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4 - Making a God

from Part II - Themes in the Making of Hegemony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2024

Matthew M. McCarty
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

This chapter challenges the supposed transformation “from Baal Hammon to Saturn” in North Africa one of the chief grounds upon which narratives of cultural continuity are predicated. It argues that instead of simple syncretism or the persistence of a god, the material signs used to construct and identify the deity to whom stelae were dedicated underwent important transformations in the second and third centuries CE, changes closely tied to the experiences and practices of empire. Stelae of the third and second centuries BCE made a god present indexically; stelae of the imperial period embraced iconicity in ways that were entangled with empire, including new divine epithets tied to imperial authority and new road systems in the province. And by the end of the second century CE, this iconic system could even work to perpetuate clear social hierarchies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
Votive Stelae, Traditions, and Empire
, pp. 115 - 175
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Making a God
  • Matthew M. McCarty, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
  • Online publication: 24 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139096799.004
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  • Making a God
  • Matthew M. McCarty, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
  • Online publication: 24 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139096799.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Making a God
  • Matthew M. McCarty, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book: Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
  • Online publication: 24 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139096799.004
Available formats
×