctrines of the dominant schools in the Hellenistic age, such as the existence of the gods, their nature, and their concern for humankind.
"There is something of a paradox about our access to ancient Greek religion. We know too much, and too little. The materials that bear on it far outreach an individual's capacity to assimilate: so many casual allusions in so many literary texts over more than a millennium, so many direct or indirect references in so many inscriptions from so many places in the Greek world, such an overwhelming abundance of physical remains. But genuinely revealing evidence does not often cluster coherently enough to create a vivid sense of the religious realities of a particular time and place. Amid a vast archipelago of scattered islets of information, only a few are of a size to be habitable."—from the Preface In On Greek Religion, Robert Parker offers a provocative and wide-ranging entrée into the world of ancient Greek religion, focusing especially on the interpretive challenge of studying a religious system that in many ways remains desperately alien from the vantage point of the twenty-first century. One of the world's leading authorities on ancient Greek religion, Parker raises fundamental methodological questions about the study of this vast subject. Given the abundance of evidence we now have about the nature and practice of religion among the ancient Greeks—including literary, historical, and archaeological sources—how can we best exploit that evidence and agree on the central underlying issues? Is it possible to develop a larger, "unified" theoretical framework that allows for coherent discussions among archaeologists, anthropologists, literary scholars, and historians? In seven thematic chapters, Parker focuses on key themes in Greek religion: the epistemological basis of Greek religion; the relation of ritual to belief; theories of sacrifice; the nature of gods and heroes; the meaning of rituals, festivals, and feasts; and the absence of religious authority. Ranging across the archaic, classical, and Hellenistic periods, he draws on multiple disciplines both within and outside classical studies. He also remains sensitive to varieties of Greek religious experience. Also included are five appendixes in which Parker applies his innovative methodological approach to particular cases, such as the acceptance of new gods and the consultation of oracles. On Greek Religion will stir debate for its bold questioning of disciplinary norms and for offering scholars and students new points of departure for future research.
The contributors to this volume seek to decipher the Hellenistic citizens' views on vital elements of their society: the city, the ruler, religion, magic and astrology, everyday life and social relations (family and gender), morality, uses of the past, and the iconography of death. How did the changes in political and social ideas affect actions and practices, which in turn again altered concepts? Moreover, the authors distinguish between the views of the common people and the elite, the evidence from inscriptions (seen as popular sentiment) and the evidence from literature (from the elite). The authors' conclusions have broad ramifications for future scholars in a field that has not hitherto received much attention. This volume is essential reading on the early development of individualism and the history of ideas.
This book investigates Hellenistic popular religion through an interdisciplinary study of terracotta figurines of Egyptian deities, mostly from domestic contexts, from the trading port of Delos. A comparison of the figurines’ iconography to parallels in Egyptian religious texts, temple reliefs, and ritual objects suggests that many figurines depict deities or rituals associated with Egyptian festivals. An analysis of the objects’ clay fabrics and manufacturing techniques indicates that most were made on Delos. Additionally, archival research on unpublished notes from early excavations reveals new data on many figurines’ archaeological contexts, illuminating their roles in both domestic and temple cults. The results offer a new perspective on Hellenistic reinterpretations of Egyptian religion, as well as the relationship between “popular” and “official” cults.
