Tangible Religion. Materiality of Domestic Cult Practices from Antiquity to Early Modern

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Tangible Religion. Materiality of Domestic Cult Practices from Antiquity to Early Modern ACTA INSTITUTI ROMANI FINLANDIAE VOL. 49 TANGIBLE RELIGION MATERIALITY OF DOMESTIC CULT PRACTICES FROM ANTIQUITY TO EARLY MODERN ERA TANGIBLE RELIGION TANGIBLE editors RIA BERG, ANTONELLA CORALINI, ANU KAISA KOPONEN & REIMA VÄLIMÄKI ROMA 2021 TANGIBLE RELIGION MATERIALITY OF DOMESTIC CULT PRACTICES FROM ANTIQUITY TO EARLY MODERN ERA editors RIA BERG, ANTONELLA CORALINI, ANU KAISA KOPONEN & REIMA VÄLIMÄKI ACTA INSTITUTI ROMANI FINLANDIAE Vol. 49 TANGIBLE RELIGION MATERIALITY OF DOMESTIC CULT PRACTICES FROM ANTIQUITY TO EARLY MODERN ERA editors RIA BERG, ANTONELLA CORALINI, ANU KAISA KOPONEN & REIMA VÄLIMÄKI ROMA 2021 Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae, rivista internazionale open-access sottoposta a peer review Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae, an international peer-reviewed open-access series Direttore / Director MIKA KAJAVA, Helsinki Department of Languages FI–00014 University of Helsinki Comitato scientifico /Editorial board MIKA KAJAVA – MARJO KAARTINEN – ARJA KARIVIERI Comitato editoriale internazionale / International editorial advisory board JOHN BODEL (Providence, USA), ALFREDO BUONOPANE (Verona), IRENE BRAGANTINI (Napoli), MICHEL GRAS (Paris), KLAUS HERBERS (Erlangen), SYBILLE EBERT-SCHIFFERER (Roma) Redazione / Editing Simo ÖRMÄ, Roma Redazione del vol. 49 / Editorial work for vol. 49 RIA BERG, ANTONELLA CORALINI, ANU KAISA KOPONEN & REIMA VÄLIMÄKI In copertina / Cover illustration Bronze statuette of the goddess Fortuna and the Lares in the lararium of the House of Fortuna (IX 7, 20), Pompeii. After F. Niccolini – F. Niccolini, Le case ed i monumenti di Pompei disegnati e descritti, Napoli 1890, vol. III, Casa r. IX is. VII, tav. III. È vietata la riproduzione delle immagini del libro in qualsiasi forma / Reproduction of the images of the volume is forbidden I titoli delle riviste sono abbreviati secondo le norme dell’American Journal of Archaeology / The abbreviations for journal titles follow the system of the American Journal of Archaeology. ISBN 978-88-5491-164-2 ISSN 0538-2270 © Institutum Romanum Finlandiae Roma 2021 www.irfrome.org Finito di stampare nel mese di luglio 2021 Contents Acknowledgements 7 RIA BERG – REIMA VÄLIMÄKI – ANU KAISA KOPONEN – ANTONELLA CORALINI, Introduction: Tangible Religion from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period 9 ANCIENT WORLD MERITXELL FERRER, More than Dwellings. Women, Rituals and Homes in Western Sicily (8th–5th Centuries BCE) 37 SIMONA PERNA, What is in a Vase? Materiality and Semiotics of Cinerary Vases in Egyptian Stone and Vase Shapes in Roman Domestic and Funerary Contexts 51 AUDE DURAND & WILLIAM VAN ANDRINGA, To Live or not to Live. The Lares and the Transfer of the Domicilium in a Roman Town 85 MADDALENA BASSANI, Gods and Cult Objects in Roman Houses. Notes for a Methodological Research 101 RIA BERG, Instruments & Amulets. Pompeian Hairpins and Women’s Domestic Ritual 119 ANTONELLA CORALINI, Materialising Divine Presences. Hercules domesticus Revisited 145 ANU KAISA KOPONEN, Egyptian Cults in Pompeian Domestic Wall Paintings 177 MADDALENA BASSANI, Sacra privata in Central Italy. New Data from an Archaeological Research 209 MEDIEVAL & EARLY MODERN EUROPE CLAIRE RENKIN, Making the Sacred Palpable. How Material Objects Enhanced Lay Devotional Practices in Late Medieval Europe 223 REIMA VÄLIMÄKI, More Powerful than Mere Matter? Forbidden but Practiced Material Religion among the Late Medieval German Waldensians 239 KIRSI MAJANTIE, Venerated and Didactic Walls. Devotional Images on Fifteenth- to Sixteenth-Cen- tury Tile Stoves in Northern Europe 255 DAVID GAIMSTER, New Faith, New Home, New Stove. The