Do humans have a special capacity designed to foster experiences of God? What role do specific bodily actions or emotions play in the cultivation of a divine experience? Prayer as Divine Experience in 4 Ezra and John's Apocalypse: Emotion, Empathy, and Engagement with God explores these questions in a systematic study of the emotions in two apocalyptic texts. The book of 4 Ezra, an ancient Jewish apocalypse, and the book of Revelation, an ancient Christian Apocalypse written by John, are examined with a focus on the emotional language of the prayers and prayer preludes contained in this literature. Both texts were composed in the first-century of the Common Era, a time when most people exposed to literature heard the content as it was recited. The emotive language in these writings could potentially arouse similar emotions in the readers or hearers of these texts, allowing the person to have access to the divine experiences, which are described by the seer in 4 Ezra and are expressed by the angelic choir in John's Apocalypse. Prior to examining the prayers, Prayer as Divine Experience will describe the neurological processes that cause a person to mirror the emotions expressed by another individual, thereby prompting an imitation of the experience that is perceived.

It has often been thought that participation in fertility rituals was women's most important religious activity in classical Greece. Matthew Dillon's wide-ranging study makes it clear that women engaged in numerous other rites and cults, and that their role in Greek religion was actually more important than that of men. Women invoked the gods' help in becoming pregnant, venerated the god of wine, worshipped new and exotic deities, used magic for both erotic and pain-relieving purposes, and far more besides.
Clear and comprehensive, this volume challenges many stereotypes of Greek women and offers unexpected insights into their experience of religion. With more than fifty illustrations, and translated extracts from contemporary texts, this is an essential resource for the study of women and religion in classical Greece.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203621328

This dictionary provides a readily available collection of source material for a subject which has recently become of considerable public and academic interest. It provides a point of reference for key words and concepts which have previously been available only in short glossaries, footnotes, or within a body of text. It deals with concepts shared by all Pagans, and also with those concepts unique to a particular Pagan tradition.

Contents:
Acknowledgements Intoduction THE DICTONARY Select Biblography

'Lively' THE TIMES 'Engrossing' THE SPECTATOR 'Stunning' WOMAN & HOME 'Marvellous' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE Through ancient art, evocative myth, intriguing archaeological discoveries and philosophical explorations, Bettany Hughes takes us on a voyage of discovery to reveal the truth behind Venus, and why this immortal goddess is so much more than nudity, romance and sex. It is both the remarkable story of one of antiquity's most potent forces, and the story of human desire - how it transforms who we are and how we behave.

Modern scholars have seen women's most important religious activity in classical Greece as their participation in fertility rituals. Matthew Dillon's wide-ranging new study makes it clear that women engaged in numerous rites and cults besides such festivals, and that their role in Greek religion was actually more important than that of men.
Women invoked the gods for help in becoming pregnant, venerated the god of wine, worshipped exotic gods new to the Greek pantheon, used magic and potions for both erotic and pain-relieving purposes - and far more besides. While traditional scholarship has seen such involvement in religion as 'escapist', Dillon's skilful presentation of the evidence proves that this denigrates women's religiosity, and the real importance which they attached to their mediation with the divine.

It is widely believed that the practice of ancient Egyptian religion ceased with the end of pharaonic culture and the rise of Christianity. However, an organised reconstruction and revival of the authentic practice of Egyptian, or Kemetic religion has been growing, almost undocumented, for nearly three decades. Profane Egyptologists is the first in-depth study of the now-global phenomenon of Kemeticism. Presenting key players in their own words, the book utilises extensive interviews to reveal a continuum of beliefs and practices spanning eight years of community growth. The existence of competing visions of Egypt, which employ ancient material and academic resources, questions the position of Egyptology as a gatekeeper of Egypt's past. Exploring these boundaries, the book highlights the politised and economic factors driving the discipline's self-conception. Could an historically self-imposed insular nature have harmed Egyptology as a field, and how could inclusive discussion help guard against further isolationism? Profane Egyptologists is both an Egyptological study of Kemeticism, and a critical study of the discipline of Egyptology itself. It will be of value to scholars and students of archaeology and Egyptology, cultural heritage, religion online, phenomenology, epistemology, pagan studies and ethnography, as well as Kemetics and devotees of Egyptian culture.

Using in-depth examples of 'magical' practice such as exorcisms, love rites, alchemy and the transformation of humans into divine beings, this lively volume demonstrates that the word 'magic' was used widely in late antique texts as part of polemics against enemies and sometimes merely as a term for other people's rituals. Professor Janowitz shows that 'magical' activities were integral to late antique religious practice, and that they must be understood from the perspective of those who employed them.

Using in-depth examples of 'magical' practice such as exorcisms, love rites, alchemy and the transformation of humans into divine beings, this lively volume demonstrates that the word 'magic' was used widely in late antique texts as part of polemics against enemies and sometimes merely as a term for other people's rituals. Professor Janowitz shows that 'magical' activities were integral to late antique religious practice, and that they must be understood from the perspective of those who employed them.

