Description
Book SynopsisThis volume explores the nature of religious change in the Greek-speaking cities of the Roman Empire. Emphasis is put on those developments that apparently were not the direct result of Roman actions: the intensification of idiosyncratically Greek features in the religious life of the cities (Heller, Muñiz, Camia); the active role of a new kind of Hellenism in the design of imperial religious policies (Gordillo, Galimberti, Rosillo-López); or the locally different responses to central religious initiatives, and the influence of those local responses in other imperial contexts (Cortés, Melfi, Lozano, Rizakis). All the chapters try to suggest that religion in the Greek cities of the empire was both conservative and innovative, and that the ‘Roman factor’ helps to explain this apparent paradox.
Trade Review''Aesthetically, the book is pleasing. Color pictures are included in the final chapter. The book successfully reaches its goal in spurring discussion and debate regarding religion in the Greek territories under Roman rule. Each of the authors’ contributions could develop into a worthy book. (...) this book is a worthwhile read and contributes to a glaring hole in the historiography of religion in the Greek provinces under Roman rule.'' Kristan Foust, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2018.02.59 "[T]his strong set of papers illustrates nicely how “the religion of the Greek cities of the Roman Empire was both conservative and innovative at the same time, and that many (but not all) changes need the ‘Roman factor’ to be properly accounted for” (...) All students of the Roman East will benefit from taking heed of this volume." Ted Kaizer, Arys 16 (2018).
