Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:32:32.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in New Religious Movements

Religious Innovation in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2023

Olav Hammer  and
Mikael Rothstein
Olav Hammer
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark
Mikael Rothstein
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark

Summary

The scholarly study of new religious movements focuses on the contemporary period, but religious innovation is nothing new. This Element explores a historical epoch characterized by a multitude of emergent religious concepts and practices – the Hellenistic and Roman periods. A precondition for the intense degree of religious innovation during this time was a high level of cultural exchange. Religious elements crossed porous cultural borders and were adapted to suit new purposes. The resulting amalgams were presented in a vast corpus of texts, largely produced by a literate elite. Charismatic leaders played a particularly important role in creating new religious options and were described in genres that were infused with ideological agendas. Novel religious developments were accepted by the Roman authorities unless suspected of undermining the social order. The rise of one of the many new religions of the period, Christianity, ultimately changed the religious landscape in profound ways.
Get access

Keywords

Hellenistic and Roman periodsreligious innovationnew religionsreligious textscharismareligious conflictreligious polemics
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in New Religious Movements
Online ISBN: 9781009030106
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 10 August 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Primary Sources

All New Testament quotations are taken from The New Oxford Annotated Bible. 2007. Edited by Coogan, M. D.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Apocalypse of Peter. In Elliott, J. K., ed. 1924. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 593–615.Google Scholar
Gospel of Thomas. In Elliott, J. K., ed. 1924. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 123–47.Google Scholar
Homeric Hymn to Demeter. 2018. Translated by G. Nagy. Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. https://archive.chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5292 (webpage dated February 12, 2018).Google Scholar
Papyri Graecae Magicae = Betz, H. D. 1992. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, including the Demotic Spells. Vol. 1: Texts. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses. 2004. Translated with an introduction and notes by Kenney, E. J.. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Res Gestae Divi Augusti. 2009. Text, translation, and commentary by Cooley, A. E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
The Gallic War. 1917. Translated by H. J. Edwards. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pro Cluentio: Pro Lege Manilia. Pro Caecina. Pro Cluentio. Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo. 1927. With an English translation by H. Grose Hodge. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. 1960. With an English translation by E. Cary on the basis of the version of E. Spelman. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Panarion. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book 1 (Sects 1–46). 2nd ed. 2008. Translated by F. Williams. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Refutation of All Heresies. 1886. Translated by MacMahon., J. H. In Roberts, A. and Donaldson, J, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 25–403.Google Scholar
Against Heresies. 1885. Translated by Roberts, A. and Donaldson., J. In Schaff, P., Roberts, A., and Donaldson, J., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 841–1391.Google Scholar
First Apology. 1885. Translated by Roberts, A. and Donaldson., J. In Schaff, P., Roberts, A., and Donaldson, J., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 423–97.Google Scholar
Alexander the False Prophet: Lucian. 1936. With an English translation by A. M. Harmon. 8 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann, vol. 4, pp. 173–253.Google Scholar
De rerum natura. 1928. Translated by Rouse, W. H. D.. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. 1912. Translated by Conybeare, F. C.. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London:William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Natural History. 1963. With an English translation by W. H. S. Jones. 10 vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, vol. 8: Libri XXVIII–XXXII.Google Scholar
Isis and Osiris: Plutarch’s Moralia in Sixteen Volumes, Vol. 5. 1936. Translated by F. C. Babbitt. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fragments: Plutarch’s Moralia in Sixteen Volumes, Vol. 15. 1969. Translated by F. H. Sandbach. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
The Deified Augustus: Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Volume I: Julius. Augustus. Tiberius. Gaius. Caligula. 1914. Translated by J. C. Rolfe. Introduction by K. R. Bradley. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Germania: Dialogus, Agricola, Germania. 1914. Translated by W. Peterson. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Apocalypse of Peter. In Elliott, J. K., ed. 1924. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 593–615.Google Scholar
Gospel of Thomas. In Elliott, J. K., ed. 1924. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 123–47.Google Scholar
Homeric Hymn to Demeter. 2018. Translated by G. Nagy. Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. https://archive.chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5292 (webpage dated February 12, 2018).Google Scholar
