| Individual in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean Contributor(s): Rüpke, Jorg (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0199674507 ISBN-13: 9780199674503 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $166.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Ancient - General - Religion | History |
| Dewey: 200 |
| LCCN: 2013943776 |
| Physical Information: 1.5" H x 5.7" W x 8.5" (1.76 lbs) 560 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Ancient religions are usually treated as collective and political phenomena and, apart from a few towering figures, the individual religious agent has fallen out of view. Addressing this gap, the essays in this volume focus on the individual and individuality in ancient Mediterranean religion. Even in antiquity, individual religious action was not determined by traditional norms handed down through families and the larger social context, but rather options were open and choices were made. On the part of the individual, this development is reflected in changes in 'individuation', the parallel process of a gradual full integration into society and the development of self-reflection and of a notion of individual identity. These processes are analysed within the Hellenistic and Imperial periods, down to Christian-dominated late antiquity, in both pagan polytheistic as well as Jewish monotheistic settings. The volume focuses on individuation in everyday religious practices in Phoenicia, various Greek cities, and Rome, and as identified in institutional developments and philosophical reflections on the self as exemplified by the Stoic Seneca. |