This text focuses on the legal status of the Jews within the Roman Empire and the changes that this underwent when the empire became Christian. Conflicts between Roman and Jewish jurisdiction form an important theme, while particular studies deal with questions of conversion, the observance of the Sabbath and Festivals, Hadrian's decree prohibiting circumcision, and with the treatment given to the Samaritans. In the field of family law, Profesor Rabello looks at issues to do with the patria potestas, family courts, marriage and divorce, and it is in these areas, he would hold, that a basic understanding can be found of how the early Catholic Church treated Jews and Judaism.

Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World presents a comprehensive and accessible survey of religious and philosophical teaching and classroom practices in the ancient world. H. Gregory Snyder synthesises a wide range of ancient evidence and modern scholarship to address such questions as how the literary practices of Jews and Christians compared to the literary practices of the philosophical schools and whether Christians were particularly noteworthy for their attatchment to scripture.
Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World will be of interest to students of classics, ancient history, the early Christian world and Jewish studies.

Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World presents a comprehensive and accessible survey of religious and philosophical teaching and classroom practices in the ancient world. H. Gregory Snyder synthesises a wide range of ancient evidence and modern scholarship to address such questions as how the literary practices of Jews and Christians compared to the literary practices of the philosophical schools and whether Christians were particularly noteworthy for their attatchment to scripture.
Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World will be of interest to students of classics, ancient history, the early Christian world and Jewish studies.

eBook available with sample pages: 020346253X

Parting company with the trend in recent scholarship to treat the subject in abstract, highly theoretical terms, Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome proposes that the magic-working of antiquity was in reality a highly pragmatic business, with very clearly formulated aims - often of an exceedingly malignant kind. In seven chapters, each addressed to an important arm of Greco-Roman magic, the volume discusses the history of the rediscovery and publication of the so-called Greek Magical Papyri, a key source for our understanding of ancient magic; the startling violence of ancient erotic spells and the use of these by women as well as men; the alteration in the landscape of defixio (curse tablet) studies by major new finds and the confirmation these provide that the frequently lethal intent of such tablets must not be downplayed; the use of herbs in magic, considered from numerous perspectives but with an especial focus on the bizarre-seeming rituals and protocols attendant upon their collection; the employment of animals in magic, the factors determining the choice of animal, the uses to which they were put, and the procuring and storage of animal parts, conceivably in a sorcerer's workshop; the witch as a literary construct, the clear homologies between the magical procedures of fictional witches and those documented for real spells, the gendering of the witch-figure and the reductive presentation of sorceresses as old, risible and ineffectual; the issue of whether ancient magicians practised human sacrifice and the illuminating parallels between such accusations and late 20th century accounts of child-murder in the context of perverted Satanic rituals. By challenging a number of orthodoxies and opening up some underexamined aspects of the subject, this wide-ranging study stakes out important new territory in the field of magical studies.

When we try to make sense of pictures, what do we gain when we use a particular method - and what might we be missing or even losing? Empirical experimentation on three types of mythological imagery - a Classical Greek pot, a frieze from Hellenistic Pergamon and a second-century CE Roman sarcophagus - enables Katharina Lorenz to demonstrate how theoretical approaches to images (specifically, iconology, semiotics, and image studies) impact the meanings we elicit from Greek and Roman art. A guide to Classical images of myth, and also a critical history of Classical archaeology's attempts to give meaning to pictures, this book establishes a dialogue with the wider field of art history and proposes a new framework for the study of ancient visual culture. It will be essential reading not just for students of classical art history and archaeology, but for anyone interested in the possibilities - and the history - of studying visual culture.

European Paganism provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of ancient pagan religions throughout the European continent.
Before there where Christians, the peoples of Europe were pagans. Were they bloodthirsty savages hanging human offerings from trees? Were they happy ecologists, valuing the unpolluted rivers and mountains? In European Paganism Ken Dowden outlines and analyses the diverse aspects of pagan ritual and culture from human sacrifice to pilgrimage lunar festivals and tree worship. It includes:
* a 'timelines' chart to aid with chronology
* many quotations from ancient and modern sources translated from the original language where necessary, to make them accessible
* a comprehensive bibliography and guide to further reading.


eBook available with sample pages: EB:0203011775

Winner of The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022 Shortlisted for The Wolfson History Prize 2022 A The Times Books of the Year 2022 A fascinating, surprising and often controversial examination of the real God of the Bible, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms. Three thousand years ago, in the Southwest Asian lands we now call Israel and Palestine, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of deities, led by a father god called El. El had seventy children, who were gods in their own right. One of them was a minor storm deity, known as Yahweh. Yahweh had a body, a wife, offspring and colleagues. He fought monsters and mortals. He gorged on food and wine, wrote books, and took walks and naps. But he would become something far larger and far more abstract: the God of the great monotheistic religions. But as Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou reveals, God's cultural DNA stretches back centuries before the Bible was written, and persists in the tics and twitches of our own society, whether we are believers or not. The Bible has shaped our ideas about God and religion, but also our cultural preferences about human existence and experience; our concept of life and death; our attitude to sex and gender; our habits of eating and drinking; our understanding of history. Examining God's body, from his head to his hands, feet and genitals, she shows how the Western idea of God developed. She explores the places and artefacts that shaped our view of this singular God and the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world. And in doing so she analyses not only the origins of our oldest monotheistic religions, but also the origins of Western culture. Beautifully written, passionately argued and frequently controversial, God: An Anatomy is cultural history on a grand scale. 'Rivetingly fresh and stunning' - Sunday Times 'One of the most remarkable historians and communicators working today' - Dan Snow