Role of the Hanseatic Ceramic Trade in the Transmission of New Confessional and Political Identities in the Northern European Home, c. 1500–1600 271 List of Contributors 283 Acknowledgements This book has its roots in an international workshop of the same name, Tangible Religion, which focused on the material presence, use and meaning of objects relative to cult practices in premodern domestic spaces, in a time frame ranging from Antiquity to Early Modern Europe. The workshop was organized at the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Villa Lante in Rome, 27th–28th November 2014 by Dr. Ria Berg, Dr. Anu Kaisa Koponen and Dr. Marika Räsänen; the editors of the volume thank Dr. Räsänen warmly for her assiduous work and enthusiasm in the organization of the event, essential for the creation of this volume. Further papers (Bassani, Coralini, Ferrer, Perna) have been added from those read in another, complementary workshop, the session Objects and Images. Materiality of Lived Religion in the Classical World, organized by Dr. Ria Berg, Prof. Antonella Coralini and Dr. Ilkka Kuivalainen at the European Association of Archaeologists yearly conference Building Bridges, 30th August – 3rd September 2017 at Maastricht. We also warmly thank Dr. Maddalena Bassani, who was present at both conferences, for sharing her expertise and for fruitful collaboration through the editorial process. This project is a fruit of the interdisciplinary and longue-durée approach at the heart of the work of the institute, and aims to stimulate exchange and confrontation of methods, research questions and new influences in different fields of study. We thank first and foremost the Finnish Cultural foundation and the University of Turku for financial support that made it possible to organise the original workshop in Rome; we of course owe a great debt of gratitude to the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae for support and assistance in all phases of the process, in particular the then director Prof. Tuomas Heikkilä, Intendent Simo Örmä, and Amanuensis Linda Jokela. We also express our sincere gratitude to the current Director, Prof. Arja Karivieri, Prof. Marjo Kaartinen and Prof. Mika Kajava for accepting the manuscript for publication. We also thank the Parco archeologico di Pompei, especially Prof. Massimo Osanna and the present Director, Prof. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, for the kind permission to study the Pompeian materials and wall-paintings relevant to the theme and Dr. Grete Stefani and members of the Pompeii staff for long-standing and multiple assistance. We also thank Dr. Brian McNeil for the English revision of a number of articles. Over the years, we have had the pleasure of benefiting from discussions with and support from numerous scholars, whom we want to thank cordially, in primis Prof. Katariina Mustakallio, but importantly also Emese Balint, Jonas Bjørnebye, Kimberly Bowes, Rasmus Brandt, Véronique Dasen, †Turid Seim, Line C. Engh, Kristine Iara, Siri Sande, Teemu Immonen, Ilkka Kuivalainen, Liisa Lagerstam, Ville Hakanen, Katja Varakas and numerous others. Rome, June 2021 Ria Berg Antonella Coralini Anu Kaisa Koponen Reima Välimäki Introduction: Tangible Religion from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period RIA BERG – REIMA VÄLIMÄKI – ANU KAISA KOPONEN – ANTONELLA CORALINI In ancient and premodern societies – from archaic Greece and imperial Rome, through the Middle Ages up to Reformed Northern Europe – most homes contained at least some select objects with a religious or ritual significance. Such objects, with a variable degree of sacrality, would range from altars, household shrines, and statuettes of divinities to incense burners, relics, pendants, rosaries and religious imagery of gods and saints represented on wall paintings, decorative tiles, textiles, furniture or everyday utensils, and