Actualities: "New" books about Roman Religion

• Jaillard, Dominique; Waldner, Katharina (Hrsg.), La divination dans l’antiquité. Une enquête comparatiste, Cahiers Glotz 16, 2005 [Sammelpublikation von Tagunsbeiträten, erschienen 2007].
• Kunz, H. Sicilia. Religionsgeschichte des römischen Sizilien, Tübingen 2006, Mythos 2 n.s. (2008) 166-167.
• Kleine Leute und große Helden in Homers Odyssee und Kallimachos’ Hekale, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 274, De Gruyter: Berlin/New York 2010
• CLARK, A., Divine Qualities: Cult and Community in Republican Rome, 2007
• NOGALES, T. and J. GONZÁLEZ (Eds), Culto imperial: política y poder, 2007
• BONNET, C., S. RIBICHINI and D. STEUERNAGEL (Eds), Religioni in contatto nel Mediterraneo antico. Modalità di diffusione e processi di interferenza. Atti del 3 colloquio “Le Religioni Orientali nel Mondo Greco e Romano, 2008
• BOWES, K., Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity,2008
•  FRANGOULIDIS, S., Witches, Isis and Narrative: Approaches to Magic in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, 2008
• GARDNER, G. and K. OSTERLOH (Eds), Antiquity in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World ,2008
• Marie Ver Eecke, La République et le roi: le mythe de Romulus à la fin de la République romaine. De l'archéologie à l'histoire. Paris: 2008. Pp. 588
• VAN ANDRINGA, W. (Ed.), Sacrifices, marché de la viande et pratiques alimentaires dans les cités du monde romain, 2008 
• KROPP, A., Magische Sprachverwendung in vulgärlateinischen Fluchtafeln (Defixiones), 2008 
• HIRSCH-LUIPOLD, R., H. GÖRGEMANNS and M. VON ALBRECHT (Eds), Religiöse Philosophie und philosophische Religion der frühen Kaiserzeit: Literaturgeschichtliche Perspektiven, 2009 
• Steve Mason, Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories. Peabody, MA: 2009. Pp. xx, 443.
• Jörg Ulrich, Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Maijastina Kahlos, Continuity and Discontinuity in Early Christian Apologetics. Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity 5. Frankfurt am Main: 2009. Pp. 130
• John Bodel, Mika Kajava, Dediche sacre nel mondo greco-romano: diffusione, funzioni, tipologie = Religious Dedications in the Greco-Roman World: Distribution, Typology, Use. Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, American Academy in Rome, 19-20 aprile, 2006. Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 35. Roma: 2009. Pp. 420.
• Maria Xagorari-Gleißner, Meter Theon: die Göttermutter bei den Griechen. Peleus Bd 40. Ruhpolding: 2009. Pp. 175
• Philip Kiernan, Miniature Votive Offerings in the North-west Provinces of the Roman Empire. Mentor Bd. 4. Mainz/Ruhpolding: 2009. Pp. vi, 300
• Tesse Dieder Stek, Cult Places and Cultural Change in Republican Italy: A Contextual Approach to Religious Aspects of Rural Society after the Roman Conquest. Amsterdam Archaeological Studies 14. Amsterdam: 2009. Pp. x, 263
• Philip A. Harland, Dynamics of Identity in the World of the Early Christians: Associations, Judeans, and Cultural Minorities. New York: 2009. Pp. xii, 239
• Feyo L. Schuddeboom, Greek Religious Terminology – Telete & Orgia: A Revised and Expanded English Edition of the Studies by Zijderveld and Van der Burg. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 169. Leiden/Boston: 2009. Pp. xxii, 285.

• Fritz Graf, Apollo. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World.   London/New York:  Routledge, 2009.  Pp. xviii,190.

