Empire and Religion in the Roman World

Cutting-edge explorations of the Roman Empire, including politics, religion, climate change, pandemic, and the rise of Christianity.

Harriet I. Flower (Edited by)

9781108927581, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 April 2023

291 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.42 kg

The inspiration for this volume comes from the work of its dedicatee, Brent D. Shaw, who is one of the most original and wide-ranging historians of the ancient world of the last half-century and continues to open up exciting new fields for exploration. Each of the distinguished contributors has produced a cutting-edge exploration of a topic in the history and culture of the Roman Empire dealing with a subject on which Professor Shaw has contributed valuable work. Three major themes extend across the volume as a whole. First, the ways in which the Roman world represented an intricate web of connections even while many people's lives remained fragmented and local. Second, the ways in which the peculiar Roman space promoted religious competition in a sophisticated marketplace for practices and beliefs, with Christianity being a major benefactor. Finally, the varying forms of violence which were endemic within and between communities.

Part I. Empire: 1. Germs and Empire: The Agency of the Microscopic Kyle Harper
2. Imperial Integration on Rome's Atlantic Rim Carlos Noreña
3. The Ambitions of Government: Sovereignty and Control in the Ancient Countryside Clifford Ando
4. Contingency and Context: The Origins of the Jewish War against Rome Erich S. Gruen
Part II. Religion: 5. The First Christian Family of Egypt Sabine R. Huebner
6. Missionaries, Pious Merchants, Freelance Religious Experts, and the Spread of Christianity Éric Rebillard
7. Christian Piety in Late Antiquity: Contexts and Contestations Claudia Rapp
8. Ausonius at the Edge of Empire: Consular Poetics as Cognitive Improvisation Mark Vessey
9. Peregrinationes in Psalmos Catherine Conybeare
10. Muhammad's Rivals: Prophets in Late Antique Arabia Glen W. Bowersock
Epilogue: 11. Brent Shaw: An Intellectual Profile Peter Brown.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Religion: general [HRA], Religion & beliefs [HR], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], History [HB], Humanities [H]