Author: Lynn E. Roller
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520210247
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 402
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Book Description
This is the first thorough account of the nature and the spread of the cult of Cybele, the Great Mother, and the first to present her worship soberly as a religion rather than sensationally as an orgiastic celebration of self-castrated priest-attendants.
Author: Caitlyn Montey
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781535468428
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134
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Book Description
With roots as an Anatolian mother goddess and symbol of fertility, Cybele came to be known as Magna Mater, Great Mother of the Gods. Conscripted by many civilizations of the Mediterranean, she became the mother goddess of much of the classical world.
Author: Lynn E. Roller
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520919686
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 414
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Book Description
This book examines one of the most intriguing figures in the religious life of the ancient Mediterranean world, the Phrygian Mother Goddess, known to the Greeks and Romans as Cybele or Magna Mater, the Great Mother. Her cult was particularly prominent in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), and spread from there through the Greek and Roman world. She was an enormously popular figure, attracting devotion from common people and potentates alike. This book is the first comprehensive assembly and discussion of the entire extant evidence concerning the worship of the Phrygian Mother Goddess, from her earliest appearance in the prehistoric record to the early centuries of the Roman Empire. Lynn E. Roller presents and analyzes literary, historiographic, and archaeological data with equal acuity and flair. While previous studies have tended to emphasize the more outrageous aspects of the Mother Goddess's cult, such as her orgiastic rituals and the eunuch priests who attended her, this book places a special focus on Cybele's position in Anatolia and the ways in which the identity of the goddess changed as her cult was transmitted to Greece and Rome. Roller gives a detailed account of the growth, spread, and evolution of her cult, her ceremonies, and her meaning for her adherents. This book will introduce students of Classical antiquity to many aspects of the Great Mother which have been previously unexamined, and will interest anyone who has ever been piqued by curiosity about the Mother Goddess of the ancient Western world.
Author: Philippe Borgeaud
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 080187985X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
Worshiped throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, the "Mother of the Gods" was known by a variety of names. Among peoples of Asia Minor, where her cult first began, she often shared the names of local mountains. The Greeks commonly called her Cybele, the name given to her by the Phrygians of Asia Minor, and identified her with their own mother goddesses Rhea, Gaia, and Demeter. The Romans adopted her worship at the end of the Second Punic War and called her Mater Magna, Great Mother. Her cult became one of the three most important mystery cults in the Roman Empire, along with those of Mithras and Isis. And as Christianity took hold in the Roman world, ritual elements of her cult were incorporated into the burgeoning cult of the Virgin Mary. In Mother of the Gods, Philippe Borgeaud traces the journey of this divine figure through Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome between the sixth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D. He examines how the Mother of the Gods was integrated into specific cultures, what she represented to those who worshiped her, and how she was used as a symbol in art, myth, and even politics. The Mother of the Gods was often seen as a dualistic figure: ancestral and foreign, aristocratic and disreputable, nurturing and dangerous. Borgeaud's challenging and nuanced portrait opens new windows on the ancient world's sophisticated religious beliefs and shifting cultural identities.
Author: Mary Beard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521316828
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 484
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Book Description
This book offers a radical new survey of more than a thousand years of religious life at Rome. It sets religion in its full cultural context, between the primitive hamlet of the eighth century BC and the cosmopolitan, multicultural society of the first centuries of the Christian era. The narrative account is structured around a series of broad themes: how to interpret the Romans' own theories of their religious system and its origins; the relationship of religion and the changing politics of Rome; the religious importance of the layout and monuments of the city itself; changing ideas of religious identity and community; religious innovation - and, ultimately, revolution. The companion volume, Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook, sets out a wide range of documents richly illustrating the religious life in the Roman world.
Author: James Elkins
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415969888
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 154
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Book Description
Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? Answering this question and more, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art explores the curious disconnection between spirituality and current art.
