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On Roman Religion

Name: On Roman Religion
Brand: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
SKU: 9781501704703
Price: 132.0 AUD
Availability: InStock

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESSISBN: 9781501704703

Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome

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$132.00

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By Joerg Ruepke
Imprint: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Release Date: January 17, 2017
Format: HARDBACK
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
Weight: 910 g
Pages: 277

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Was religious practice in ancient Rome cultic and hostile to individual expression? Or was there, rather, considerable latitude for individual initiative and creativity? Jorg Rupke, one of the world's leading authorities on Roman religion, demonstrates in his new book that it was a lived religion with individual appropriations evident at the heart of such rituals as praying, dedicating, making vows, and reading. On Roman Religion definitively dismantles previous approaches that depicted religious practice as uniform and static. Juxtaposing very different, strategic, and even subversive forms of individuality with traditions, their normative claims, and their institutional protections, Rupke highlights the dynamic character of Rome's religious institutions and traditions. In Rupke's view, lived ancient religion is as much about variations or even outright deviance as it is about attempts and failures to establish or change rules and roles and to communicate them via priesthoods, practices related to images or classified as magic, and literary practices. Rupke analyzes observations of religious experience by contemporary authors including Propertius, Ovid, and the author of the "Shepherd of Hermas." These authors, in very different ways, reflect on individual appropriation of religion among their contemporaries, and they offer these reflections to their readership or audiences. Rupke also concentrates on the ways in which literary texts and inscriptions informed the practice of rituals.

Jorg Rupke is Permanent Fellow in Religious Studies at the Max Weber Center, University of Erfurt. He is the author of many books, including From Jupiter to Christ: On the History of Religion in the Roman Imperial Period, Religion: Antiquity and Modern Legacy, and Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change.

"The perspective adopted on Roman religion by Jorg Rupke in this book is radically new and puts the period in a long-awaited conversation with other eras. His work allows historians to better understand the transformations of religious practices in the first three centuries of the common era and beyond.Rupke must be commended for his all-encompassing approach to the material from Latin poetry to inscribed ex-votos, from prosopographical data to religious literature."-Eric Rebillard, Cornell University, author of Christians and Their Many Identities in Late Antiquity, North Africa, 200-450 CE "Jorg Rupke's On Roman Religion is a fascinating and timely new take on traditional Roman religion as it was experienced by its original practitioners in antiquity. Vivid, original, and easy to read, this book directly addresses the role of the individual within the sacred landscape of Roman gods and the rituals invoking them. It offers new readings of several key texts, notably by Propertius and Ovid, at the same time as applying insights from sociology and ethnology to produce a richly nuanced approach to how religion was shaped by the experiences of everyday people. This new study of religious experience, shaped by individual needs and choices within specific cultural contexts, provides an exciting and fresh perspective on traditional Roman religion."-Harriet Flower, Princeton University, author of Roman Republics

On Roman Religion

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