Household and Family Religion in Antiquity - (Ancient World: Comparative Histories) by John Bodel & Saul M Olyan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The first book to explore the religious dimensions of the family and the household in ancient Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity.

• Advances our understanding of household and familial religion, as opposed to state-sponsored or civic temple cults
• Reconstructs domestic and family religious practices in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Emar, and Philistia
• Explores many household rituals, such as providing for ancestral spirits, and petitioning of a household's patron deities or of spirits associated with the house itself
• Examines lifecycle rituals - from pregnancy and birth to maturity, old age, death, and beyond
• Looks at religious practices relating to the household both within the home itself and other spaces, such as at extramural tombs and local sanctuaries

From the Back Cover

Traditional scholarship on religion in antiquity has favoured the study of national, regional, or municipal worship, overlooking the significant day-to-day rituals and beliefs that existed beyond the contexts of state-sponsored or civic temple cults. Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Perspectives is the first book to explore the religious dimensions of the family and the household in ancient Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity.

With an approach that is both contextual and comparative, essays examine domestic and familial religious practices in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Emar, and Philistia. Taking in a range of religious expression, from supplication of a household's patron deities to contact with dead ancestors, Household and Family Religion in Antiquity advances our understanding of a distinct and widespread ancient religious phenomenon.

Review Quotes

"While studies on the purpose and place of religion in ancient family life have been a topic of scholarly interest for some decades, this book is unique in both the scope of the papers presented and the underlying theoretical approaeh by which they are linked." (Journal of World History, December 2009)

"The volume stands as a splendid landmark in opening up comparative discussion about family and domestic religion in the ancient world, and does so with an admirably wide-reaching geographical and chronological scope" (New England Classics Journal, August 2009)

"This volume will find its place on the bookshelf of anyone looking for an authoritative treatment of religion and society in Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity." (The Classical Journal, August 2009)

"As a collection of essays that provides insightful consideration of family or household religious life in many Near Eastern and classical cultures, it has the added benefit of offering a comparative perspective." (Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Spring 2009)

"[I would] recommend the book as a worthy addition to the field of ancient religious studies and a good read for those interested in the subject." (Scholia Reviews, 2009)

"The methodology of the volume is thus simultaneously contextual and comparative. An introductory essay provides a theorization of 'family, ' 'household, ' and 'religion' as analytical and comparative categories. A conclusion, written by the editors, offers comparative perspectives and suggests directions for future research. The individual essays provide excellent introductions to family religion in various historical periods, and would work well as introductory readings in undergraduate and graduate courses.... Recommended." (CHOICE)

"[The book] offers a counterpart to text-based religion - which equates to civic, public, state religion - by analysing religious rituals, locations and objects in setting governed more by collective memory than by rules." (The Times Literary Supplement, August 2008)

About the Author

John Bodel is Professor of Classics and History at Brown University. He writes about Roman social and cultural history, Latin epigraphy, and Latin literature of the Empire. His books include Roman Brick Stamps in the Kelsey Museum (1983), Graveyards and Groves: A Study of the Lex Lucerina (1994), Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (editor, 2001), and Dediche sacre nel mondo greco-romano: Diffusione, funzioni, tipologie (edited with Mika Kajava, 2008).

Saul M. Olyan is Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University. He is the author of Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel (1988), A Thousand Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient Judaism (1993), Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult (2000), Biblical Mourning: Ritual and Social Dimensions (2004), and Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences (2008).