• Antonella Pautasso, Stipe votiva del santuario di Demetra a Catania, 2: la ceramica greco-orientale. Studi e materiali di archeologia greca 9. Catania: 2009. Pp. 154; 23 p. of plates
• Martino Menghi, L'etica della temperanza: fortuna di un ideale nella società antica. Temi metafisici e problemi del pensiero antico 116. Milano: 2009. Pp. vii, 204
• Dorothee Elm, Thorsten Fitzon, Kathrin Liess, Sandra Linden, Alterstopoi: das Wissen von den Lebensaltern in Literatur, Kunst und Theologie. Berlin/New York: 2009. Pp. vi, 346.
• Agnès Bérenger, Éric Perrin-Saminadayar, Les entrées royales et impériales: histoire, représentation et diffusion d'une cérémonie publique, de l'Orient ancien à Byzance. de l'archéologie à l'histoire. Paris: 2009. Pp. 292.
• Mariangela Puglisi, La Sicilia da Dionisio I a Sesto Pompeo: circolazione e funzione della moneta. Pelorias 16. Messina: 2009. Pp. 519
•  Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Jörg Ulrich, David Brakke, Critique and Apologetics: Jews, Christians, and Pagans in Antiquity. Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity 4. Frankfurt am Main: 2009. Pp. 327.
•  Sarah Hitch, King of Sacrifice: Ritual and Royal Authority in the Iliad. Hellenic Studies 25. Washington, DC: 2009. Pp. ix, 235
• Giovanni Casadio, Patricia A. Johnston, Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia. Austin: 2009. Pp. xv, 372
• Cristina Mazzoni, She-wolf: The Story of a Roman Icon. Cambridge/New York: 2010. Pp. xiv, 282
• Amar Annus, Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World. Oriental Institute Seminars, no 6. Chicago, IL: 2010. Pp. viii, 351.
• Maria Grazia Lancellotti, Dea Caelestis: studi e materiali per la storia di una divinità dell'Africa romana. Collezione di studi fenici 44. Pisa/ Roma: 2010. Pp. 143
•  Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, Steven J. Friesen, From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonikê: Studies in Religion and Archaeology. Harvard Theological Studies 64. Cambridge, MA: 2010. Pp. xiv, 437
• Paolo Liverani, Giandomenico Spinola, The Vatican Necropoles: Rome's City of the Dead. Turnhout: 2010. Pp. 352.
• Heike Bartel, Anne Simon, Unbinding Medea: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Classical Myth from Antiquity to the 21st Century. London: 2010. Pp. xvi, 336
• Jan N. Bremmer, Jitse H. F. Dijkstra, J. E. A. Kroesen, Y. Kuiper, Myths, Martyrs, and Modernity : Studies in the History of Religions in Honour of Jan N. Bremmer. Numen Book Series. Studies in the History of Religions, 127. Leiden/Boston: 2010. Pp. lvi, 701
•  Nikolaos Arvanitis, Il santuario di Vesta. La casa delle vestali e il tempio di Vesta, VIII sec. a.C.-64 d.C. Rapporto preliminare. Workshop di archeologia classica 3. Pisa/Roma: 2010. Pp. 110.
•   Bezalel Bar-Kochva, The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period. Hellenistic Culture and Society 51. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: 2010. Pp. xiv, 606
• Karen K. Hersch, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity. Cambridge/New York: 2010. Pp. xii, 341
•  L. Bouke van der Meer, Material Aspects of Etruscan Religion: Proceedings of the International Colloquium Leiden, May 29 and 30, 2008. BABesch Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, Supplement 16. Leuven/Paris/Walpole, MA: 2010. Pp. vii, 164
• Luc Brisson, Jean-François Pradeau, Plotin. Traités 51-54; Porphyre. Vie de Plotin. GF 1444. Paris: 2010. Pp. 384
• Elizabeth Keitel, Jane W. Crawford, Cicero: Pro Caelio. Focus Classical Commentary. Newburyport, MA: 2010. Pp. viii, 123.
• Thorsten Burkard, Markus Schauer, Claudia Wiener, Vestigia Vergiliana: Vergil-Rezeption in der Neuzeit. Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft Bd 3. Berlin/New York: 2010. Pp. x, 473
• Eric M. Orlin, Foreign Cults in Rome: Creating a Roman Empire. Oxford/New York: 2010. Pp. xi, 248
• Jan N. Bremmer, Andrew Erskine, The Gods of Ancient Greece: Identities and Transformations. Edinburgh Leventis Studies 5. Edinburgh: : 2010. Pp. xxi, 528.
• Giulio Guidorizzi, Ai confini dell'anima: i Greci e la follia. Scienza e idee. Milano: 2010. Pp. 225.
•  Elias K. Petropoulos, Alexander A. Maslennikov, Ancient Sacral Monuments in the Black Sea. Thessaloniki: 2010. Pp. 576
• Markus Bockmuehl, The Remembered Peter: In Ancient Reception and Modern Debate. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 262. Tübingen: 2010. Pp. xii, 263.
• Lisa Kaaren Bailey, Christianity's Quiet Success: The Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon Collection and the Power of the Church in Late Antique Gaul. Notre Dame, IN: 2010. Pp. x, 278.
• A. T. Fear, Orosius. Seven Books of History against the Pagans. Translated Texts for Historians 54. Liverpool: 2010. Pp. 456
• D. Vincent Twomey, Janet E. Rutherford, The Holy Spirit in the Fathers of the Church: The Proceedings of the Seventh International Patristic Conference, Maynooth, 2008. Dublin: 2010. Pp. 203.
• Blossom Stefaniw, Mind, Text, and Commentary: Noetic Exegesis in Origen of Alexandria, Didymus the Blind, and Evagrius Ponticus. Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity 6. Frankfurt am Main: 2010. Pp. 416
• David Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity. Cambridge, MA/London: 2010. Pp. xiii, 164
• John F. Shean, Soldiering for God: Christianity and the Roman Army. History of Warfare 61. Leiden/Boston: 2010. Pp. xviii, 452.
• Bonnet Corinne, Carlo Ossola, John Scheid, Rome et ses religions : culte, morale, spiritualité. En relisant Lux Perpetua de Franz Cumont. Supplemento a Mythos 1 n.s. 2010. Caltanissetta: 2010. Pp. Pp. ix, 145
• Ralf Krumeich, Christian Witschel, Die Akropolis von Athen im Hellenismus und in der römischen Kaiserzeit. Wiesbaden: 2010. Pp. x, 445, 81 p. of plates.
• Magali Bailliot, Magie et sortilèges dans l'Antiquité romaine: archéologie des rituels et des images. Paris: 2010. Pp. 212; xix p. of plates.
• Athanassia Zografou, Chemins d'Hécate: portes, routes, carrefours et autres figures de l'entre-deux. Kernos. Supplément 24. Liège: 2010. Pp. 369.
•  Stephen Newmyer, Animals in Greek and Roman Thought: A Sourcebook. Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World. London/New York: 2010. Pp. 142
•  Emma Scioli, Christine Walde, Sub imagine somni: Nighttime Phenomena in Greco-Roman Culture. Testi e studi di cultura classica, 46. Pisa: 2010. Pp. xvii, 313.
• Maria Cruz Cardete del Olmo, Paisaje, identidad y religión: imágenes de la Sicilia antigua. Colección dirigida por M.a Eugenia Aubet. Barcelona: 2010. Pp. 224
• Paula Fredriksen, Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism. New Haven/London: 2010. Pp. xxiii, 488
• Bremmer, Ian M./ Formisano, Marco (Hrsg.), Perpetua’s Passions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010 
  
