The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions

383 Pages·2013·7.26 MB·English

by  Barbette Stanley Spaeth

The Cambridge Companion to
ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
In antiquity, the Mediterranean region was linked by sea and land routes
that facilitated the spread of religious beliefs and practices among the
civilizations of the ancient world. T he Cambridge Companion to
Ancient Mediterranean Religions provides an introduction to the major
religions of this area and explores current research regarding the simi-
larities and differences among them. The period covered is from the
prehistoric period to late antiquity, that is, c. 4000 B CE to 600 C E . Part I
of the volume offers nine essays providing an overview of the character-
istics and historical developments of the major religions of the region,
including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria-Canaan, Israel, Anatolia,
Iran, Greece, Rome, and early Christianity. Part II contains fi ve essays
dealing with key topics in current research on these religions, including
violence, identity, the body, gender, and visuality, taking an explicitly
comparative approach and presenting recent theoretical and method-
ological advances in contemporary scholarship.
Barbette Stanley Spaeth is Associate Professor of Classical Studies and
Co-Director of the Institute for Pilgrimage Studies at the College of
William and Mary. Her specialty is Greek and Roman religion. She is
the author of T he Roman Goddess (1996) and of articles in D aughters
of Hecate: Women and Magic in the Ancient World (forthcoming),
Rome and Religion: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on the Imperial
Cult (2011), and S ub Imagine Somni: Nighttime Phenomena in Greco-
Roman Culture (2010). Her work has been published in the A merican
Journal of Archaeology , Hesperia , H istoria , and C lassical World . Spaeth
has held fellowships at the American School of Classical Studies in
Athens and the American Academy in Rome. She has received grants
from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Loeb Classical
Library Foundation, the Center for Hellenic Studies, and the Memoria
Romana Project of the Max-Planck Society. She is co-founder and past
president of the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions, as well as
past president of the Alumni/ae Association of the American School of
Classical Studies at Athens.

CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION
This is a series of companions to major topics and key fi gures in theology and
religious studies. Each volume contains specially commissioned chapters by
international scholars, which provide an accessible and stimulating introduction
to the subject for new readers and nonspecialists.
Other Titles in the Series
AMERICAN ISLAM Edited by Juliane Hammer and Omid Safi
A MERICAN JUDAISM Edited by Dana Evan K aplan
A MERICAN METHODISM Edited by J ason E. V ickers
K ARL BARTH E dited by J ohn W ebster
THE BIBLE, 2nd edition Edited by Bruce Chilton
B IBLICAL INTERPRETATION Edited by J ohn Barton
D IETRICH BONHOEFFER Edited by J ohn de G ruchy
J OHN CALVIN Edited by Donald K. M cKim
C HRISTIAN DOCTRINE Edited by Colin G unton
C HRISTIAN ETHICS Edited by Robin Gill
C HRISTIAN MYSTICISM E dited by A my Hollywood and Patricia Z. Beckman
CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY Edited by Charles Taliaferro and
Chad V. Meister
C LASSICAL ISLAMIC THEOLOGY E dited by Tim Winter
JONATHAN EDWARDS Edited by Stephen J. S tein
F EMINIST THEOLOGY Edited by Susan Frank Parsons
THE JESUITS Edited by T homas Worcester
J ESUS Edited by Markus B ockmuehl
C. S. LEWIS E dited by Robert MacSwain and Michael Ward
L IBERATION THEOLOGY Edited by C hris Rowland
M ARTIN LUTHER E dited by Donald K. M cKim
MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY E dited by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman
M ODERN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY E dited by Michael L. Morgan and Peter
Eli Gordon
M OHAMMED E dited by J onathan E. Brockup
POSTMODERN THEOLOGY Edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer
P URITANISM Edited by J ohn C offey and Paul C. H. Lim
T HE QUR’AN E dited by J ane Dammen McAuliffe
KARL RAHNER E dited by Declan M armion and Mary E. Hines
R EFORMATION THEOLOGY Edited by David Bagchi and David Steinmetz
R ELIGIOUS STUDIES Edited by R obert A. Orsi
F REIDRICK SCHLEIERMACHER Edited by Jacqueline Mari ñ a
S CIENCE AND RELIGION Edited by Peter H arrison
ST. PAUL E dited by J ames D. G. Dunn
THE TALMUD AND RABBINIC LITERATURE E dited by Charlotte E. Fonrobert
and Martin S. Jaffee
H ANS URS VON BALTHASAR E dited by E dward T. Oakes and David Moss
J OHN WESLEY E dited by Randy L. M addox and Jason E. Vickers