even substances contained in the ‘consecrated’ vases, such as incense, salt, honey, water and wine. Such objects differed from the most venerated sacred cult items safeguarded in temples and churches, and seen only during certain ceremonies: domestic cult objects may have been seen, touched and used on an every-day basis. Inhabitants, visitors, servants, and slaves of the households therefore had a close, physical – and arguably more direct, personal and emotive – relationship with these objects with which they shared the living space and with which they were in daily interaction, than with the objects of the official cult. In domestic space, holy and everyday activities and objects mingled and were closely interwoven, to such an extent that it is impossible to distinguish the borders between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘profane’. Material culture, with its non-language-like qualities, has always offered very specific ways to express abstract religious ideas and emotions.1 Tangible objects – cult images, ritual paraphernalia, offerings, relics and sacred mementoes – have made it possible to vest ethereal religious beliefs in a material form, to render abstract ideas concrete and tactile, and made them ownable and capable of being contained in one’s home.2 Thus, religious performances – prayers, votive promises, and sacrifices – can have, to a certain degree, material proxies reflecting these ephemeral acts of speech and gesture.3 In the Roman world, cult and sacrifice were prescribed in minute detail, and their material equipment too had to meet certain formal standards.4 Such objects and images had also, in turn, the capability to render certain domestic spaces (more) sacred and give to the entire Roman domus a sacral aura.5 The Roman house, as a homestead, was therefore, in a certain sense, regarded as a holy place and therefore was well protected by Roman law. The violation of someone’s house was regarded as an attack not only against property and person, but also against the Roman state and its religion. In theory, the same ‘sacred aura’ attached to the Roman elite house also protected the humble homes of the poor.6 1 BOIVIN
Recommended publications
  • Constantia, St
    THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARY REFERENCE CYCLOPEDIA of BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL LITERATURE Constantia, St. - Czechowitzky, Martin by James Strong & John McClintock To the Students of the Words, Works and Ways of God: Welcome to the AGES Digital Library. We trust your experience with this and other volumes in the Library fulfills our motto and vision which is our commitment to you: MAKING THE WORDS OF THE WISE AVAILABLE TO ALL — INEXPENSIVELY. AGES Software Rio, WI USA Version 1.0 © 2000 2 Constantia, Saint a martyr at Nuceria, under Nero, is commemorated September 19 in Usuard's Martyrology. Constantianus, Saint abbot and recluse, was born in Auvergne in the beginning of the 6th century, and died A.D. 570. He is commemorated December 1 (Le Cointe, Ann. Eccl. Fran. 1:398, 863). Constantin, Boniface a French theologian, belonging to the Jesuit order, was born at Magni (near Geneva) in 1590, was professor of rhetoric and philosophy at Lyons, and died at Vienne, Dauphine, November 8, 1651. He wrote, Vie de Cl. de Granger Eveque et Prince dae Geneve (Lyons, 1640): — Historiae Sanctorum Angelorum Epitome (ibid. 1652), a singular work upon the history of angels. He also-wrote some other works on theology. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten- Lexikon, s.v. Constantine (or Constantius), Saint is represented as a bishop, whose deposition occurred at Gap, in France. He is commemorated April 12 (Gallia Christiana 1:454). SEE CONSTANTINIUS. Constantine Of Constantinople deacon and chartophylax of the metropolitan Church of Constantinople, lived before the 8th century. There is a MS.
