It draws on the latest findings in archaeology and history to explain the meanings of rituals, rites, auspices, and oracles, to describe the uses of temples and sacred ground, and to evoke the daily patterns of religious life and observance within the city of Rome and its environs. The text is usefully organized around major themes, such as the origins of Roman religion, the importance of the religious calendar, the structure of religious space, the forms of religious services and rituals, and the gods, priests, and core theologies that shaped religious observance. In addition to its clear and accessible presentation, Roman Religion includes quotations from primary sources, a chronology of religious and historical events from 750 B.C. to A.D. 494, a full glossary, and an annotated guide to further reading.

    The author examines the political, social, economic and cultural conditions that enabled one culture to influence or suppress another.

    In Harrison's preface to this remarkable book, she writes that J. G. Frazer's work had become part and parcel of her "mental furniture" and that of others studying primitive religion. Today, those who write on ancient myth or ritual are bound to say the same about Harrison. Her essential ideas, best developed and most clearly put in the Prolegomena, have never been eclipsed.

    Secret mystery cults flourished within the larger culture of the public religion of Greece and Rome for roughly a thousand years. This book is neither a history nor a survey but a comparative phenomenology. Concentrating on five major cults. In defining the mysteries and describing their rituals, membership, organization, and dissemination, Walter Burkert displays the remarkable erudition we have come to expect of him; he also shows sensitivity and sympathy in interpreting the experiences and motivations of the devotees.

    "Hopper represents the most lethal of organized religions many opponents: a curious, well-educated individual with a sharp wit." Queen's University Journal Review "Wickedly fun and informative." Toronto Star "The Heathen's Guide To World Religions has taken up permanent residence on my bookshelves... a masterfully written, wonderfully funny, and deliciously snarky trip down religious lane." Al Stefanelli, UNITED ATHEIST FRONT. "Like Monty Python in religious garb... easily one of the best places to invest your book buying dollar." Georgia Straight

    Republic is also featured in its entirety.

    Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart this assumption, Brent Nongbri shows that the idea of religion as a sphere of life distinct from politics, economics, or science is a recent development in European history—a development that has been projected outward in space and backward in time with the result that religion now appears to be a natural and necessary part of our world.Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Nongbri demonstrates that in antiquity, there was no conceptual arena that could be designated as “religious” as opposed to “secular.” Surveying representative episodes from a two-thousand-year period, while constantly attending to the concrete social, political, and colonial contexts that shaped relevant works of philosophers, legal theorists, missionaries, and others, Nongbri offers a concise and readable account of the emergence of the concept of religion.

    Here, Richard Miles recreates these extraordinary cities, ranging from the Euphrates to the Roman Empire, to understand the roots of human civilization.

    Despite their mortality, heroes, like the gods, were objects of cult worship. Nagy examines this distinctively religious notion of the hero in its many dimensions, in texts spanning the eighth to fourth centuries bce: the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; songs of Sappho and Pindar; and dialogues of Plato. All works are presented in English translation, with attention to the subtleties of the original Greek, and are often further illuminated by illustrations taken from Athenian vase paintings.The fifth-century bce historian Herodotus said that to read Homer is to be a civilized person. In twenty-four installments, based on the Harvard University course Nagy has taught and refined since the late 1970s, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours offers an exploration of civilization s roots in the Homeric epics and other Classical literature, a lineage that continues to challenge and inspire us today.

    He is celebrated for his words of wisdom as well as the alleged miracles that he performed while he was still alive. Yet as large as his acclaim may be, Aquinas has also had his fair share of detractors both during his lifetime and long thereafter.In the twentieth century, for example, esteemed British philosopher and writer Bertrand Russel went so far in his criticism as to say that he believed that Thomas Aquinas was not a philosopher in the classical sense of the word but rather that he relied more on dogmatic Catholic faith than any sense of inquiry or inductive reasoning. There are of course those that would vehemently argue the opinions of Bertrand Russel. While it is not the purpose of this book to take one side or the other, these arguments and criticisms will be examined as we delve into the history of this great thinker.Casting all accolades and critiques aside, in this book you will find the raw bare bones of the man who Thomas Aquinas came to be. Thomas Aquinas had an exceptional life of both major accomplishments and upsetting setbacks—here, we explore them in full.

    Religion, medicine, technology, and what we would call magic coexisted without apparent conflict, and it was not unusual for magical and practical remedies for illness, for example, to be used side by side. Everyone resorted to magic, from the pharaoh guarding his country with elaborate magical rituals to the expectant mother wearing amulets to safeguard her unborn child. In this book, Geraldine Pinch examines the connections between myth and magic and the deities--such as the goddess Isis, and the protective lion-demon Bes--who had special magical importance. She discusses the techniques of magic, its practitioners, and the surviving magical texts, as well as the objects that were used in magic: figurines, statues, amulets, and wands. She devotes a chapter to medicine and magic and one to magic and the dead. Finally, Dr. Pinch shows how elements and influences from Egyptian magic survived in or were taken up by later societies, right down to our own century.

    Temple of the Cosmos explores Egypt's sacred geography and mythology; but more importantly, it reveals with unprecedented clarity an ancient consciousness in tune with the rhythms of the earth. The ancient Egyptians experienced their gods not as remote beings but rather as psychic and natural forces, transpersonal energies that played a part in everyday life. This direct experience of the gods shaped the Egyptian concepts of human development, healing, magic, and the soul's journey through the Underworld as described in the Books of the Dead. While building on the pioneering efforts of R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz and others, Temple of the Cosmos is much more than a recapitulation of previous theories of Egyptian spirituality. Rather, this book breaks new ground by placing the work of other Egyptologists in an original, magical context. The result is a brilliant reimagining of the Egyptian worldview and its sacred path of spiritual unfolding.

    From religious sects eagerly awaiting the end of the world to modern-day criminal organizations living outside the law, this book sheds some light on the groups who don’t want to be seen.What is it that has driven humans to gather in secret since the dawn of time, to hide their labors from their fellow man? This book goes all the way back to the Iron Age to find out, charting a violent history full of human sacrifices, political killings, zealous priests, and mystic prophets. From underground orders to frenzied death-cults, all kinds of secret organizations are found within, be they on the fringes of society or at the very heart of power. Richly illustrated and full of shocking surprises, this book may make you reassess just what goes on in the shadows.

    Christianity, for example, was one of the innovative religious movements that arose during this time. However, Christianity had many competitors, and one of the most remarkable of these was the ancient Roman mystery religion of Mithraism. Like the other mystery cults of antiquity, Mithraism kept its beliefs strictly secret, revealing them only to initiates. As a result, the cult's teachings were never written down. However, the Mithraists filled their temples with an enigmatic iconography, an abundance of which has been unearthed by archaeologists. Until now, all attempts to decipher this iconography have proven fruitless. Most experts have been content with a vague hypothesis that the iconography somehow derived from ancient Iranian religion. In this groundbreaking work, David Ulansey offers a radically different theory. He argues that Mithraic iconography was actually an astronomical code, and that the cult began as a religious response to a startling scientific discovery. As his investigation proceeds, Ulansey penetrates step by step the mysteries concealed in Mithraic iconography, until finally he is able to reveal the central secret of the cult: a secret consisting of an ancient vision of the ultimate nature of the universe. Brimming with the excitement of discovery--and reading like an intellectual detective story--Ulansey's compelling book will intrigue scholars and general readers alike.

    Brown interprets the changes in social patterns and religious thought, breaking away from conventional modern images of the period.