This work is based on research conducted through the RHITA project, led by the DINORAMA group at the University of Malaga. In this project, various analyses of literary, archaeological, and epigraphic sources regarding rural worship spaces in Hispania from the 3rd to the 8th centuries were carried out. The quantitative and qualitative analysis determined the evolution of numerous sanctuaries and their adaptation to social and environmental needs. To illustrate these findings, two examples from Late Antique Gallaecia will be examined: Igrexa Vella de Santa Comba de Louro and Adro Vello. The aim of this analysis is to study the interrelationship of these sacred spaces with surrounding habitational or religious areas, population density, transformation and reuse of ancient structures into worship centers, as well as the foundational character and the role played by various social actors in these places. Despite the inherent difficulty of this type of analysis, due to the scarcity of data and the network theory approach, this research seeks to fill historical-archaeological gaps and determine the aspects in these two worship spaces.
Religious mobility in the ancient world was a multifaceted and complex phenomenon. It involved the physical movement of people to religious regions for the purpose of sacrifice, initiation, or participation in rituals to venerate the deity being worshipped, as well as the transfer of a shared religious experience from one cult to another. This study aims to provide another perspective on the topic. Festivals and rituals were common in various cults of the ancient Greek world, providing a means to share ideas and religious experiences. The visualization of myths, through various symbols, sacrificial objects, and drómena, intensified the religious experience. The impact of symbols on sensation and how objects conveyed messages were important considerations. This article raises significant questions about whether religious mobility is substantial or symbolic. It explores the impact of space and symbols on sensation and the use of objects as a means of conveying messages.
Kωμασία (“procession”) and its derivatives (such as κωμαστής, “one who carries images”) are words that appear in an entirely new way in Graeco-Roman Egypt. However, even if the κωμασία is related to processions, many other Greek words referring to the processional rite are also attested in Egypt, such as πομπή, πομπαγωγία ο ἐξοδεία, which is why there is still a debate about the specific meaning of κωμασία. Some authors claim that it was a ceremony held on the adventus or arrival of an important individual, whereas others believe that it was a procession where images of the gods were carried. Finally, other scholars emphasize its oracular aspect. From all of these definitions, I will focus on the κωμασία as a procession where the images of the gods were carried. The mobility of the statues of the gods in Egypt, around which some of its most important religious festivals were articulated (such as the Opet Festival, the Beautiful Feast of the Valley, among others), make us ponder about the originality of the term κωμασία and its derivatives. To try to clarify its meaning, in this paper I will analyze several aspects of the κωμασία and its derivatives: their etymology, their contextualization within the general context of processions in Egypt, the debate on its meaning as well as their diachronic evolution, where both Egyptian tradition and the progressive adoption of Graeco-Roman traits related to the cult of the gods and the rulers may have intervened.
New excavations conducted at the Tophet of Carthage in 2017 and 2018, and again in 2023, led to the discovery of several hundred urns. The precision of the stratigraphic observations, along with the relatively limited extent of later disturbances, allows for accurate dating. The recorded observations concern not only the relative positioning of the urns but also their arrangement within the pits and the surface conditions from which they were excavated. These circumstances provided an exceptional opportunity to study a significant corpus using the most current methods of archaeothanatology, applied to secondary cremation deposits, particularly concerning young children. This article presents a first assessment of two years of prior research work and six additional campaigns, which took the form of intensive training sessions. Innovative information has been obtained regarding the presence of remains from multiple individuals within the same urn, the cremation rituals, the partial direct clearing of funeral pyre residues, and the methods of depositing burned bones, both human and animal, into the urns.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the religious pantheon of a family in the province of Dacia. In the villa rustica at Ciumăfaia, the owner - Aelius Iulius, veteranus ex centurione - erected six votive altars dedicated exclusively to Greco-Roman deities. Another altar in the same place was dedicated by Publius Aelius Maximus, son of the veteran Aelius Iulius, to a Germanic deity worshipped by the soldiers of the troops stationed in Germania Inferior or recruited in the area. This is a family with different religious preferences. While the father preferred the classical pantheon, the son's votive offerings differed from the family tradition, leading to the assumption that the familiarisation with the Germanic deities took place while he was performing militia equestris somewhere on the Rhine. The diversity of the family's religious pantheon opens up a discussion on the individual destiny of the dedicators in relation to the gods worshipped, more specifically the "inherited" and "borrowed" gods, in an attempt to define, from the particular to the general, some specific aspects of provincial religion.
