Religion in the Roman Empire [Paperback]

This book provides an engaging, systematic introduction to religion in the Roman empire.

• Covers both mainstream Graeco-Roman religion and regional religious traditions, from Egypt to Western Europe
• Examines the shared assumptions and underlying dynamics that characterized religious life as a whole
• Draws on a wide range of primary material, both textual and visual, from literary works, inscriptions and monuments
• Offers insight into the religious world in which contemporary rabbinic Judaism and Christianity both had their origin

List of Illustrations.

List of Maps.

List of Text Boxes.

Acknowledgments.

Maps.

Introduction.

1. Identifying ‘Religion’ in the Graeco-Roman Tradition.

2. Regional Religious Traditions of the Empire.

3. The Presence of the Gods.

4. Religion and Community.

5. Religion and Empire.

6. Religious Options.

7. Roman Religious Policy.

Epilogue: Religious Change in the Roman Empire.

Glossary of Major Deities.

Glossary of Authors and Texts.

References.

Index

This is just what Rives's volume does best: to show us where we stand in a thought-provoking manner that invites further questions about religion in the Roman empire. (Phoenix, 2011)

The section openings are often carefully and helpfully linked to preceding arguments, within and across chapters. (Journal of Religion, 2009) …the book is important as an attempt to create a textbook in an area normally…left to an appendix because the problems are all too forbidding… (