• ohn A. MacPhail, Jr., Porphyry's Homeric Questions on the Iliad: Text, Translation, Commentary. Texte und Kommentare, Bd 36. Berlin/New York: 2011. Pp. 310.
• Olga Palagia, Bonna D. Wescoat, Samothracian Connections: Essays in Honor of James R. McCredie. Oxford/Oakville, CT: 2010. Pp. vi, 242
• Matthew Robinson, A Commentary on Ovid's Fasti, Book 2. Oxford Classical Monographs. Oxford/New York: 2011. Pp. xiii, 5
• Sergio Audano, Giovanni Cipriani, Aspetti della Fortuna dell'Antico nella Cultura Europea: atti della settima giornata di studi, Sestri Levante, 19 marzo 2010. Echo, 1. Foggia: 2011. Pp. 111. 
• David Mankin, Cicero, De oratore Book III. Cambridge: 2011. Pp. xii, 348.
• Robert Shorrock, The Myth of Paganism: Nonnus, Dionysus and the World of Late Antiquity. Classical Literature and Society. London: 2011. Pp. ix, 181
• Valerie M. Hope, Janet Huskinson, Memory and Mourning: Studies on Roman Death. Oxford/Oakville, CT: 2011. Pp. xxiv, 200.
• Philip A. Harland, Travel and Religion in Antiquity. Studies in Christianity and Judaism/Études sur le christianisme et le judaisme, 21. Waterloo: 2011. Pp. xii, 289.
• Steven Snape, Ancient Egyptian Tombs: the Culture of Life and Death. Blackwell ancient religions. Malden, MA; Oxford; Chichester: 2011. Pp. xvi, 289.
• Alan Cameron, The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford; New York: 2011. Pp. xi, 878
• EAD. et al. (Hg.), Allmacht und Ohnmacht. Antike Vorstellungen über das Verhältnis von Göttern, Schicksal und Menschen. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2011
• Walter Burkert, Kleine Schriften III: Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 2006). - IV/V: Mythica, Ritualia, Religiosa 1/2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 2011).  