The Cambridge Companion to
ANCIENT
MEDITERRANEAN
RELIGIONS
Edited by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
College of William and Mary
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© Cambridge University Press 2013
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First published 2 013
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data
Spaeth, Barbette Stanley.
The Cambridge companion to ancient Mediterranean religions / Barbette Stanley
Spaeth, College of William and Mary.
pages cm. – (Cambridge companions to religion)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-11396-0 – ISBN 978-0-521-13204-6 (pbk.)
1. Mediterranean Region – Religion. I. Title.
BL687.S63 2013
200.937–dc23 2012049271
I SBN 978-0-521-11396-0 Hardback
I SBN 978-0-521-13204-6 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs
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Contents
List of Illustrations page ix
List of Contributors xi
Introduction 1
Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Part I
1 E gypt 1 3
Emily Teeter
2 M esopotamia 3 3
Beate Pongratz-Leisten
3 Syria-Canaan 55
Shawna Dolansky
4 Israel 76
Mayer I. Gruber
5 A natolia 9 5
Billie Jean Collins
6 I ran 116
W. W. Malandra
7 G reece 136
Jennifer Larson
8 R ome 157
Celia E. Schultz
9 E arly Christianity 177
H. Gregory Snyder
P art II
10 V iolence 199
Bruce Lincoln
vii
viii Contents
11 I dentity 2 20
Kimberly B. Stratton
1 2 T he Body 2 52
Elizabeth A. Castelli
1 3 G ender 281
Ross Shepard Kraemer
14 Visuality 3 09
Robin M. Jensen
Index 345
List of Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Ramesses IV offering food to the god Khonsu. Relief from
the Khonsu Temple, c. 1153–1147 B CE . page 24
8.1 So-called Tellus Relief of the Ara Pacis Augustae,
13–9 B CE . 161
10.1 Graph of conquest as divinely sanctioned. 206
1 0.2 Graph of defeat as humiliation. 207
1 0.3 Graph of millennarian revolt. 207
10.4 G raph of mortifi cation of the fl esh. 208
14.1 S tatue of Minerva, known as the Athena Giustiniani.
Antonine era copy of a fourth-century B CE Greek
original. 321
1 4.2 Vision of Ezekiel. Wall painting from the Dura
Europos Synagogue, c. 239 C E . 325
14.3 J esus enthroned with apostles. Apse mosaic from the
Church of Sta. Pudenziana, c. 400–410 C E . 327
14.4 J esus walking on the water. Wall painting from the
Christian baptistery in Dura Europos, c. 240 C E . 330
1 4.5 A pse mosaic from the Church of Ss. Cosmas and
Damian, c. 526–30 C E . 3 31
14.6 W est wall and Torah niche from the Dura Europos
Synagogue, c. 239 C E . 332
1 4.7 Z odiac mosaic fl oor panel from the Beth Alpha
Synagogue, sixth century C E . 3 33
1 4.8 W all paintings from the Villa of the Mysteries,
fi rst century C E . Pompeii. 335
14.9 Abraham’s hospitality, offering of Isaac. Sanctuary
mosaic from the Church of San Vitale, c. 547 C E .
Ravenna. 3 37
ix