Book contents
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Classical Scholarship in Translation
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction In the Mirror of Vertumnus
- Chapter 1 ‘To the Immortals Everything Is Possible’
- Chapter 2 All Sides of the Moon
- Chapter 3 ‘May the Force Be With You!’
- Chapter 4 Dionysos in the Mirror of Poseidon
- Chapter 5 Lord of the Universe, the World and Eternity
- Chapter 6 This Is Not a Name
- Chapter 7 The Sword and the Patera
- Chapter 8 A Travelling Portrait
- Chapter 9 Pantheus, a ‘Total’ God in the Greek and Roman World
- Chapter 10 ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ (Exod. 3:14)
- Chapter 11 Golden Locks Among the Greeks, or the Hair Secrets of the Beautiful Apollo
- Chapter 12 Athena – Artemis
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 9 - Pantheus, a ‘Total’ God in the Greek and Roman World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2024
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Classical Scholarship in Translation
- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Abbreviations
- Introduction In the Mirror of Vertumnus
- Chapter 1 ‘To the Immortals Everything Is Possible’
- Chapter 2 All Sides of the Moon
- Chapter 3 ‘May the Force Be With You!’
- Chapter 4 Dionysos in the Mirror of Poseidon
- Chapter 5 Lord of the Universe, the World and Eternity
- Chapter 6 This Is Not a Name
- Chapter 7 The Sword and the Patera
- Chapter 8 A Travelling Portrait
- Chapter 9 Pantheus, a ‘Total’ God in the Greek and Roman World
- Chapter 10 ‘I Will Be Who I Will Be’ (Exod. 3:14)
- Chapter 11 Golden Locks Among the Greeks, or the Hair Secrets of the Beautiful Apollo
- Chapter 12 Athena – Artemis
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
As early as the Hellenistic period but more widely in the imperial age throughout the Roman Empire, we observe consecrations and dedications both to deities known by other theonyms and to a power in its own right, named Panthe(i)os in Greek and Pantheus in Latin. Faced with this formulation, scholars have emphasised the ‘quantitative’ force of the Greek pas, pasa, pan (translated as ‘total, universal’), interpreting this god as reflecting a process of gradual translation from the multitude of gods of Greco-Roman paganism to a ‘total’ and thus ‘universal’ god, which would thereby pave the way for Christian monotheism. The analysis of this term and its contextual applications shows that Panthe(i)os/Pantheus does not portray an abstractly ‘total’ and therefore ‘unique’ god, but a ‘super-god’ with exceptional powers called upon for the sake of pragmatic efficiency, on a religious horizon still fully perceived as plural. By choosing this name, the worshippers thus displayed their privileged relationship with the deity from whom they expected protection in a particularly effective manner.
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- The Names of the Gods in Ancient Mediterranean Religions , pp. 173 - 188Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024