Papyri Graecae Magicae = Betz, H. D. 1992. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, including the Demotic Spells. Vol. 1: Texts. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses. 2004. Translated with an introduction and notes by Kenney, E. J.. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Res Gestae Divi Augusti. 2009. Text, translation, and commentary by Cooley, A. E.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
The Gallic War. 1917. Translated by H. J. Edwards. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pro Cluentio: Pro Lege Manilia. Pro Caecina. Pro Cluentio. Pro Rabirio Perduellionis Reo. 1927. With an English translation by H. Grose Hodge. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. 1960. With an English translation by E. Cary on the basis of the version of E. Spelman. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Panarion. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book 1 (Sects 1–46). 2nd ed. 2008. Translated by F. Williams. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Refutation of All Heresies. 1886. Translated by MacMahon., J. H. In Roberts, A. and Donaldson, J, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 25–403.Google Scholar
Against Heresies. 1885. Translated by Roberts, A. and Donaldson., J. In Schaff, P., Roberts, A., and Donaldson, J., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 841–1391.Google Scholar
First Apology. 1885. Translated by Roberts, A. and Donaldson., J. In Schaff, P., Roberts, A., and Donaldson, J., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, pp. 423–97.Google Scholar
Alexander the False Prophet: Lucian. 1936. With an English translation by A. M. Harmon. 8 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann, vol. 4, pp. 173–253.Google Scholar
De rerum natura. 1928. Translated by Rouse, W. H. D.. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. 1912. Translated by Conybeare, F. C.. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London:William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Natural History. 1963. With an English translation by W. H. S. Jones. 10 vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, vol. 8: Libri XXVIII–XXXII.Google Scholar
Isis and Osiris: Plutarch’s Moralia in Sixteen Volumes, Vol. 5. 1936. Translated by F. C. Babbitt. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fragments: Plutarch’s Moralia in Sixteen Volumes, Vol. 15. 1969. Translated by F. H. Sandbach. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
The Deified Augustus: Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Volume I: Julius. Augustus. Tiberius. Gaius. Caligula. 1914. Translated by J. C. Rolfe. Introduction by K. R. Bradley. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Germania: Dialogus, Agricola, Germania. 1914. Translated by W. Peterson. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Andringa, W. Van. 2007. Religions and the Integration of Cities in the Empire in the Second Century AD: The Creation of a Common Religious Language. In Rüpke, J., ed., A Companion to Roman Religion. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 83–95.Google Scholar
Beard, M. 2004. Writing and Religion. In Iles Johnson, S., ed., Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, pp. 127–38.Google Scholar
Beard, M., North, J., and Price, S.. 1998. Religions of Rome, Vol. I: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berchman, R. M. 2007. On Isis and Osiris. In Neusner, J. and Avery-Peck, A. J., eds., Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, pp. 278–9.Google Scholar
Bergman, J. 1968. Ich bin Isis: Studien zum memphitischen Hintergrund der griechischen Isisaretalogien. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Bilde, P. 2013. The Originality of Jesus: A Critical Discussion and a Comparative Attempt. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Blömer, M. and Winter, E., eds. 2012. Iuppiter Dolichenus, vom Staatskult zur Reichsreligion. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Bøgh, B. 2013. The Graeco-Roman Cult of Isis. In Christensen, L. B., Hammer, O., and Warburton, D. A., eds. Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe. London: Acumen, pp. 228–41.Google Scholar
Bremmer, J. N. 2007. Atheism in Antiquity. In Martin, M., ed., Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 11–26.Google Scholar
Bricault, L. 2013. Les cultes isiaques dans le monde gréco-romain. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.Google Scholar
Burton, P. J. 1996. The Summoning of the Magna Mater to Rome (205 B.C.). Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Bd. 45(1): 36–63.Google Scholar
Carobene, G. 2014. Problems on the Legal Status of the Church of Scientology. Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale no. 21. June. https://doi.org/10.13130/1971-8543/4109.Google Scholar
Clauss, M. 2013. The Cult of Mithras. In Christensen, L. B., Hammer, O., and Warburton, D. A., eds., Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe. London: Acumen, pp. 242–62.Google Scholar
Clinton, K. 1992. Myth and Cult: The Iconography of the Eleusinian Mysteries. N.p.: Swedish Institute at Athens.Google Scholar
Collins, A. 2014. Alexander’s Visit to Siwah: A New Analysis. Phoenix 68(1/2): 62–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, J. G. 2010. Roman Attitudes towards the Christians: From Claudius to Hadrian. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Cotter, W. J. 2010. The Christ of the Miracle Stories: Portrait through Encounter. Ada, MI: Baker Academic.Google Scholar
Cowan, D. E. 2023. The Christian Countercult Movement. Elements in New Religious Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/christian-countercult-movement/60847096CA8D15F8F72D5CF22A03FAF2.Google Scholar
Dalley, S. 2000. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Ste. Croix, G. E. M. 1963. Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted? Past & Present 26 (November): 6–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dillon, M. 2002. Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dunand, F. 2007. The Religious System at Alexandria. In Ogden, D., ed., A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 253–63.Google Scholar