This book is about the multiplicity of gods and religions that characterized the Roman world before Constantine. It was not the noble gods such as Jove, Apollo and Diana, who were crucial to the lives of the common people in the empire, bur gods of an altogether more earthly, earth level, whose rituals and observances may now seem bizarre. As well as being of wide general interest, this book will appeal to students of the Roman Empire and of the history of religion.

Religion in Late Roman Britain explores the changes in religion over the fourth century; the historical background for these changes and the forces which contributed to them.
Dorothy Watts examines the reasons for the decline of Christianity and the continuation of the pagan, Celtic cults in Britain. The author establishes a chronology for the rise and decline of Christianity, based on the available archaeological evidence, and she charts the fate of the pagan cults and temples in the fourth century. The author discusses the nature of Romano-British pagan religion and she analyses the controversial rite of decapitated burial in the light of some startling new archaeological evidence.

eBook available with sample pages: 020306173X

The role of women in Roman culture and society was a paradoxical one. On the one hand they enjoyed social, material and financial independence and on the other hand they were denied basic constitutional rights. Roman history is not short of powerful female figures, such as Agrippina and Livia, yet their power stemmed from their associations with great men and was not officially recognised.
Ariadne Staples' book examines how women in Rome were perceived both by themselves and by men through women's participation in Roman religion, as Roman religious ritual provided the single public arena where women played a significant formal role. From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins argues that the ritual roles played out by women were vital in defining them sexually and that these sexually defined categories spilled over into other aspects of Roman culture, including political activity.
Ariadne Staples provides an arresting and original analysis of the role of women in Roman society, which challenges traditionally held views and provokes further questions.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203435478

In 203 AD a group of Christians in Carthage, North Africa, were sentenced to the beasts in the arena. One of these, a twenty-two year old young mother, wrote a diary while she was imprisoned awaiting execution; later, this diary was completed by an observer who described her death in the arena. This poignant and personal narrative is the focus of this study of the conflict that resulted in the martyrdom of Perpetua.
"Perpetua's Passion" studies the third-century martyrdom of a young woman and places it in the intellectual and social context of her age. Conflicting ideas of religion, family and gender are explored as Salisbury follows Perpetua from her youth in a wealthy Roman household to her imprisonment and death in the arena. The author explores the ideas that shaped Perpetua's experience and the memories that appeared in her dreams and text, including metaphysical reflections, Carthaginian ideas of sacrificial suicide, and early Christian praise of prophecy and passion. "Perpetua's Passion" also encompasses more earthly dilemmas such as family, gender roles and motherhood, using the experience of this young martyr to explore these conflicting ideals and the conflict of ideologies. This book examines concepts of martyrdom and memory as her prison diary was preserved and read for centuries.
"Perpetua's Passion" provides insights into early Christian communities and the spiritual aspirations that shaped the converts, and will be of interest to classicists and medievalists, church historians and anyone interested in spirituality and the origins of Christianity.

This book studies the third-century martyrdom of a young woman and places it in the intellectual and social context of her age. Conflicting ideas of religion, family and gender are explored.

Prayer From Alexander To Constantine presents a diverse selection of prayer chosen by over 40 different historians, all specialists in their respective areas of Graeco-Roman literature. This collaboration gives the book a range and depth that no individual author could hope to rival.
Each selection includes an introductory essay, followed by a new English translation of the prayer, accompanied by critical notes and biography. In this way the reader is able to gain an insight into the variety of subjects and styles involved in people's communications with their gods in antiquity.
The volume will be a key text for students engaged in courses which explore the period's history and theologies. There is no comparable anthology available in English. The volume will also be of value to the general reader interested in the history of this period and anyone interested in the forms of prayer.

Prayer From Alexander To Constantine presents a diverse selection of prayer chosen by over 40 different historians, all specialists in their respective areas of Graeco-Roman literature. This collaboration gives the book a range and depth that no individual author could hope to rival.
Each selection includes an introductory essay, followed by a new English translation of the prayer, accompanied by critical notes and biography. In this way the reader is able to gain an insight into the variety of subjects and styles involved in people's communications with their gods in antiquity.
The volume will be a key text for students engaged in courses which explore the period's history and theologies. There is no comparable anthology available in English. The volume will also be of value to the general reader interested in the history of this period and anyone interested in the forms of prayer.