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  1. Home
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  3. The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions
  • Cited by 8
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2013
Print publication year:
2013
Online ISBN:
9781139047784
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139047784
Subjects:
Ancient History, Classical Studies, Classical Archaeology, Archaeology, Philosophy, Religion: General Interest
Series:
Cambridge Companions to Religion
Collection:
The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy and Religion
Information

Book description

In antiquity, the Mediterranean region was linked by sea and land routes that facilitated the spread of religious beliefs and practices among the civilizations of the ancient world. The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions provides an introduction to the major religions of this area and explores current research regarding the similarities and differences among them. The period covered is from the prehistoric period to late antiquity, that is, ca.4000 BCE to 600 CE. The first nine essays in the volume provide an overview of the characteristics and historical developments of the major religions of the region, including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria-Canaan, Israel, Anatolia, Iran, Greece, Rome and early Christianity. The last five essays deal with key topics in current research on these religions, including violence, identity, the body, gender and visuality, taking an explicitly comparative approach and presenting recent theoretical and methodological advances in contemporary scholarship.

Reviews

Advance praise:“I highly recommend this rich and informative resource volume to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to scholars. It has been judiciously researched by some of the leading scholars in the field and employs an interdisciplinary, historical, and comparative introduction to the most important features, beliefs, practices, rituals, and institutions of the major religions in the ancient Mediterranean world.” – Shalom Paul, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Spaeth’s well-conceived volume provides an excellent gateway, for seasoned scholars and beginning students alike, to the core materials and central issues in the study of diverse ancient Mediterranean religions. Taken together, these essays demonstrate how rich and vibrant this field has become – and just how much remains to be done.” – Ra‘anan Boustan, University of California, Los Angeles

“An intelligent and stimulating overview from diverse perspectives that produce a coherent whole. This book is a model of an interdisciplinary and comparative approach for an important emerging field.” – Karl Galinsky, University of Texas, Austin

“More than a dozen American scholars embark on a truly comparative study of Mediterranean religion, from the Neolithic stelae of Göbekli Tepe onward. Conceptions of the divine, sacrifice, divination, sacred space and time, priesthoods and politics – these keywords make the various religions described in the book accessible across different cultures.” – Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt

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