Actualities: Living trough the Dead

Living through the Dead - burial and commemoration in the Classical World (2011., Oxbow Books,209. p.) by Maureen Carroll and Jane Rempel (editors) is a part of the series of Studies of Funerary Archaeology edited by the Oxbow Books, specializing on funerary archaeology from Prehistory to modern archaeological techniques used in this field. The monograph by two leading scholars of the field from the Sheffield University is the result of a Conference held in 2006 at the same University. From the papers presented in the volume, the article of Carroll about the damnatio memoriae on the tombstones of ordinary people as a sociological, religious and cultural phenomena is a quite new topic in the field of funerary religion and concepts. Another article from Roman rituals is about the so called resectum, the retaining a piece of bone of the dead as an act of mos maiorum.
About the book: "This volume investigates the archaeology of death and commemoration through thematically linked case studies drawn from the Classical world. These investigations stress the processes of burial and commemoration as inherently social and designed for an audience, and they explore the meaning and importance attached to preserving memory. While previous investigations of Greek and Roman death and burial have tended to concentrate on period- or regionally-specific sets of data, this volume instead focuses on a series of topical connections that highlight important facets of death and commemoration significant to the larger Classical world. Living through the deadinvestigates the subject of death and commemoration from a diverse set of archaeologically informed approaches, including visual reception, detailed analysis of excavated remains, landscape, and post-classical reflections and draws on artefactual, documentary and pictorial evidence. The nine papers present recent research by some of the leading voices on the subject, as well as some fresh perspectives. Case studies come from Thermopylae, the Bosporan kingdom, Athens, Republican Rome, Pompeii and Egypt. As a collected volume, they provide thematically linked investigations of key issues in ritual, memory and (self)presentation associated with death and burial in the Classical period. As such, this volume will be of particular interest to postgraduate students and academics with specialist interests in the archaeology of the Classical world and also more broadly, as a source of comparative material, to people working on issues related to the archaeology of death and commemoration" (loc. cit.) 

Review of the book at Bryn Mawr: HERE  

Related books:

                                                                     

Actualities: Mithras in Malta

This volume, Looking for Mithra in Malta (Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion, 10, 2009, 121.p Peeters Publishers.) by Claudia Sagona is the 10th volume in the series of the upper named religious studies. 

The book of Sagona is a good supplementum of the great work of Vermaseren (CIMRM) which now gradually lost it's actuality. In Vermaseren's corpus Malta doesn't appear (from the Italian islands only Sicily). Sagona lists more than 30 Maltan places, where the cult of the Roman mystery God, Mithras appear. This corpora reflects a new tendency and an urgent need in the research of mithraism begun (but still not accomplished) by Richard Gordon: supplements for CIMRM for every province (an other good example for this is the work of Tóth István about the mithraic sources from Pannonia).