    [Show full text]
  • Taylor Made Exacta TAYLOR Two-Year-Old Taylor Made Sales Agency Graduates PRIVATE GOLD and ECHEVERRIA Run 1St and 2Nd in the Aug
    ALBERT CLAY DIES p9 HEADLINE NEWS For information about TDN, DELIVERED EACH NIGHT call 732-747-8060. BY FAX AND INTERNET www.thoroughbreddailynews.com WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2002 NAYEF BACK ON TOP CAN KAZZIA KEEP IT UP? Nayef (Gulch), sent off the 6-4 favourite, avenged the Dual Classic heroine Kazzia (Ger) (Zinaad {GB}) will head defeat by Golan (Ire) (Spectrum {Ire}) in the G1 attempt to maintain her unbeaten record when she King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot goes postward this afternoon in the G1 Aston Upthorpe July 27 with a battling half- Yorkshire Oaks. Islington (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) has length defeat of that rival in emerged as a chief threat and bids to dethrone the G1 yesterday’s G1 Juddmonte 1000 Guineas and G1 Oaks winner. Kazzia is equal to International S. at York. the challenge, displaying the same street-fighting quali- Overcoming a steady early ties that helped the tough Ramruma follow up her Ep- gallop to sweep to the front som success here in 1999. She possesses inherent with three furlongs remain- stamina, which she brought into play in the grueling ing, he was not to be de- battle with Quarter Moon (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) in rain- nied as Golan attacked time softened ground at Epsom. Connections will have been Nayef (blue/white cap) outguns Golan and again. “He’s been pleasantly surprised, then, that she had sufficient speed sportinglife.com photo working so well, and al- to deny her peers in the mile Classic at Newmarket. The though the lack of pace was a bit disappointing, he has uniting factor in both performances was her will to win shown courage and tenacity,” said winning trainer and, more importantly, her desire not to be passed.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Department Newsletter (PDF)
    2015 Newsletter Earth, Planetary, AND Space Sciences GREETINGS FROM THE CHAIR The rhythms of academia flow from Fall back around to Summer, and sometimes don't harmonize well with the IN THIS ISSUE calendar year (especially at its often frantic end). And so, for those of you who missed our annual Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences newsletter in December, I offer my apology and an assurance that your beloved department 2 FROM THE CHAIR is still alive and doing well. On behalf of all the current denizens of the Geology Building and Slichter Hall, I extend to you, our alumni family, happy greetings for Spring 2016! I hope that you will enjoy seeing here a few highlights 3 PANORAMA from the past year in Westwood. Along with the changing seasons, come some changes in our faculty. 4 DAWN COMES TO CERES We are excited to welcome geologist Seulgi Moon. Born in a small town in South Korea, our newest Assistant Professor received her PhD at Stanford and comes to UCLA following a postdoc at MIT. You can read 6 NEW FACULTY about her research on surface processes on page 6. After decades of outstanding research achievements, Professors Bruce Runnegar and 8 AROUND THE John Wasson decided to officially retire, although both continue to come DEPARTMENT to the department daily, conducting research and interacting with students. Unfortunately (for us) the lure of native lands proved too 9 IN THE FIELD WITH much for Ed Rhodes and Axel Schmitt, who left for faculty positions in the PROF AN YIN U.K. and Germany, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • SMITH Archeologia Classica.Pdf (384.1Kb)
    NUOVA SERIE Rivista del Dipartimento di Scienze dell’antichità Sezione di Archeologia Fondatore: GIULIO Q. GIGLIOLI Direzione Scientifica MARIA CRISTINA BIELLA, ENZO LIPPOLIS, LAURA MICHETTI, GLORIA OLCESE, DOMENICO PALOMBI, MASSIMILIANO PAPINI, MARIA GRAZIA PICOZZI, FRANCESCA ROMANA STASOLLA, STEFANO TORTORELLA Direttore responsabile: DOMENICO PALOMBI Redazione: FABRIZIO SANTI, FRANCA TAGLIETTI Vol. LXVIII - n.s. II, 7 2017 «L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER - ROMA Comitato Scientifico PIERRE GROS, SYBILLE HAYNES, TONIO HÖLSCHER, METTE MOLTESEN, STÉPHANE VERGER Il Periodico adotta un sistema di Peer-Review Archeologia classica : rivista dell’Istituto di archeologia dell’Università di Roma. - Vol. 1 (1949). - Roma : Istituto di archeologia, 1949. - Ill.; 24 cm. - Annuale. - Il complemento del titolo varia. - Dal 1972: Roma: «L’ERMA» di Bretschneider. ISSN 0391-8165 (1989) CDD 20. 