Dzielska, M. 1986. Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Ehrman, B. 2014. How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. New York: HarperOne.Google Scholar
Ehrman, B. 2018. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Frankfurter, D. 2018. Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds in Late Antiquity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, E. 2014. Reading and Writing Scripture in New Religious Movements: New Bibles and New Revelations. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.Google Scholar
Gardner, I. and Lieu, S. N. C., eds. 2004. Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gnoli, G. 1987. Mani. In Eliade, M., ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 9. New York: Macmillan, pp. 158–61.Google Scholar
Gradel, I. 2002. Emperor Worship and Roman Religion. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Gruen, E. S. 1992. Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Gruen, E. S. 2016. The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. 2019. Occult Scriptural Exegesis: Theosophical Readings of the Bible. In Elness-Hanson, B. E. and Skarpeid, J., eds., A Critical Study of Classical Religious Texts in Global Contexts: Challenges of a Changing World. Pieterlen: Peter Lang, pp. 153–66.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. and Rothstein., M. 2012. Canonical and Extracanonical Texts in New Religions. In Hammer, O. and Rothstein, M., eds., The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 113–22.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. and Swartz, K.. 2021. Ancient Aliens. In Zeller, B. E., ed., Handbook of UFO Religions. Leiden: Brill, pp. 151–77.Google Scholar
Harley-McGowan, K. 2020. The Alexamenos Graffito. In Keith, C., ed., The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 3: From Celsus to the Catacombs: Visual, Liturgical, and Non-Christian Receptions of Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE. London: T&T Clark, pp. 105–40.Google Scholar
Herz, P. 2007. Emperors: Caring for the Empire and Their Successors. In Rüpke, J., ed., A Companion to Roman Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 304–16.Google Scholar
Heyob, S. K. 1975. The Cult of Isis among Women in the Graeco-Roman World. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Higgins, S. 2012. Divine Mothers: The Influence of Isis on the Virgin Mary in Egyptian Lactans-Iconography. Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 2–3:71–90.Google Scholar
Hutton, R. 2009. Blood and Mistletoe: The History of Druids in Britain. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, A. and Metcalfe, C., eds. 2021. Gods and Mortals in Early Greek and Near Eastern Mythology. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
King, K. L. 2003. What Is Gnosticism? Cambridge, MA.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kyrtatas, D. J. 2010. Historical Aspects of the Formation of the New Testament Canon. In Thomassen, E., ed., Canon and Canonicity: The Formation and Use of Scripture. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, pp. 29–44.Google Scholar
Lesgourgues, M. 2018. L’écrin sensible de la parole du dieu. Les stratégies sensuelles de mise en condition des acteurs du rite oraculaire dans “l’Alexandre ou le faux prophète”, de Lucien. Pallas 107: 175–96.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. and Petersen, J., eds. 2014. Controversial New Religions. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lieu, S. 1992. Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China. 2nd ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Lim, T. 2013. The Formation of the Jewish Canon. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacMullen, R. 2009. The Second Church: Popular Christianity A.D. 200–400. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.Google Scholar
Margel, S. 2006. Religio/superstitio: La crise des institutions, de Ciceron à Augustin. Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie 138(3): 193–207.Google Scholar
Marjanen, A. 2005. Montanism: Egalitarian Ecstatic “New Prophecy.” In Marjanen, A. and Luomanen, P., eds., A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics.” Leiden: Brill, pp. 185–212.Google Scholar
Martin, D. B. 2004. Inventing Superstition: From the Hippocratics to the Christians. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L. H. 1983. Why Cecropian Minerva? Hellenistic Religious Syncretism As System. Numen 30(2): 131–45.Google Scholar
McGuckin, J. 2008. The Early Cult of Mary and Inter-religious Contexts in the Fifth Century Church. In Maunder, C., ed., The Origins of the Cult of the Virgin Mary. London: Burns and Oates, pp. 1–22.Google Scholar
Melton, J. G. 2004. Perspective: Toward a Definition of “New Religion.” Nova Religio 8(1): 73–87.Google Scholar
Mettinger, T. 2001. The Riddle of Resurrection: “Dying and Rising” Gods in the Ancient Near East. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Metzger, B. 1987. The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development and Significance. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Münster, M. 1968. Untersuchungen zur Göttin Isis: vom Alten Reich bis zum Ende des Neuen Reiches. Mit hieroglyphischem Textanhang. Berlin: B. Hessling.Google Scholar
Ong, W. J. 1982. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen & Company.Google Scholar
