Full Description
There is no agreement over how to name the 'pagan' cults of late antiquity. Clearly they were more diverse than this Christian label suggests, but also exhibited tendencies towards monotheism and internal changes which makes it difficult to describe them as 'traditional cults'. This volume, which includes two extensive bibliographic essays, considers the decline of urban temples alongside the varying evolution of other focii of cult practice and identity. The papers reveal great regional diversity in the development of late antique paganism, and suggest that the time has come to abandon a single compelling narrative of 'the end of the temples' based on legal sources and literary accounts. Although temple destructions are attested, in some regions the end of paganism was both gradual and untraumatic, with more co-existence with Christianity than one might have expected.
Contributors are Javier Arce, Béatrice Caseau, Georgios Deligiannakis, Koen Demarsin, Jitse H.F. Dijkstra, Demetrios Eliopoulos, James Gerrard, Penelope J. Goodman, David Gwynn, Luke Lavan, Michael Mulryan, Helen G. Saradi, Eberhard W. Sauer, Gareth Sears, Peter Talloen, Peter Van Nuffelen and Lies Vercauteren.
Contents
Acknowledgements ... ix
List of Contributors ... xi
Introduction ... xv
Luke Lavan
Bibliographic Essays
'Paganism' in Late Antiquity: Thematic Studies ... 3
Koen Demarsin
'Paganism' in Late Antiquity: Regional Studies and Material Culture ... 41
Michael Mulryan
The Development of Paganism in Late Antiquity
Eusebius of Caesarea and the Concept of Paganism ... 89
Peter Van Nuffelen
Late Antique Paganism: Adaptation under Duress ... 111
Béatrice Caseau
The 'End' of Roman Senatorial Paganism ... 135
David M. Gwynn
Temples in the West
Temples in Late Antique Gaul ... 165
Penelope J. Goodman
Fana, Templa, Delubra Destrui Praecipimus: The End of the Temples in Roman Spain ... 195
Javier Arce
The Temple of Flora or Venus by the Circus Maximus and the New Christian Topography: The 'Pagan Revival' in Action? ... 209
Michael Mulryan
The Fate of the Temples in North Africa ... 229
Gareth Sears
Temples in the East
Late Paganism and Christianisation in Greece ... 263
Helen G. Saradi with the contribution of Demetrios Eliopoulos
Late Paganism on the Aegean Islands and Processes of Christianisation ... 311
Georgios Deligiannakis
The Fate of Temples in Late Antique Anatolia ... 347
Peter Talloen and Lies Vercauteren
The Fate of the Temples in Late Antique Egypt ... 389
Jitse H. F. Dijkstra
'Pagan' Statues
Political Talismans? Residual 'Pagan' Statues in Late Antique Public Space ... 439
Luke Lavan
Religious Intolerance and Pagan Statuary ... 479
Béatrice Caseau
Sacred Deposits
Religious Rituals at Springs in the Late Antique and Early Medieval World ... 505
Eberhard W. Sauer
Wells and Belief Systems at the End of Roman Britain: A Case Study from Roman London ... 551
James Gerrard
Iconography in Material Culture
From Pagan to Christian: Religious Iconography in Material Culture from Sagalassos ... 575
Peter Talloen
Abstracts in French ... 609
Indices ... 617
Themes ... 617
Index of People, Historical and Biblical ... 629
Index of Places ... 636