930.l’05 ISBN CARTACEO 978-88-913-1563-2 ISBN DIGITALE 978-88-913-1567-0 ISSN 0391-8165 © COPYRIGHT 2017 - SAPIENZA - UNIVERSITÀ DI ROMA Aut. del Trib. di Roma n. 104 del 4 aprile 2011 Volume stampato con contributo di Sapienza - Università di Roma INDICE DEL VOLUME LXVIII ARTICOLI AMBROGI A. (con un’appendice di FERRO C.), Un rilievo figurato di età tardo- repubblicana da un sepolcro dell’Appia antica ............................................... p. 143 BALDASSARRI P., Lusso privato nella tarda antichità: le piccole terme di Palazzo Valentini e un pavimento in opus sectile con motivi complessi...................... » 245 BARATTA G., Falere tardo-antiche ispaniche con quattro passanti angolari: aggiornamenti e ipotesi sulla funzionalità del tipo ......................................... » 289 BARBERA M., Prime ipotesi su una placchetta d’avorio dal Foro Romano .......... » 225 COATES-STEPHENS R., Statue museums in Late Antique Rome ........................... » 309 GATTI S., Tradizione ellenistica e sperimentazione italica: l’Aula Absidata nel foro di Praeneste ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Vestal Virgins and Their Families
    Vestal Virgins and Their Families Andrew B. Gallia* I. INTRODUCTION There is perhaps no more shining example of the extent to which the field of Roman studies has been enriched by a renewed engagement with anthropology and other cognate disciplines than the efflorescence of interest in the Vestal virgins that has followed Mary Beard’s path-breaking article regarding these priestesses’ “sexual status.”1 No longer content to treat the privileges and ritual obligations of this priesthood as the vestiges of some original position (whether as wives or daughters) in the household of the early Roman kings, scholars now interrogate these features as part of the broader frameworks of social and cultural meaning through which Roman concepts of family, * Published in Classical Antiquity 34.1 (2015). Early versions of this article were inflicted upon audiences in Berkeley and Minneapolis. I wish to thank the participants of those colloquia for helpful and judicious feedback, especially Ruth Karras, Darcy Krasne, Carlos Noreña, J. B. Shank, and Barbara Welke. I am also indebted to George Sheets, who read a penultimate draft, and to Alain Gowing and the anonymous readers for CA, who prompted additional improvements. None of the above should be held accountable for the views expressed or any errors that remain. 1 Beard 1980, cited approvingly by, e.g., Hopkins 1983: 18, Hallett 1984: x, Brown 1988: 8, Schultz 2012: 122. Critiques: Gardner 1986: 24-25, Beard 1995. 1 gender, and religion were produced.2 This shift, from a quasi-diachronic perspective, which seeks explanations for recorded phenomena in the conditions of an imagined past, to a more synchronic approach, in which contemporary contexts are emphasized, represents a welcome methodological advance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lameness of King Philip II and Royal Tomb I at Vergina, Macedonia
    The lameness of King Philip II and Royal Tomb I at Vergina, Macedonia Antonis Bartsiokasa,1, Juan-Luis Arsuagab,c,1, Elena Santosb, Milagros Algabab, and Asier Gómez-Olivenciad,e,f,b aLaboratory of Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, 69100 Komotini, Greece; bCentro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid-Instituto de Salud Carlos III de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, 28029 Madrid, Spain; cDepartmento de Paleontología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; dDepartmento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 48080 Bilbao, Spain; eIKERBASQUE, the Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain; and fÉquipe de Paléontologie Humaine, UMR 7194, CNRS, Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Musée de l’Homme, 75016 Paris, France Contributed by Juan-Luis Arsuaga, June 9, 2015 (sent for review March 30, 2015) King Philip II was the father of Alexander the Great. He suffered been presented before. Only a brief mention was made of few of a notorious penetrating wound by a lance through his leg that was them in a couple of lines (4, 7), and certainly nothing was reported nearly fatal and left him lame in 339 B.C.E. (i.e., 3 y before his on their lesions. assassination in 336 B.C.E.). In 1977 and 1978 two male skeletons were excavated in the Royal Tombs II and I of Vergina, Greece, Methods respectively. Tomb I also contained another adult (likely a female) We have established the presence of three individuals: two adults (Individuals and a newborn skeleton. The current view is that Philip II was 1 and 2) and one newborn (Individual 3).