The contacts between the Celts and the Greek world during the Hellenistic were multifaceted: beyond sporadic invasions and raids, these populations more often traded and collaborated peacefully with the Greek-Macedonian states, sometimes even managing to integrate into their society. For instance, many Gallic mercenaries obtained grants of land to settle on at the end of their careers. While there is evidence of these military colonists in the territories of the Eastern Hellenistic kingdoms, the same cannot be said for Antigonid Macedonia, where evidence is scarce. This study aims to outline three possible cases in which Gallic mercenaries may have been settled as cleruchs by Macedonian rulers in Greek territory.
The Historia Augusta provides a detailed account of Elagabalus's reign, including his relocation of several significant religious artifacts to the newly constructed temple of Elagabal on the Palatine Hill. These artifacts included the image of Mater Magna, the sacred fire of Vesta, the ancilia, the Palla-dium, the stone of Salamb & oacute;, and the image of Diana of Laodicea. While scholars have often overlooked the specific deities chosen for this relocation, a careful analysis reveals a compelling pattern. The deities selected share a common characteristic that may explain their forced displacement. This shared trait suggests that Elagabalus's choices were not arbitrary but rather part of a deliberate strategy. It is likely that Elagabalus's actions were motivated by a desire to appropriate and legitimize his new divinity in the Roman religious market. The emperor reveals himself as a religious agent, whose innovations do not find resonance in a supportive communi-tas. This religious attempt ultimately resulted in the emperor's vilification and the condem-nation of his actions as vulgar profanation.
This paper focuses on the analysis of the travels to exotic regions made by Apollonius of Tyana and narrated in the fictionalized bio-graphy of this character, written by Philostratus of Lemnos between 217 and 220 CE. In this research, we are not so much interested in empirically documenting the veracity of such journeys as in their expression and meaning in the symbolic-religious universe of the Roman Empire.
Already in Antiquity, but even more so in Late Antiquity, there was an intense phase of mobility and transformation of societies; by focusing on a good number of prosopographical data, it is possible to illustrate, at least partially, the historical evolutionary process of the Mediterranean area itself in its religious context. Between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, the ecclesiastical component (pilgrimages and itinerant sanctity) predominates in the Mediterranean. In most cases, religious people travelled because they were involved in embassies, which involved long and arduous journeys between the most important political and religious power places in the empire (in primissedes regiae). Some of them aspired to advance their careers, others only wanted to reach loca sancta out of devotion and to meet prominent personalities of the Mediterranean religious scene (think of the attraction of personalities such as Bishop Basil in Caesarea Cappadocia or Jerome in Bethlehem). The movements are also fuelled by the circulation of relics, which received a particular impetus from the second half of the 4th century onwards, and if not pilgrimages, the migrations of saints and saintly figures are quite frequent; hagiographies often include narratives of sporadic journeys by sea and land. My paper will focus on a few representative cases of a larger prosopographical study that has not yet been published, to investigate above all the purposes of religious mobility, the categories of individuals most involved (considering also the female component), the means used for the journeys, the most travelled itineraries and thus the calendar and organisation established for undertaking journeys, missions or the like. Some case studies are presented below: Germanus presbyter; Abraham abbas; Iulia Eustochio y Rusticiana; Iovinianus monachus; Iohannes defensor; Bassus presbyter.
The object of analysis in this work are the "imperial processions", that is, the ritual parades in which, among other things, images of the reigning emperor and other members of the imperial household, both living and deceased, were displayed. Our purpose is to contribute to clarifying what the procession, and more specifically the movement of the statues of the emperors, contributed to the ideological construction of the ruler's power. This article will particularly analyze the role of the "emperor's bearers" (sebasto-phoroi), a new position identified in some cities of the Empire, in shaping the perception of imperial power. The movement of the statues or portraits of the emperors helped to cement the sacredness of the ruler but also, at the same time, reinforced the closeness and active intervention of the emperor in the governance of the cities of the empire. In our opinion, the figure of the sebastophoros was decisive within this process.
New excavations conducted at the Tophet of Carthage in 2017 and 2018, and again in 2023, resulted in the discovery of several hundred urns. The precision of the strati-graphic observations, along with the relatively limited extent of later disturbances, allows for accurate dating. The recorded observations concern not only the relative positioning of the urns but also their arrangement within the pits and the surface conditions from which they were excavated. These circumstances provided an exceptional opportunity to study a significant corpus using the most current methods of archaeothanatology, applied to secondary cremation deposits, particularly concerning young children. This article presents a first assessment of two years of prior research work and six additional campaigns, which were conducted as intensive training sessions. Innovative information has been obtained regarding the presence of remains from multiple individuals within the same urn, the cremation rituals, the partial direct clearing of funeral pyre residues, and the methods of depositing burned bones, both human and animal, into the urns.
