EMPEROR WORSHIP AND ROMAN RELIGION

Gradel, Ittai

ISBN 10: 0199275483 / ISBN 13: 9780199275489

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2009

About this Item

Octavo, viii, x, xii, xviii, xix, 408 pages. In Very Good minus condition. Paperback binding. Spine dark blue and grayish blue with white lettering. Covers have slight wear including slight scuffs, some scratches and minor edge wear. Mild tilt to the spine. Text block has light wear including small mark to the head edge. Tiny mark to the acknowledgements page. Illustrated. Reprinted. NOTE: Shelved in Netdesk Column U, ND-U. 1404335. FP New Rockville Stock.

Seller Inventory # 1404335

Bibliographic Details

• Title: EMPEROR WORSHIP AND ROMAN RELIGION
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199275483
• ISBN 13: 9780199275489
• Binding: Softcover
• Edition: Reprinted.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Ancient History & Classical Studies
  • Religion

About this title

Synopsis

While Roman religion worshipped a number of gods, one kind in particular aroused the fury of early Christians and the wonder of scholars: the cult of Roman emperors alive or dead. Was the divinity of emperors a glue that held the Empire together? Were rulers such as Julius Caesar and Caligula simply mad to expect such worship of themselves? Or was it rather a phenomenon which has only been rendered incomprehensible by modern and monotheistic ideas of what religion is--or should be--all about?

This book presents the first study of emperor worship among the Romans themselves, both in Rome and in its heartland Italy. It argues that emperor worship was indeed perfectly in keeping with Roman religious tradition, which has been generally misunderstood by a posterity imbued with radically different notions of the relationship between humans and the divine.

About the Author

Ittai Gradel is Carlsberg Research Fellow in the Department of History, University of Copenhagen.