    [Show full text]
  • COURT of CLAIMS of THE
    REPORTS OF Cases Argued and Determined IN THE COURT of CLAIMS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS VOLUME 39 Containing cases in which opinions were filed and orders of dismissal entered, without opinion for: Fiscal Year 1987 - July 1, 1986-June 30, 1987 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 1988 (Printed by authority of the State of Illinois) (65655--300-7/88) PREFACE The opinions of the Court of Claims reported herein are published by authority of the provisions of Section 18 of the Court of Claims Act, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 37, par. 439.1 et seq. The Court of Claims has exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine the following matters: (a) all claims against the State of Illinois founded upon any law of the State, or upon an regulation thereunder by an executive or administrative ofgcer or agency, other than claims arising under the Workers’ Compensation Act or the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act, or claims for certain expenses in civil litigation, (b) all claims against the State founded upon any contract entered into with the State, (c) all claims against the State for time unjustly served in prisons of this State where the persons imprisoned shall receive a pardon from the Governor stating that such pardon is issued on the grounds of innocence of the crime for which they were imprisoned, (d) all claims against the State in cases sounding in tort, (e) all claims for recoupment made by the State against any Claimant, (f) certain claims to compel replacement of a lost or destroyed State warrant, (g) certain claims based on torts by escaped inmates of State institutions, (h) certain representation and indemnification cases, (i) all claims pursuant to the Law Enforcement Officers, Civil Defense Workers, Civil Air Patrol Members, Paramedics and Firemen Compensation Act, (j) all claims pursuant to the Illinois National Guardsman’s and Naval Militiaman’s Compensation Act, and (k) all claims pursuant to the Crime Victims Compensation Act.
    [Show full text]
  • Heroes of the Bronze Age
    ARCH 0412 From Gilgamesh to Hektor: Heroes of the Bronze Age April 20, 2016: The Hero of Lefkandi Creating and Negotiating Boundaries Timeline of Ancient Greece HOMERIC EPICS Composed Written Modified Early Bronze Age Middle Bronze Age Late Bronze Age Proto-Geometric Geometric Archaic Classic (3000-2000 BCE) (2000-1700 BCE) (1700-1100 BCE) (1100-900 BCE) (900-700 BCE) (700-480 BCE) (480-323 BCE) LEFKANDI HEROON Placing offerings in Mycenaean tombs start in late 8th century BCE Euboea and Lefkandi Lefkandi Cemeteries Toumba Cemetery ‘The Apsidal Building’ aka ‘Heroon’ • c. 1000 BCE • Short-lived • Built over Mycenaean tombs • Stratigraphic relationship between the burials and the structure unknown • Partly demolished after a short period of use Protogeometric and Geometric period houses in Greece Lefkandi: Apsidal house at Nichoria, Messenia, The largest of the apsidal 800-750 BC. houses known from this time period ‘Pesistris’ (Colonnade) Main (Eastern) Entrance ‘Pesistris’ (Colonnade) Reconstruction of Temple of Apsidal building of Lefkandi Zeus at Olympia Lefkandi: Female Inhumation Lefkandi: Male Cremation Funeral? ‘When we removed the clay floor to the east of the burial pit, we found an area of rock scorched by a fierce fire and containing a circle of postholes, each filled with charred wood, presumably the remains of the supporting timbers of the pyre on which our hero had been cremated.’ (Popham, Touloupa, Sackett 1982: 173) Lefkandi: Horse Burials The Afterlife of the Heroon The tumulus of Marathon Lefkandi and Homeric Funeral The people hitched up mules and oxen to their wagons and then gathered before the city with all speed.
    [Show full text]
  • Italian "Sondergötter." Author(S): H
    Italian "Sondergötter." Author(s): H. J. Rose Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 3, Part 2 (1913), pp. 233-241 Published by: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/296227 . Accessed: 17/06/2014 01:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Roman Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 188.72.126.181 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 01:31:37 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ITALIAN " SONDERGOTTER." By H. J. ROSE. Since Usener put prominently forward the theory of Sonder- g6tter,1 the idea has been subjected to trenchant negative criticism by two expertsin the fields of Greek and Roman religion respectively, Farnell2and Wissowa.3 The formerprotests, and rightly so, against the cheerfulassumption that, whenevera deity has a name describing a function, " Saviour," " Queen," " Victory," for example, we should regard him or her as a primitive Sondergott; since many examples teach us that such figures are often the products of a developed polytheism.