Several sanctuaries, whether of ancestral origin, newly founded or occasionally reinterpreted and revitalized, have played an important role in the life of the Arkadian communities, in political and social projects and in the evolutionary process of the cults themselves. Ancient cults have often been enriched through innovations that altered the original substrate, overcoming possible obstacles of religious resistance. Thus, the mobility, adaptability and capacity for renewal of the Arkadian cultic system is revealed in the context of the religious and socio-political imperatives of each historical moment. Indeed, to the reasons that made some sanctuaries focuses of popular and institutional attention, since archaic times, non-strictly religious motivations can be added, such as those of ethnic-identitary nature and those derived from political intentionality. The responses given to these challenges within the sacred precincts exalted and strengthened their role as reference spots. Important political projects, such as the founding of the Arkadian League or the synoecism and founding of Megalopolis, in the 4th century BCE, they made use of the religious substratum of the territory, revitalizing the ancient cult of Zeus Lykaios on the homonymous mountain or transplanting into the interior of the newly founded city, although expanding and updating them, the main cults of the pre-synecistic centers. Ancient religious traditions helped legitimize and consolidate this type of political projects. On the other hand, other initiatives, such as the Eleusinization of the cult of the Great Goddesses of Megalopolis, carried out in the Hellenistic era, sought to transmit a message of a social nature, in accordance with the point of view of the land-owning elites, replacing a popular, traditional agrarian cult for an elaborate Eleusinian version.
This work is based on research conducted through the RHITA project, led by the DINORAMA group at the University of Malaga. In this project, various analyses of literary, archaeological, and epigraphic sources regarding rural worship spaces in Hispania from the 3(rd) to the 8(th) centuries were carried out. The quantitative and qualitative analysis determined the evolution of numerous sanctuaries and their adaptation to social and environmental needs. To illustrate these findings, two examples from Late Antique Gallaecia will be examined: Igrexa Vella de Santa Comba de Louro and Adro Vello. The aim of this analysis is to study the interrelationship of these sacred spaces with surrounding habitational or religious areas, population density, transformation and reuse of ancient structures into worship centers, as well as the foundational character and the role played by various social actors in these places. Despite the inherent difficulty of this type of analysis, due to the scarcity of data and the network theory approach, this research seeks to fill historical-archaeologi-cal gaps and determine the aspects in these two worship spaces.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the religious pantheon of a family in the province of Dacia. In the villa at Cium & abreve;faia, the owner-Aelius Iulius, veteranus ex centurione-erected six votive altars dedicated exclusively to Greco-Roman deities. Another altar in the same place was dedicated by Publius Aelius Maximus, a Roman army officer of equestrian rank and municipal magistrate, son of the veteran Aelius Iulius, to a Germanic deity worshipped by the soldiers of the troops stationed in Germania Inferior or recruited in the area. This is a family with different religious preferences. While the father preferred the classical pantheon, the son's votive offerings differed from the family tradition, leading to the assumption that the familiarisation with the Germanic deities took place while he was performing militiae equestres somewhere on the Rhine. The diversity of the family's religious pantheon opens up a discussion on the individual destiny of the dedicators in relation to the gods worshipped, more specifically the "inherited" and "borrowed" gods, in an attempt to define, from the particular to the general, some specific aspects of pro-vincial religion.
In these pages we explore the role of freedmen and bastards in the sanctuary of Heracles, nothos par excellence, but also characterised as doulos, in the Kynosarges of Athens. We are exploring the possibility that this sanctuary was a place of manumission, and specifically, of the passage to the "complete liberation" of the apeleutheroi (thus becoming exeleutheroi) through private trials (dikai apostasiou), presided over by the polemarch. These processes would be particularly relevant in the context of the Peloponnesian War, a time of need for military troops, which would be reflected in Aristophanes' comedy of the Frogs. In it, Dionysus disguised as Herakles descends to Hades after consulting the hero in his sanctuary at Kynosarges, in a play that recalls the liberation of slaves in the Arginusas, and where changes of identity take place between Herakles and Dionysus and the slave and the master.
K omega p alpha oi alpha ("procession") and its derivatives (such as xwp alpha o tau n & varsigma;, "one who carries images") are words that appear in an entirely new way in Graeco-Roman Egypt. However, even if the xwp alpha oi alpha is related to processions, many other Greek words referring to the processional rite are also attested in Egypt, such as 7r omicron p7r, 7r omicron p7r alpha gamma w gamma i alpha omicron xi omicron 8 epsilon i alpha, which is why there is still a debate about the specific mean-ing of xwp alpha oi alpha. Some authors claim that it was a ceremony held on the adventus or arrival of an important individual, whereas others believe that it was a procession where images of the gods were carried. Finally, other scholars emphasize its oracular aspect. From all of these definitions, I will focus on the xwp alpha oi alpha as a procession where the images of the gods were carried. The mobility of the statues of the gods in Egypt, around which some of its most important religious festivals were articulated (such as the Opet Festival, the Beautiful Feast of the Valley, among others), make us ponder about the originality of the term xwp alpha oi alpha and its derivatives. To try to clarify its meaning, in this paper I will analyze several aspects of the xwp alpha oi alpha and its derivatives: their etymol-ogy, their contextualization within the general context of processions in Egypt, the debate on its meaning as well as their diachronic evolution, where both Egyptian tradition and the progressive adoption of Graeco-Roman traits related to the cult of the gods and the rulers may have intervened.
