2009/12/17 by James B. Rives · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Classical Antiquity Studies #Roman Empire #Narrative #Cult #History #Phenomenon #History of religions #Politics #Period (music) #Ancient history #Classics #Sociology #Literature #Art #Philosophy #Archaeology #Aesthetics #Law #Political science #Epistemology
paper · doi:10.1177/1476993x09347454
openalex publication_date 2009/12/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This article surveys recent trends in research on Graeco-Roman religion, focusing on the first and second centuries CE. In the first half, I assess current views on what I call the old ‘master narrative’ of Graeco-Roman religious history in this period, that is, the assumption that the decline of traditional Graeco-Roman religion left a void filled on the one hand by the purely political phenomenon of imperial cult and on the other by mystery/oriental religions, which met the emotional needs of the populace. In the second half I discuss two areas of interest that have come to the fore in the wake of the old master narrative’s collapse: an approach to interpreting traditional Graeco-Roman religion that some scholars have termed the ‘ polis -religion model’, and a focus on religious life in the provinces of the Roman empire. As an appendix I include a brief survey of available scholarly resources in this field.