Book Series Antiquité et sciences humaines, vol. 9

Gods in the House

Anthropology of Roman Housing - II

Alexandra Dardenay, Laurent Bricault (eds)

  • Pages: 368 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Illustrations:39 b/w, 80 col., 4 tables b/w.
  • Language(s):English, French
  • Publication Year:2023

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60169-4
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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-60170-0
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The discoveries of multiple artefacts, dedicated spaces, and figurative paintings support new avenues of historical, anthropological, and social reflection with the aim of better understanding domestic religious practices in the polytheistic contexts of Antiquity

BIO

Alexandra Dardenay is Professeure des Universités at the University of Toulouse and member of the Institut Universitaire de France. She is a specialist of Roman Archaeology, mainly working in the field of Roman Housing.

Laurent Bricault is Professeur d’Histoire romaine at the University of Toulouse and member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He is inter alia a specialist of cults and religions in the Greco-roman Empire.

Summary

The archaeological excavations conducted from one end of the Mediterranean zone to the other have illuminated the place of gods in the ritual practices in the dwellings of the Graeco-Roman era. The discovery of multiple artefacts, dedicated spaces, and figurative paintings support new avenues of historical, anthropological, and social reflection with the aim of better understanding domestic religious practices in the polytheistic contexts of antiquity. This collective volume organizes those reflections around three axes.

The first axis centres on identifying the deities that were favoured in domestic sanctuaries. Which gods are represented and which are not? The second axis concerns the interrelationships evident within domestic ritual spaces and sanctuaries. The third axis is dedicated to the anthropology of rituals. Lines of inquiry informed by anthropological, social, and phenomenological approaches are assuming ever-greater importance in scholarship on Antiquity. It is from this perspective that the authors explore the role that domestic ritual spaces play in shaping the lived environment.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Gods in the House: An Anthropological Approach to Ancient Divinities and Domestic Cults (Alexandra Dardenay & Laurent Bricault)

I. Gods of the House
Domestic Aphrodite, Goddess of Desire and Seduction (Heather F. Sharpe)
Dédoublements de divinités dans les laraires romains : polymorphie des images et multiplicité des champs d’action (Nicolas Amoroso)
Honorer Mithra en contexte résidentiel. Réflexions à partire des exemples de Rome et d’Ostie (Françoise Van Haeperen)
Divine Guests: Religious Identities and Groups of Deities in Roman Domestic Shrines (Carla Sfameni)

II. Gods in the House
Sacraria ou ‘chapelles’ religieuses à Pompéi : culte domestique ou vénération publique ? (Eric M. Moormann)
Morphologies of sacra privata in the Roman House: Architecture, Furnishings, Cults (Maddalena Bassani)
Herculaneum’s Insula V Domestic Cult Places: Reflections on Typology, Locations and Fields of Action (Alexandra Dardenay)

III. Towards an Anthropological Analysis of Spaces and Rituals
Domestic Religion and the Anthropology of Space in the Entrance to the Roman House (Marin Mauger)
From Routines to Rituals in Pompeian Houses – How Layout and Image-Objects of Household Shrines Shape Religious Knowledge (Anna-Katharina Rieger)
Les pratiques cultuelles dans les villas gallo-romaines du Haut-Empire (Emmanuel Pui)
Réflexion sur le devenir et la propriété des sacraria en contexte domestique (Aude Durand)

Index rerum
Index deorum
Index locorum