DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

On Roman Religion

Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome

Jörg Rüpke author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cornell University Press

Published:15th Apr '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

On Roman Religion cover

Provocative reading for anyone interested in Roman culture in the late Republic and early Empire.― Religious Studies Review

Was religious practice in ancient Rome cultic and hostile to individual expression? Or was there, rather, considerable latitude for individual initiative and creativity? Jörg Rüpke, one of the world’s leading authorities on Roman religion, demonstrates in his new book that it was a lived religion with individual appropriations evident at the heart of such rituals as praying, dedicating, making vows, and reading. On Roman Religion definitively dismantles previous approaches that depicted religious practice as uniform and static. Juxtaposing very different, strategic, and even subversive forms of individuality with traditions, their normative claims, and their institutional protections, Rüpke highlights the dynamic character of Rome’s religious institutions and traditions.
In Rüpke’s view, lived ancient religion is as much about variations or even outright deviance as it is about attempts and failures to establish or change rules and roles and to communicate them via priesthoods, practices related to images or classified as magic, and literary practices. Rüpke analyzes observations of religious experience by contemporary authors including Propertius, Ovid, and the author of the "Shepherd of Hermas." These authors, in very different ways, reflect on individual appropriation of religion among their contemporaries, and they offer these reflections to their readership or audiences. Rüpke also concentrates on the ways in which literary texts and inscriptions informed the practice of rituals.

Drawing on the contemporary methodology of 'lived religion,' Rüpke examines a variety of texts, practices, and religious artifacts to discover how Romans individualized their religion. He persuasively demonstrates that religious individuality can be seen in domestic cults, public sanctuaries, and personal visionary experiences.... This is a groundbreaking study by a leading historian of Roman religion. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

* Choice *

A lucid, thought-provoking, and highly persuasive attempt to access 'lived ancient religion.'... The book as a whole is enormously fertile, and really is essential reading for anyone interested in 'Roman religion.'

* Reading Religion *

Provocative reading for anyone interested in Roman culture in the late Republic and early Empire.

* Religious Studies Revi

ISBN: 9781501735110

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 16mm

Weight: 454g

210 pages