Urban Religion is an emerging research field cutting across various social science disciplines, all of them dealing with "lived religion" in contemporary and (mainly) global cities. It describes the reciprocal formation and mutual influence of religion and urbanity in both their material and ideational dimensions. However, this approach, if duly historicized, can be also fruitfully applied to antiquity. Aim of the volume is the analysis of the entanglement of religious communication and city life during an arc of time that is characterised by dramatic and even contradicting developments. Bringing together textual analyses and archaelogical case studies in a comparative perspective, the volume zooms in on the historical context of the advanced imperial and late antique Mediterranean space (2nd-8th centuries CE).

The Lived Ancient Religion project has radically changed perspectives on ancient religions and their supposedly personal or public character. This volume applies and further develops these methodological tools, new perspectives and new questions. The religious transformations of the Roman Imperial period appear in new light and more nuances by comparative confrontation and the integration of many disciplines. The contributions are written by specialists from a variety of disciplinary contexts (Jewish Studies, Theology, Classics, Early Christian Studies) dealing with the history of religion of the Mediterranean, West-Asian, and European area from the (late) Hellenistic period to the (early) Middle Ages and shaped by their intensive exchange. From the point of view of their respective fields of research, the contributors engage with discourses on agency, embodiment, appropriation and experience. They present innovative research in four fields also of theoretical debate, which are "Experiencing the Religious", "Switching the Code", "A Thing Called Body" and "Commemorating the Moment".

Providing a comparative treatment of four cities of the eastern Roman empire in the period 50 BC-AD 250 -- Aphrodisias and Ephesos in Turkey, Athens in Greece and Gerasa in Jordan -- this carefully researched study examines the instrumental factors behind regional and local urban developments and what these tell us about regional identity in the areas. It is argued that local communities were responsible for the organisation and development of public space and buildings and took upon themselves this responsibility with a profound understanding of self-representation of urban communities within the framework of the Roman empire, but also with great knowledge of their own local and regional history and traditions. The development of an urban landscape can therefore provide useful information about many aspects of regional identity of a particular society. The book also discusses the influence which the wealth of imperial freedmen had on the development of their native towns once they returned home, arguing that this phenomenon, characteristic of the early imperial period, is more widespread than previously assumed. Furthermore, the impact of individuals benefactions on the urban landscape and how these played into the general local and regional identity is also examined. Through an investigation of the interaction between architectural developments, historical and regional factors, The book provides important insight into the processes nurturing the interactions between the built environment and the social and political culture and urban identity of individual towns in the eastern Roman empire.