Otto, B.-C. 2011. Magie. Rezeptions- und diskursgeschichtliche Analysen von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Palmer, S. J. 2009. The Church of Scientology in France: Legal and Activist Counterattacks in the “War on Sectes.” In Lewis, J. R., ed., Scientology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 295–322.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. 2007. Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Podemann Sørensen, J. 1989. Introduction. In Sørensen, J. Podemann, ed., Rethinking Religion: Studies in the Hellenistic Process. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, pp. 5–10.Google Scholar
Podemann Sørensen, J. 2011. Hellenismens og den romerske kejsertids religioner. In Jensen, T., Rothstein, M., and Sørensen, J. Podemann, eds., Gyldendals religionshistorie: Ritualer. Mytologi. Ikonografi. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, pp. 143–70.Google Scholar
Räisäinen, H. 2005. Marcion. In Marjanen, A. and Luomanen, P., eds., A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics.” Leiden: Brill, pp. 100–24.Google Scholar
Refslund Christensen, D. 2005. Inventing L. Ron Hubbard: On the Construction and Maintenance of the Hagiographic Mythology of Scientology’s Founder. In Lewis, J. R. and Petersen, J. Aagaard, eds., Controversial New Religions. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 227–58.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. 2009. Scientology in Court: A Look at Some Cases from Various Nations. In Lewis, J. R., ed., Scientology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 283–94.Google Scholar
Riley, G. J. 2000. One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity but Many. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.Google Scholar
Rives, J. B. 1999. The Decree of Decius and the Religion of Empire. Journal of Roman Studies 89: 135–54.Google Scholar
Robertson, R. 1991. Globalization, Modernization, and Postmodernization: The Ambiguous Position of Religion. In Robertson, R. and Garrett, W. R., eds., Religion and Global Order. New York: Paragon House, pp. 281–91.Google Scholar
Roller, L. 1999. In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Rose, D. 2019. Ribemont-sur-Ancre, Ritual Practice, and Northern Gallic Sanctuaries from the Third through First Century B.C. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh. https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/36951Google Scholar
Rothstein, M. 2009. “His name was Xenu. He used renegades …” Aspects of Scientology’s Founding Myth. In Lewis, J. R., ed., Scientology. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 365–88.Google Scholar
Rothstein, M. 2016. Hagiography: A Note on the Narrative Exaltation of Sect Leaders and Heads of New Religions. In Lewis, J. R. and Tøllefsen, I. B., eds., The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 392–400.Google Scholar
Rothstein, M. 2017. Space, Place and Religious Hardware. L. Ron Hubbard’s Charismatic Authority and the Church of Scientology. In Lewis, J. and Helleshøi, K., eds., Handbook of Scientology. Brill Handbooks of Contemporary Religion Series, vol. 14. Leiden: Brill, pp. 509–35.Google Scholar
Rothstein, M. In press. Jesus the Sect Leader in Comparative Perspective. International Journal for the Study of New Religions 12(1).Google Scholar
Schuhmann, R. 2009. Geographischer Raum und Lebensform der Germanen. Kommentar zu Tacitus’ Germania, c.1–20. PhD dissertation, Friedrich Schiller University Jena. www.db-thueringen.de/receive/dbt_mods_00013272.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. D. 2015. The Myth of the Neronian Persecution. Journal of Roman Studies 105: 73–100.Google Scholar
Shupe, A. and Bromley, D. G., eds. 1994. Anti-cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Garland.Google Scholar
Smith, J. Z. 1982. Sacred Persistence: Towards A Redescription of Canon. In Smith, J. Z., Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 36–52.Google Scholar
Stark, R. 1996. The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.Google Scholar
Takács, S. A. 2008. Vestal Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons: Women in Roman Religion. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Uden, J. 2019. A Crowd of Gods: Atheism and Superstition in Juvenal Satire 13. Classical Philology 114(1): 100–19.Google Scholar
Van den Broek, R. 2005. Simon Magus. In Hanegraaff, W. J., ed., in collaboration with Faivre, A., van den Broek, R., and Brach, J.-P.. Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Leiden: Brill, pp. 1069–73.Google Scholar
Vitas, N. G. 2021. Ex Asia et Syria: Oriental Religions in the Roman Central Balkans. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Wagemakers, B. 2010. Incest, Infanticide, and Cannibalism: Anti-Christian Imputations in the Roman Empire. Greece & Rome 57(2): 337–54.Google Scholar
Wallensten, J. 2014. Dedications to Double Deities: Syncretism or Simply Syntax? Kernos 27: 159–76.Google Scholar
Warmind, M. (1999). Om pseudoreligiøsitet. Kriterier for at skelne falske religioner fra sande i antikken og i dag. In Bilde, P. and Rothstein, M., eds., Nye religioner i hellenistisk-romersk tid og i dag. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, pp. 53–65.Google Scholar
Weber, M. 1968. On Charisma and Institution Building. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Weinholt, K. 1989. The Gateways of Judaism: From Simon the Just to Rabbi Akiva. In Podemann Sørensen, J., ed., Rethinking Religion: Studies in the Hellenistic Process. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, pp. 87–101.Google Scholar
Williams, M. 1996. Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, S. 1995. Diva Drusilla Panthea and the Sisters of Caligula. American Journal of Archaeology 99(3): 457–82.Google Scholar
Worthington, I. 2014. By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Religious Innovation in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

Religious Innovation in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Available formats
×

Save element 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.

Religious Innovation in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Available formats
×