Pollution and religion in Ancient Rome PDF
Preview Pollution and religion in Ancient Rome
more information - www.cambridge.org/9781107037908 POLLUTION AND RELIGION IN ANCIENT ROME Pollution could come from any number of sources in the Roman world. Bodily functions, sexual activity, bloodshed, death – any of these could cause disaster if brought into contact with religion. Its presence could invalidate sacrifices, taint religious officials, and threatentobringdowntheangerofthegodsuponthecity.Orators couldusepollutionasameansofdenigratingopponentsandobstruct- ingreligiousprocedures,andwriterscouldemphasisethe‘otherness’ ofbarbariansbydrawingattentiontotheirdifferentideasaboutwhat wasorwasnot‘dirty’.Yetdespiteallthis,religiouspollutionremained avagueconceptwithintheLatinlanguage,andwhatconstitutedpol- lutioncouldchangedependingonthecontextinwhichitappeared. Callinguponarangeofresearchdisciplines,thisbookhighlightsthe significantrolethatpollutionplayedacrossRomanreligion,andthe roleitplayedintheconstructionofreligiousidentity. jack j. lennon received his PhD from the University of Not- tinghamandhassincetaughtatvariousacademicinstitutions,most recentlyasTeachingFellowintheDepartmentofHistory,University College London. His interest is in ancient history, particularly pre- ChristianRomanreligionandmagic,andespeciallythephenomenon ofpollutionandritualimpurity.Hisresearchfrequentlyaimstointe- gratethetheoriesofmodernanthropologyalongsidethoseofancient historyandphilologyinordertoexplorebeyondthetraditionallimits ofclassicalscholarship.Inadditiontostudyingthenatureofpollution withinreligion,heisalsointerestedinthewiderculturalperceptions ofdirtandcleanlinessacrossancientRomansociety. POLLUTION AND RELIGION IN ANCIENT ROME JACK J. LENNON UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107037908 (cid:2)c JackJ.Lennon2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata Lennon,JackJ.,1985– PollutionandreligioninancientRome/JackJ.Lennon. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-03790-8(hardback) 1.Rome–Religion. 2.Pollution–Religiousaspects. I.Title. bl805.l35 2014 292.1ʹ77–dc23 2013013109 isbn978-1-107-03790-8Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. ForClare Contents Preface pageix Introduction 1 1 Definingpollution 29 30 PartI:Lexicalcategories 44 PartII:ThepureandthepollutedinRomanreligion 2 Birth,sexandbodilymargins 55 3 Blood 90 4 Deathandremembrance 136 5 Pollutionandrhetoric 167 Conclusion 188 References 197 Index 223 vii
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