Ancient Angels: Conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World)

201 Pages·2011·3.35 MB·English

by  Rangar Cline

Ancient Angels
Religions in the
Graeco-Roman World
Series Editors
D. Frankfurter
J. Hahn
H. S. Versnel
VOLUME 172
Ancient Angels
Conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire
By
Rangar Cline
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cline, Rangar.
Ancient angels : conceptualizing angeloi in the Roman Empire / by Rangar Cline.
p. cm. — (Religions in the Graeco-Roman world ; v. 172)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-19453-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Angels. 2. Rome—Religion.
I. Title. II. Series.
BL477.C55 2011
202’.150937—dc22
2010049727
ISSN 0927-7633
ISBN 978 90 04 19453 3
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
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Fees are subject to change.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ............................................................................ vii
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix
List of Abbreviations ......................................................................... xi
List of Epigraphic Sigla ..................................................................... xiii
Preface ................................................................................................. xv
Chapter One Introduction: The Words of Angels .................... 1
Chapter Two Angels of the Aether ............................................. 19
Chapter Three Angels of a Pagan God ....................................... 47
Chapter Four Angels of the Grave .............................................. 77
Chapter Five Angels of the Spring: Variations on Local
Angelos Veneration and Christian Reaction ............................. 105
Chapter Six Angels of a Christian God: Christian Angelos
Veneration in Late Roman Anatolia .......................................... 137
Conclusion .......................................................................................... 167
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 169
Index .................................................................................................... 179

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 2.1 Wall at Oenoanda with Oracular Inscription and
Chromatis’ Dedication ................................................................. 42
Figure 2.2 Oracular Inscription at Oenoanda ........................... 43
Figure 2.3 Chromatis’ Dedication ................................................ 44
Figure 2.4 Topographical map of Oenoanda
(after Hall 1978, by permission of Rudolf Habelt) .................. 45
Figure 5.1 Fountain of the Lamps—Lamp 1
(by permission of the ASCSA) .................................................... 135
Figure 5.2 Fountain of the Lamps—Lamp 2
(by permission of the ASCSA) .................................................... 136
Figure 6.1 Epiphanius’s Phylactery (after Jordan and
Kotansky 1996, by permssion of the Presses Universitaires
de France) ....................................................................................... 149
Figure 6.2 Amulet from Cyzicus (after Sorlin Dorigny 1891) 152

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following book could not have been completed without sup-
port from a number of friends, colleagues, and institutions. The
early phases of this project were aided by the United States Fulbright
Foundation, which provided funds for a year of study in Greece at the
American School of Classical Studies in 2001–2002. The Pennsylvania
State University’s Department of History provided generous funds for
research in Greece and Turkey in the form of a Hill Grant in 2003. The
Pennsylvania State University also provided funds in the form of an
Institute for the Arts and Humanities Summer Writing Grant (2004)
and a Research and Graduate Studies Organization Course Release
Grant (2004). I am grateful to the American School of Classical Studies
for permission to publish materials in their collection, and to Rudolf
Habelt and the Presses Universitaires de France for permissions to
include copyrighted materials.
I would like to thank the faculty in History, Classics and Ancient
Mediterranean Studies, and Religious Studies at Penn State, who
assisted in the dissertation phase of this project, in particular my dis-
sertation advisor Paul B. Harvey, Jr., along with Mark Munn, Gary
Knoppers, and the late William Petersen. While a visiting assistant
professor at Furman University, my work on the book benefited from
conversations with a number of colleagues, especially Shelly Matthews,
Christopher Blackwell, Anne Leen, Richard Letteri, and David Spear.
At the University of Oklahoma, a Faculty Enrichment Grant and sup-
port from the Department of History assisted in the presentation of
portions of the book at the Byzantine Studies Conference and the
Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. Special
thanks are due to my colleagues in the Religious Studies Program, the
Department of History, and the Department of Classics and Letters
at the University of Oklahoma, in particular Charles Kimball, Robert
Griswold, Daniel Snell, Roberta Magnusson, Eric Braun, David Visha-
noff, Jane Wickersham, Ray Canoy, and Kyle Harper.
Much of the research for this project was carried out in the Blegen
Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. While
I was working on this project in Athens, many friends and colleagues
at the American School offered helpful advice and comments. I would