Household and Family Religion in Antiquity

Herausgeber: Bodel, John; Olyan, Saul M

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Traditional scholarship on religion in antiquity has favoured the study of national, regional, or municipal worship, overlooking the significant day-to-day rituals and beliefs that existed beyond the contexts of state-sponsored or civic temple cults. Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Perspectives is the first book to explore the religious dimensions of the family and the household in ancient Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity. With an approach that is both contextual and comparative, essays examine domestic and familial religious practices in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Emar, and Philistia. Taking in a range of religious expression, from supplication of a household's patron deities to contact with dead ancestors, Household and Family Religion in Antiquity advances our understanding of a distinct and widespread ancient religious phenomenon.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley
• Seitenzahl: 346
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juni 2008
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 250mm x 175mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 779g
• ISBN-13: 9781405175791
• ISBN-10: 1405175796
• Artikelnr.: 23430870

Autorenporträt

John Bodel is Professor of Classics and History at Brown University. He writes about Roman social and cultural history, Latin epigraphy, and Latin literature of the Empire. His books include Roman Brick Stamps in the Kelsey Museum (1983), Graveyards and Groves: A Study of the Lex Lucerina (1994), Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (editor, 2001), and Dediche sacre nel mondo greco-romano: Diffusione, funzioni, tipologie (edited with Mika Kajava, 2008). Saul M. Olyan is Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University. He is the author of Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel (1988), A Thousand Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient Judaism (1993), Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult (2000), Biblical Mourning: Ritual and Social Dimensions (2004), and Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences (2008).

Inhaltsangabe

List of Figures vii

Notes on Contributors x

Series Editor's Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Map xvi

1 Introduction 1
John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan

2 Theorizing the Religion of Ancient Households and Families5
Stanley K. Stowers

3 Family Religion in Second Millennium West Asia (Mesopotamia,Emar, Nuzi) 20
Karel van der Toorn

4 The Integration of Household and Community Religion in AncientSyria 37
Daniel E. Fleming

5 Family, Household, and Local Religion at Late Bronze AgeUgarit 60
Theodore J. Lewis

6 Family Religion in Ancient Israel and its Surroundings89
Rainer Albertz

7 Family Religion in Israel and the Wider Levant of the FirstMillennium bce 113
Saul M. Olyan

8 Household Religion, Family Religion, and Women's Religion inAncient Israel 127
Susan Ackerman

9 Ashdod and the Material Remains of Domestic Cults in thePhilistine Coastal Plain 159
Rüdiger Schmitt

10 Household Religion in Ancient Egypt 171
Robert K. Ritner

11 Household and Domestic Religion in Ancient Egypt 197
Barbara S. Lesko

12 Household Religion in Ancient Greece 210
Christopher A. Faraone

13 Family Matters: Domestic Religion in Classical Greece229
Deborah Boedeker

14 Cicero's Minerva, Penates, and the Mother of theLares: An Outline of Roman Domestic Religion 248
John Bodel

15 Comparative Perspectives 276
John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan

Bibliography 283

Index 314

Rezensionen

"While studies on the purpose and place of religion inancient family life have been a topic of scholarly interest forsome decades, this book is unique in both the scope of the paperspresented and the underlying theoretical approaeh by which they arelinked." (Journal of World History, December 2009)

"The volume stands as a splendid landmark in opening upcomparative discussion about family and domestic religion in theancient world, and does so with an admirably wide-reachinggeographical and chronological scope." (New EnglandClassics Journal , August 2009)

"This volume will find its place on the bookshelf ofanyone looking for an authoritative treatment of religion andsociety in Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity." ( TheClassical Journal , August 2009)

"As a collection of essays that provides insightfulconsideration of family or household religious life in many NearEastern and classical cultures, it has the added benefit ofoffering a comparative perspective." (Catholic BiblicalQuarterly, Spring 2009)

"[I would] recommend the book as a worthy addition to the fieldof ancient religious studies and a good read for those interestedin the subject." (Scholia Reviews, 2009)

"The methodology of the volume is thus simultaneously contextualand comparative. An introductory essay provides a theorization of'family,' 'household,' and 'religion' as analytical and comparativecategories. A conclusion, written by the editors, offerscomparative perspectives and suggests directions for futureresearch. The individual essays provide excellent introductions tofamily religion in various historical periods, and would work wellas introductory readings in undergraduate and graduate courses....Recommended." (CHOICE)

"[The book] offers a counterpart to text-based religion - whichequates to civic, public, state religion - by analysing religiousrituals, locations and objects in setting governed more bycollective memory than by rules." (The Times LiterarySupplement, August 2008)"This impressive volume constitutes an important contribution tothe study of ancient religion and society. It fills a longstandingneed for an authoritative overview of domestic religion, and doesso in a way that is theoretically sophisticated and fully engagedwith recent scholarship. This book will no doubt quickly prove tobe an essential point of reference for all those interested inancient society and ancient religion alike."
-James B. Rives, University of North Carolina atChapel Hill