Religious Convergence in the Ancient Mediterranean PDF Download

Author: Sandra Blakely
Publisher: Lockwood Press
ISBN: 1948488175
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
This volume brings together scholars in religion, archaeology, philology, and history to explore case studies and theoretical models of converging religions. The twenty-four essays offered in this volume, which derive from Hittite, Cilician, Lydian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman cultural settings, focus on encounters at the boundaries of cultures, landscapes, chronologies, social class and status, the imaginary, and the materially operative. Broad patterns ultimately emerge that reach across these boundaries, and suggest the state of the question on the study of convergence, and the potential fruitfulness for comparative and interdisciplinary studies as models continue to evolve.

Author: Valentino Gasparini
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110557592
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 605

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Book Description
The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by specialists from a variety of disciplinary contexts (Jewish Studies, Theology, Classics, Early Christian Studies) dealing with the history of religion of the Mediterranean, West-Asian, and European area from the (late) Hellenistic period to the (early) Middle Ages and shaped by their intensive exchange. From the point of view of their respective fields of research, the contributors engage with discourses on agency, embodiment, appropriation and experience. They present innovative research in four fields also of theoretical debate, which are “Experiencing the Religious”, “Switching the Code”, „A Thing Called Body“ and “Commemorating the Moment”.

Author: John C. Stephens
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443895512
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This book offers a clear and concise historical overview of the major religious movements of the ancient Mediterranean world existing from the time of the second millennium BCE up until the fourth century CE, including both the Judeo-Christian and pagan religious traditions. Recognizing the significant role of religious institutions in human history and acknowledging the diversity of religious ideas and practices in the ancient Mediterranean world, “religion” is defined as a collection of myths, beliefs, rituals, ethical practices, social institutions and experiences related to the realm of the sacred cosmos. Without focusing too much attention on technicalities and complex vocabulary, the book provides an introductory road map for exploring the vast array of religious data permeating the ancient Mediterranean world. Through an examination of literary and archeological evidence, the book summarizes the fundamental religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Near Eastern world, including the religious traditions of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel. Turning westward, the fascinating world of ancient Greek and Roman religion is considered next. The discussion begins with a description of Minoan-Mycenaean religion, followed by a consideration of classical Roman and Greek religion. Next, the numerous religious movements that blossomed during Hellenistic-Roman times are discussed. In addition, the fundamental theological contributions of various Greco-Roman philosophical schools of thought, including Orphism, Stoicism, Pythagoreanism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism, are described. Greco-Roman philosophy functioned as a quasi-religious outlook for many, and played a decisive role in the evolution of religion in the classical and Hellenistic period. The theological speculations of the philosophers regarding the nature of God and the soul made a huge impact in religious circles during the classical and Hellenistic era. Moving forward in history from archaic and classical times to the later Hellenistic-Roman period, the old religious order of the past falls by the wayside and a new updated religious paradigm begins to develop throughout the Mediterranean world, with a greater emphasis being placed upon the religious individual and the expression of personal religious feelings. There are several important social and historical reasons for this shift in perspective and these factors are explained in the chapter focusing upon personal religion in Hellenistic times. Since the entire religious topography of the ancient Mediterranean world is rarely outlined in a single volume, this book will be a welcome addition to anyone’s library.

Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004501770
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
This volume explores conversion experience in the ancient Mediterranean with attention to early Judaism, early Christianity, and philosophy in the Roman empire from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Author: Eric Orlin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134625596
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1624

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Book Description
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions is the first comprehensive single-volume reference work offering authoritative coverage of ancient religions in the Mediterranean world. Chronologically, the volume’s scope extends from pre-historical antiquity in the third millennium B.C.E. through the rise of Islam in the seventh century C.E. An interdisciplinary approach draws out the common issues and elements between and among religious traditions in the Mediterranean basin. Key features of the volume include: Detailed maps of the Mediterranean World, ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, and the Hellenistic World A comprehensive timeline of major events, innovations, and individuals, divided by region to provide both a diachronic and pan-Mediterranean, synchronic view A broad geographical range including western Asia, northern Africa, and southern Europe This encyclopedia will serve as a key point of reference for all students and scholars interested in ancient Mediterranean culture and society.

Author: Christian Frevel
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004232109
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description
Focusing on concepts, practices and images associated with purity in the ancient Mediterranean, this volume contributes new aspects to the current discussion about the forming of religious traditions, from a comparative perspective that acknowldges individual developments, mutual exchanges, as well as transcultural processes.

Author: Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521113962
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
Provides an introduction to the major religions of the ancient Mediterranean and explores current research regarding the similarities and differences among them.

Author: Anna Collar
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004428690
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Pilgrimage and Economy in the Ancient Mediterranean brings together diverse scholarship to explore the socioeconomic dynamics of ancient Mediterranean pilgrimage from archaic Greece to Late Antiquity, the Greek mainland to Egypt and the Near East.

Author: Jennifer Wright Knust
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199738963
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
An investigation of the multiple meanings and functions of sacrifice in diverse religious texts and practices from the late Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods.

Author: Teaching Company
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781598030365
Category : Mediterranean Region
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"This course of 48 lectures is an introduction to the religious cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world, from the earliest indications of human religious practices during the prehistoric era to the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in the 4th century of the Common Era. The course examines what we can recover of the religious activities of prehistoric human beings before considering in depth the religious cultures of the great ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine, Greece, and the Roman Empire. The emphasis throughout the course is not only on the rituals and mythology of a civiliation's official religious culture but also on the beliefs, practices, and yearnings of the common person"-- p. 1 of guidebook.