    [Show full text]
  • Magic in Private and Public Lives of the Ancient Romans
    COLLECTANEA PHILOLOGICA XXIII, 2020: 53–72 http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.23.04 Idaliana KACZOR Uniwersytet Łódzki MAGIC IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIVES OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS The Romans practiced magic in their private and public life. Besides magical practices against the property and lives of people, the Romans also used generally known and used protective and healing magic. Sometimes magical practices were used in official religious ceremonies for the safety of the civil and sacral community of the Romans. Keywords: ancient magic practice, homeopathic magic, black magic, ancient Roman religion, Roman religious festivals MAGIE IM PRIVATEN UND ÖFFENTLICHEN LEBEN DER ALTEN RÖMER Die Römer praktizierten Magie in ihrem privaten und öffentlichen Leben. Neben magische Praktik- en gegen das Eigentum und das Leben von Menschen, verwendeten die Römer auch allgemein bekannte und verwendete Schutz- und Heilmagie. Manchmal wurden magische Praktiken in offiziellen religiösen Zeremonien zur Sicherheit der bürgerlichen und sakralen Gemeinschaft der Römer angewendet. Schlüsselwörter: alte magische Praxis, homöopathische Magie, schwarze Magie, alte römi- sche Religion, Römische religiöse Feste Magic, despite our sustained efforts at defining this term, remains a slippery and obscure concept. It is uncertain how magic has been understood and practised in differ- ent cultural contexts and what the difference is (if any) between magical and religious praxis. Similarly, no satisfactory and all-encompassing definition of ‘magic’ exists. It appears that no singular concept of ‘magic’ has ever existed: instead, this polyvalent notion emerged at the crossroads of local custom, religious praxis, superstition, and politics of the day. Individual scholars of magic, positioning themselves as ostensi- bly objective observers (an etic perspective), mostly defined magic in opposition to religion and overemphasised intercultural parallels over differences1.
    [Show full text]
  • Pagan to Christian Slides As Printable Handout
    23/08/2018 Transition From Pagan To Christian William Sterling Fragments of a Colossal Bronze Statue of Constantine, Rome Hinton St Mary Mosaic in the British Museum c. 1985 Bellerophon ↑ and Jesus ↓ Today there are statues and a Café in the same position “Although we speak of a religious crisis in the late Roman Empire, there is little, real sign that the transition from paganism to Edward Gibbon by Christianity was fundamentally Reynolds difficult.” Dr J P C Kent of the Museum’s Coins and Medals Department “The World of Late Antiquity” “Decorative art shows no clear division between paganism and “the pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its Christianity” beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the K S Painter “Gold and Silver from conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the Late Roman World Fourth-Fifth the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.” Centuries.” 1 23/08/2018 “The new religion and new ecclesiastical practices were a steady focal point around which the new ideological currents and “The Christian culture that would social realignments revolved, as emerge in late antiquity carried Christianity gradually penetrated more of the genes of its “pagan” the various social strata before ancestry than of the peculiarly becoming the official religion of the Christian mutations.” state. At the same time, important aspects of the classical spirit and Wayne A Meeks “Social and ecclesial civilisation still survived to life of the earliest Christians” complete our picture of late antiquity.” Eutychia Kourkoutidou-Nicolaidou “From the Elysian Fields to the Christian paradise” “I don’t think there was ever anything wrong with the ancient world.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek and Roman Mythology and Heroic Legend
    G RE E K AN D ROMAN M YTH O LOGY AN D H E R O I C LE GEN D By E D I N P ROFES SOR H . ST U G Translated from th e German and edited b y A M D i . A D TT . L tt LI ONEL B RN E , , TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE S Y a l TUD of Greek religion needs no po ogy , and should This mus v n need no bush . all t feel who ha e looked upo the ns ns and n creatio of the art it i pired . But to purify stre gthen admiration by the higher light of knowledge is no work o f ea se . No truth is more vital than the seemi ng paradox whi c h - declares that Greek myths are not nature myths . The ape - is not further removed from the man than is the nature myth from the religious fancy of the Greeks as we meet them in s Greek is and hi tory . The myth the child of the devout lovely imagi nation o f the noble rac e that dwelt around the e e s n s s u s A ga an. Coar e fa ta ie of br ti h forefathers in their Northern homes softened beneath the southern sun into a pure and u and s godly bea ty, thus gave birth to the divine form of n Hellenic religio . M c an c u s m c an s Comparative ythology tea h uch . It hew how god s are born in the mind o f the savage and moulded c nn into his image .
    [Show full text]