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10 - Between Local and Global? Religion in Late-Hellenistic Delos

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2023

By
Julietta Steinhauer
Edited by
Hans Beck  and
Julia Kindt
Hans Beck
Affiliation:
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
Julia Kindt
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Summary

This chapter traces the translocal dynamics in the exercise of religion on the Greek island of Delos, one of the eminent hot-spots of global connectivity in the Hellenistic world. Stainhauer argues that the local population, among many foreigners and immigrants, shaped their lived environment through various processes of cultural brokerage: by developing genuinely local cults such as that of Apollo, Zeus, and Athena Kynthios; by introducing new cults, sometimes upon the initiative of individuals or associations from away; and third, by locally appropriating global cults, for instance that of Isis and Serapis. Combining these dimensions, the people on Delos crafted a religious pluriverse that was moulded and tied to the local specificities of their island.

Keywords

translocal dynamicsDelosAthena KynthiosIsisSerapiscultural transmissionglobal religion
Type
Chapter
Information
The Local Horizon of Ancient Greek Religion , pp. 290 - 311
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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