About the book: "Many aspects of the mystery cult of Mithra remain enigmatic. It was a belief system that touched the hearts and minds of all manner of people, rich and poor, in the early centuries AD. Secretive, private and exclusive enclaves of believers infiltrated numerous regions of the Roman Empire, assembling in caves and cellars, where strange, sometimes terrifying, initiation rites were carried out. 

Never before has the evidence for the mysteries of Mithra been traced to the Maltese archipelago. This group of islands in the central Mediterranean fell under Roman domination, but their somewhat isolated location may have appealed to followers of Mithra. Cult artefacts and possible places of Mithraic worship in the islands have been presented here fore the first time (loc. cit.)

Actualities: Associations in the Greco- Roman World

The work edited by John Kloppenborg and Richard Ascough, Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary ( Volume 1. Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace), is the first volume of a project, which idea appeared as a result of a reading seminar of Greek texts at the University of Toronto. The corpus is not only a collection of the epigraphic heritage of the presented regions, but it present the importance of the phratriai, the associations and other guilds or clubs in the world of polis. 

The second volume will appear next year: Associations in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook,  Philip Harland,  Richard Ascough and John S. Kloppenborg.  Baylor University Press / de Gruyter, forthcoming in 2012 (here)
About the book: "Private associations organized around a common cult, profession, ethnic identity, neighbourhood or family were common throughout the Greco-Roman antiquity, offering opportunities for sociability, cultic activities, mutual support and a context in which to display and recognize virtuous achievement. This volume collects a representative selection of inscriptions from associations in Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, published with English translations, brief explanatory notes, commentaries and full indices. This volume is essential for several areas of study: ancient patterns of social organization; the organization of diasporic communities in the ancient Mediterranean; models for the structure of early Christian groups; and forms of sociability, status-displays, and the vocabularies of virtue (loc. cit.)


Other books in this topic:

Actualities: Travel and Religion in Antiquity

The volume edited by Philip A. Harland, Travel and Religion in Antiquity. (Waterloo:  Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011.  Pp. xii, 289) is a part of the famous series of Studies in Christianity and Judaism/Études sur le christianisme et le judaisme. As every book or article of the named scholar, this volume has also a webpage too, with very useful information (HERE). 

A short description of the book and the topic: "Travel and Religion in Antiquity is a book by a group of scholars that explores the ways in which travel and mobility influenced, constrained, and facilitated religious activity and cultural interaction in antiquity, especially in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. This encompasses issues pertaining to ancient travel literature, ethnography, pilgrimage, topography of sacred space, occupational travelers, and migration. Discourses of travel and the function of journey motifs within narrative and other sources also occupy the contributions in this study. Although certainly not limited to studies of early Judaism and Christianity, the contributions shed light on how such topics relating to travel affected adherents, leaders, authors, and movements within these traditions.  The book is the outcome of a multi-year seminar within the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS)". 

Content: 

INTRODUCTION

1 Pausing at the Intersection of Religion and Travel (Philip A. Harland)

HONOURING THE GODS

2 Religion on the Road in Ancient Greece and Rome (Steven Muir)
3 Going Up to Jerusalem: Pilgrimage and the Historical Jesus (Susan Haber)
4 Pilgrimage, Place, and Meaning-Making by Jews in Greco-Roman Egypt (Wayne O. McCready)
5 Have Horn, Will Travel: The Journeys of Mesopotamian Deities (Karljürgen G. Feuerherm)

PROMOTING A DEITY OR WAY OF LIFE

6 The Divine Wanderer: Travel and Divinization in Late Antiquity (Ian W. Scott)
7 Journeys in Pursuit of Divine Wisdom: Stories of Thessalos and Other Seekers(Philip A. Harland)

8 “Danger in the Wilderness, Danger at Sea”: Paul and Perils of Travel (Ryan Schellenberg)

ENCOUNTERING FOREIGN CULTURES

9 Roman Translation: Tacitus and Ethnographic Interpretation (James Rives)

MIGRATING

10 Migration and the Emergence of Greco-Roman Diaspora Judaism (Jack N. Lightstone)

MAKING A LIVING

11 Religion and the Nomadic Lifestyle: The Nabateans (Michele Murray)
12 Christians on the Move in Late Antique Oxyrhynchus (Lincoln Blumell)

Detailed review of the book: HERE.