The contacts between the Celts and the Greek world during the Hellenistic were multifaceted: beyond sporadic invasions and raids, these populations more often traded and collaborated peacefully with the Greco-Macedonian states, sometimes even managing to integrate into their society. For instance, many Gallic mercenaries obtained grants of land to settle on at the end of their careers. While there is evidence of these military colonists in the territories of the Eastern Hellenistic kingdoms and, to some extent, also in the kingdom of Macedonia, the same cannot be said for the Greek cities under Macedonian control, where evidence is scarce. This study aims to outline some possible cases in which Gallic mercenaries may have been settled as cleruchs by Macedonian rulers in Greek territory.
The Sanctuary of Artemis Amarysia at Amarynthos was the most prominent extra-urban sanctuary of the ancient city of Eretria, on the island of Euboea. The precise location of the site has only recently been identified, and it has since been the focus of extensive excavations, with particular attention given in recent years to the temple area. A series of edifices were constructed there atop one another over a long period spanning from the end of the Bronze Age to the end of the Archaic period. What appears to be the first temple was erected at the end of the 8th century BCE and remained in use for about two centuries. This monumental building was divided into three rooms, each housing one or more fire-places/altars. The article offers some preliminary thoughts on these specific architectural layout and associated facilities, which offer insights into the activities that took place inside the temple. While substantial evidence for animal sacrifice has been uncovered, it is not yet clear whether the fireplaces/altars were used for successive stages of the same sacrifice, or for distinct rituals performed on separate occasions. Furthermore, the question of the function of the rear room-possibly an adyton-is also discussed. The 8th-century temple at Amarynthos provides a valuable case study for understanding the organisation of sacred space and ritual practices at a time when religious architecture was developing in Greece.
The contact between the Greek-Roman civilization and the Carthage one led to the overlapping of the African plural-stratified polytheisms and the classic ones and to the disolution of the ancient divine characters into the Roman religious system. The barbarian and Punic theonomies preserved in Roman Africa are few: one Saturnus Balcaranensis, one Aulisua, Iocolon, Bacax, Bonchor, Varsutina. Africitascan be traced in the art of the votive monuments, in the practiced rituals, in the preference for a pantheosgod, Saturnus, preference that contradicts the Roman “polytheist” availability. Saturnus, Caelestis, Aesculapius, Mercurius Silvanus, Liber Pater, Hercules, Venus, Pluton, Mars, Neptunus are merely Latin names that the Africans chose for designating in a more or less consistent manner their Punic-Barbarian gods: Ba’al Hammon, Tanit, Eshmoun, a Berber god whose attribute is a scorpion, Shadrapha, Milk’ashtart, Astarté, Baal Addir, El Qone Aras, Arish, etc. The modern research discovers – depending on the adopted perspective – different valences of these interpretationes: one of the components, the classic or the Berber-Punic one, is minimized in order to support the Africanization or the Romanization of these divine characters, the Romanization of the North-African worshipers or their resistence in front of the Romanization. These categorical and generalizing interpretations are both abusive. The Africanization and Romanization vary depending on their loyal people, on the social environments, on the epoch. The Africans in Dacia repeat – mutatis mutandis – the gestures of the ones left home. For the African P. Raecius Primus, Ba’al Hammon and Tanit form a new couple (Saturnus and Latona) that does not appear this way in the Greek-Roman pantheon and mythological system. Olus Terentius Pudens Uttedianus worships a Roman-African quasi-official divinity, Caelestis, together with the popular gods from Lepcis Magna - Eshmoun and Astarté and the Genius of the Dacians. An erudite Roman like M. Herennius Faustus classicizes by connecting some rare cultural epithets with the African Ba’al Hammon, turned into Saturnus securus. The soldiers from Micia are Romanized enough too in order not to use any barbarian theonomy: the prefect Rufus worships Silvanus, Liber Pater and Pluton. The inhabitants of Roman North-Africa did not place on antithetical, irreducible positions the inheritance of the ancient civilization and the contribution of Rome. These divine characters of African essence and Roman aspect show that their loyal worshipers found the way of interpretation, conciliation and syncretism.