Author: Sarah Bartlett
Publisher: New Shoe Press
ISBN: 0760380163
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 130
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Book Description
Manifest your dreams with easy-to-follow spells that align with the cycles of nature and the universe. Magic can change your life and help you manifest your best self. Anyone with the curiosity and willingness can connect to the power of the natural and supernatural and to blend ancient practices in a modern context. Adapted from Sarah Bartlett’s The Witch’s Spellbook, this guide gives new and aspiring witches a simple path to the art of practical magic and the empowerment of magic spells. Following an introduction to the basics of witchcraft, The Witch’s Spellbook for Beginners holds an abundance of spells organized by concern—including your self, change, wishes, love, home and family, career, money, and protection. Whether you are looking to channel spirit guides and those who have passed over, need a protection amulet for you or a loved one, or manifest a new direction that aligns with your life’s desires, this spellbook will empower and inform your budding craft as a witch. Harness the power of the astrological elements, explore the lunar cycles and how they can enhance your magic, and embrace the seasons to amplify your spells and divination work. The spells include: Find Your Life Direction Restore Holistic Health Make a Decision Manifest an Aspiration Ignite Desire Get Over a Breakup Change Careers Open the Door to Prosperity Banish Negativity Plan your spellwork by date, season, and lunar phase, and identify spells that can be used any time, using the calendar index of spells at the back of the book. Start your journey into witchcraft with purposeful and practical spells for every day and every event.
Author: Meghan J. DiLuzio
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400883032
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
A Place at the Altar illuminates a previously underappreciated dimension of religion in ancient Rome: the role of priestesses in civic cult. Demonstrating that priestesses had a central place in public rituals and institutions, Meghan DiLuzio emphasizes the complex, gender-inclusive nature of Roman priesthood. In ancient Rome, priestly service was a cooperative endeavor, requiring men and women, husbands and wives, and elite Romans and slaves to work together to manage the community's relationship with its gods. Like their male colleagues, priestesses offered sacrifices on behalf of the Roman people, and prayed for the community’s well-being. As they carried out their ritual obligations, they were assisted by female cult personnel, many of them slave women. DiLuzio explores the central role of the Vestal Virgins and shows that they occupied just one type of priestly office open to women. Some priestesses, including the flaminica Dialis, the regina sacrorum, and the wives of the curial priests, served as part of priestly couples. Others, such as the priestesses of Ceres and Fortuna Muliebris, were largely autonomous. A Place at the Altar offers a fresh understanding of how the women of ancient Rome played a leading role in public cult.
Author: Julie Langford
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421408481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231
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Book Description
How the maternal image of the empress Julia Domna helped the Roman empire rule. Ancient authors emphasize dramatic moments in the life of Julia Domna, wife of Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193–211). They accuse her of ambition unforgivable in a woman, of instigating civil war to place her sons on the throne, and of resorting to incest to maintain her hold on power. In imperial propaganda, however, Julia Domna was honored with unprecedented titles that celebrated her maternity, whether it was in the role of mother to her two sons (both future emperors) or as the metaphorical mother to the empire. Imperial propaganda even equated her to the great mother goddess, Cybele, endowing her with a public prominence well beyond that of earlier imperial women. Her visage could be found gracing everything from state-commissioned art to privately owned ivory dolls. In Maternal Megalomania, Julie Langford unmasks the maternal titles and honors of Julia Domna as a campaign on the part of the administration to garner support for Severus and his sons. Langford looks to numismatic, literary, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct the propaganda surrounding the empress. She explores how her image was tailored toward different populations, including the military, the Senate, and the people of Rome, and how these populations responded to propaganda about the empress. She employs Julia Domna as a case study to explore the creation of ideology between the emperor and its subjects.
Author: Sarolta A. Takács
Publisher: Univ of TX + ORM
ISBN: 0292794436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 215
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Book Description
A fascinating exploration of women’s role in Roman religion that facilitates a better understanding of their importance in Rome’s cultural formation. Roman women were the procreators and nurturers of life, both in the domestic world of the family and in the larger sphere of the state. Although deterred from participating in most aspects of public life, women played an essential role in public religious ceremonies, taking part in rituals designed to ensure the fecundity and success of the agricultural cycle on which Roman society depended. Thus religion is a key area for understanding the contributions of women to Roman society and their importance beyond their homes and families. In this book, Sarolta A. Takács offers a sweeping overview of Roman women’s roles and functions in religion and, by extension, in Rome’s history and culture from the republic through the empire. She begins with the religious calendar and the various festivals in which women played a significant role. She then examines major female deities and cults, including the Sibyl, Mater Magna, Isis, and the Vestal Virgins, to show how conservative Roman society adopted and integrated Greek culture into its mythic history, artistic expressions, and religion. Takács’s discussion of the Bona Dea Festival of 62 BCE and of the Bacchantes, female worshippers of the god Bacchus or Dionysus, reveals how women could also jeopardize Rome’s existence by stepping out of their assigned roles. Takács’s examination of the provincial female flaminate and the Matres/Matronae demonstrates how women served to bind imperial Rome and its provinces into a cohesive society.