Related works:

Actualities: Ancient Angels

The volume Ancient Angels - conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire (BRILL, 2011, 181.p.) by Rangar Cline is probably the first monograph in this topic using a large amount of literary sources. This topic - angels in the Roman "Paganism" - was first researched by Franz Cumont in 1915 ,(“Les Anges du Paganisme,” Révue de l’histoire des religions 12:159–82.). This work analyzing the concept and various apparition of some minor or secondary deities, named after the II.century B.C. as "angeloi" or "angelus", word used also by ancient auctors (such as Homer) simply as "messeger". Using especially but not only literary sources (one of the most interesting archaeological sources used in this book are the Fountain of the Lamps at Corinth) Cline proved in his book, that angels  - messengers or avatars of Gods, deities or symbols of the soul- are omnipresent in the Roman Empire and not only in the Jewish or Christian contexts. 

About the book: "Although angels are typically associated with Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ancient Angels demonstrates that angels (angeloi) were also a prominent feature of non-Abrahamic religions in the Roman era. Following an interdisciplinary approach, the study uses literary, inscriptional, and archaeological evidence to examine Roman conceptions of angels, how residents of the empire venerated angels, and how Christian authorities responded to this potentially heterodox aspect of Roman religion. The book brings together the evidence for popular beliefs about angels in Roman Religion, demonstrating the widespread nature of speculation about, and veneration of, angels in the Roman Empire"(loc. cit.)

Content of the book:

 List of Illustrations .................................................................. vii
Acknowledgements ................................................................... ix
List of Abbreviations ................................................................ xi
List of Epigraphic Sigla ........................................................... xiii
Preface ..................................................................................... xv
Chapter One Introduction: The Words of Angels ...................... 1
Chapter Two Angels of the Aether ........................................... 19
Chapter Three Angels of a Pagan God .................................... 47
Chapter Four Angels of the Grave .......................................... 77
Chapter Five Angels of the Spring: Variations on Local
Angelos Veneration and Christian Reaction .......................... 105
Chapter Six Angels of a Christian God: Christian Angelos
Veneration in Late Roman Anatolia ...................................... 137
Conclusion ............................................................................ 167
Bibliography ...........................................................................169
Index ..................................................................................... 179

Other or similar books in the topic:

     

                                                                   

Actualities: Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire

 One God - Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire (2010, pp.239., Cambridge University Press) by Stephen Mitchell and Peter Van Nuffelen is the conference volume of an international research which begun in July of 2006 with the Conference about Paganism and monotheism in the Roman Empire at the University of Exeter, UK following the famous work of Michael Frede and Polymnia Athanassiadi, Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity, 1999. 

The two authors are the best experts in the field of this section of Roman Religion.The book answers some major questions, born as a dilemma at the conference and in the secular research: how should pagan monotheism be defined? what is the difference between pagan monotheism and judeo-christian monotheism? There is an other study of Mitchell about Theos Hypsistos, a kind of answer for Belayche (De la polys´emie des ´epicl`eses: Hypsistos dans le monde gr´eco-romain, 2005).

A short presentation of the book by the authors: "Graeco-Roman religion in its classic form was polytheistic; on the other hand, monotheistic ideas enjoyed wide currency in ancient philosophy. This contradiction provides a challenge for our understanding of ancient pagan religion. Certain forms of cult activity, including acclamations of 'one god' and the worship of theos hypsistos, the highest god, have sometimes been interpreted as evidence for pagan monotheism. This book discusses pagan monotheism in its philosophical and intellectual context, traces the evolution of new religious ideas in the time of the Roman empire, and evaluates the usefulness of the term 'monotheism' as a way of understanding these developments in later antiquity outside the context of Judaism and Christianity. In doing so, it establishes a new framework for understanding the relationship between polytheistic and monotheistic religious cultures between the first and fourth centuries AD."

Detailed presentation at Bryn Mawr: HERE

Related books: