The Inconceivable Polytheism
Author: Francis Schmidt
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1987
Total Pages: 404
ISBN-13: 9783718603671
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFirst Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
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The Family, Women and Death
Author: S.C. Humphreys
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2023-10-01
Total Pages: 281
ISBN-13: 100099015X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOriginally published in 1983 and as a second edition in 1993, this book deals with 3 universal but culturally variable phenomena: the family, women and death. The book poses questions about our own ways of looking at the family and private life, at sex and gender and at death, by analysing ancient Greek ideas and by showing how researchers’ presuppositions have been influenced by their own culture and experience. The views of Fustel de Coulanges on the place of tomb-cult in the evolution of the family in the ancient world are critically examined and related to their 19th Century context; the study of the classical Athenian family is related to current historical and sociological debates on the separation between public and private life.
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion
Author: Esther Eidinow
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2015-10-01
Total Pages: 737
ISBN-13: 0191058076
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis handbook offers both students and teachers of ancient Greek religion a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship in the subject, from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods. It not only presents key information, but also explores the ways in which such information is gathered and the different approaches that have shaped the area. In doing so, the volume provides a crucial research and orientation tool for students of the ancient world, and also makes a vital contribution to the key debates surrounding the conceptualization of ancient Greek religion. The handbook's initial chapters lay out the key dimensions of ancient Greek religion, approaches to evidence, and the representations of myths. The following chapters discuss the continuities and differences between religious practices in different cultures, including Egypt, the Near East, the Black Sea, and Bactria and India. The range of contributions emphasizes the diversity of relationships between mortals and the supernatural - in all their manifestations, across, between, and beyond ancient Greek cultures - and draws attention to religious activities as dynamic, highlighting how they changed over time, place, and context.
A Companion to Roman Religion
Author: Jörg Rüpke
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2011-04-18
Total Pages: 578
ISBN-13: 1444339249
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA comprehensive treatment of the significant symbols and institutions of Roman religion, this companion places the various religious symbols, discourses, and practices, including Judaism and Christianity, into a larger framework to reveal the sprawling landscape of the Roman religion. An innovative introduction to Roman religion Approaches the field with a focus on the human-figures instead of the gods Analyzes religious changes from the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD Offers the first history of religious motifs on coins and household/everyday utensils Presents Roman religion within its cultural, social, and historical contexts
An Introduction to Roman Religion
Author: John Scheid
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2003
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 9780253216601
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"An Introduction to Roman Religion" offers students of ancient Rome and classical civilization entry into a distant world in which the state, the social life of the city, and religion were inextricably bound. Professor Scheid draws on the latest findings in archaeology and history to explain the meanings of rituals, rites, auspices, and oracles, to describe the uses of temples and sacred ground, and to evoke the daily patterns of religious life and observance within the city of Rome and its environs. "An Introduction to Roman Religion" includes a wealth of quotations from primary sources, a chronology of religious and historical events from 750 BC to AD 494, a full glossary and an annotated guide to further reading. -- From publisher's description.
From Ancient Rome to Colonial Mexico
Author: David Charles Wright-Carr
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Published: 2023-05-01
Total Pages: 301
ISBN-13: 164642316X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom Ancient Rome to Colonial Mexico compares the Christianization of the Roman Empire with the evangelization of Mesoamerica, offering novel perspectives on the historical processes involved in the spread of Christianity. Combining concepts of empire and globalization with the notion of religion from a postcolonial perspective, the book proposes the method of analytical comparison as a point of departure to conceptualize historical affinities and differences between the ancient Roman Empire and colonial Mesoamerica. An international team of specialists in classical scholarship and Mesoamerican studies engage in an interdisciplinary discussion involving ideas from history, anthropology, archaeology, art history, iconography, and philology. Key themes include the role of religion in processes of imperial domination; religion’s use as an instrument of resistance or the imposition, appropriation, incorporation, and adaptation of various elements of religious systems by hegemonic groups and subaltern peoples; the creative misunderstandings that can arise on the “middle ground”; and Christianity’s rejection of ritual violence and its use of this rejection as a pretext for inflicting other kinds of violence against peoples classified as “barbarian,” “pagan,” or “diabolical.” From Ancient Rome to Colonial Mexico presents a sympathetic vantage point for discussing and attempting to decipher past processes of social communication in multicultural contexts of present-day realities. It will be significant for scholars and specialists in the history of religions, ethnohistory, classical antiquity, and Mesoamerican studies. Publication supported, in part, by Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Contributors: Sergio Botta,Maria Celia Fontana Calvo, Martin Devecka, György Németh, Guilhem Olivier, Francisco Marco Simón, Paolo Taviani, Greg Woolf, David Charles Wright-Carr, Lorenzo Pérez Yarza Translators: Emma Chesterman, Benjamin Adam Jerue, Layla Wright-Contreras
Foreign Cults in Rome
Author: Eric Orlin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2010-08-27
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13: 019045346X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKReligion is a particularly useful field within which to study Roman self-definition, for the Romans considered themselves to be the most religious of all peoples and ascribed their imperial success to their religiosity. This study builds on the observation that the Romans were remarkably open to outside influences to explore how installing foreign religious elements as part of their own religious system affected their notions of what it meant to be Roman. The inclusion of so many foreign elements posed difficulties for defining a sense of Romanness at the very moment when a territorial definition was becoming obsolete. Using models drawn from anthropology, this book demonstrates that Roman religious activity beginning in the middle Republic (early third century B.C.E.) contributed to redrawing the boundaries of Romanness. The methods by which the Romans absorbed cults and priests and their development of practices in regard to expiations and the celebration of ludi allowed them to recreate a clear sense of identity, one that could include the peoples they had conquered. While this identity faced further challenges during the civil wars of the Late Republic, the book suggests that Roman openness remained a vital part of their religious behavior during this time. Foreign Cults in Rome concludes with a brief look at the reforms of the first emperor Augustus, whose activity can be understood in light of Republican activity, and whose actions laid the foundation for further adaptation under the Empire.
Under Divine Auspices
Author: Clare Rowan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 321
ISBN-13: 1107020123
DOWNLOAD EBOOKExploration of the role played by deities in the negotiation of imperial power under the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235).
The Penguin Handbook of Ancient Religions
Author: Various contributors
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2009-08-27
Total Pages: 585
ISBN-13: 0141956666
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis overview of the religious customs of ancient cultures boasts an international selection of contributors, all of whom are leading scholars in their field. The cultural practices of popular as well as formal religion are explored in detail, giving an impression of all, not only elite societies. Every topic is placed in its own cultural context, while bearing in mind its relevance to a wider historical and sociological debate. The result is an erudite and thoroughly readable handbook to ancient religions, from Palaeolithic cave art to the rituals of Aztec and Inca civilizations.
The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths
Author: John Heath
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-04-29
Total Pages: 434
ISBN-13: 0429663749
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths explores and compares the most influential sets of divine myths in Western culture: the Homeric pantheon and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Heath argues that not only does the God of the Old Testament bear a striking resemblance to the Olympians, but also that the Homeric system rejected by the Judeo-Christian tradition offers a better model for the human condition. The universe depicted by Homer and populated by his gods is one that creates a unique and powerful responsibility – almost directly counter to that evoked by the Bible—for humans to discover ethical norms, accept death as a necessary human limit, develop compassion to mitigate a tragic existence, appreciate frankly both the glory and dangers of sex, and embrace and respond courageously to an indifferent universe that was clearly not designed for human dominion. Heath builds on recent work in biblical and classical studies to examine the contemporary value of mythical deities. Judeo-Christian theologians over the millennia have tried to explain away Yahweh’s Olympian nature while dismissing the Homeric deities for the same reason Greek philosophers abandoned them: they don’t live up to preconceptions of what a deity should be. In particular, the Homeric gods are disappointingly plural, anthropomorphic, and amoral (at best). But Heath argues that Homer’s polytheistic apparatus challenges us to live meaningfully without any help from the divine. In other words, to live well in Homer’s tragic world – an insight gleaned by Achilles, the hero of the Iliad – one must live as if there were no gods at all. The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths should change the conversation academics in classics, biblical studies, theology and philosophy have – especially between disciplines – about the gods of early Greek epic, while reframing on a more popular level the discussion of the role of ancient myth in shaping a thoughtful life.
