Ritual in the Roman World: Approaches to Theory and Practices (Archaeopress Roman Archaeology)

Ritual in the Roman World expands our current understanding of what are considered ritual behaviours in the Roman period, bringing together research on small finds, depositional practice, and temple sites. As a material representation of the attempt to put order and definition to one's world, examining ritual practices offers insight into both social and cosmological structures within a given cultural context. In this context, the Roman world is understood functioning as a globalised/glocalised system and fostering a spectrum of ritualised behaviours across its different regions and periods. This was the result of a long habit of incorporating and rejecting local traditions encountered during its expansion as well as interfacing with those of the peoples outside its borders.

By bringing together research on small finds as well as temple sites, this volume presents new discoveries in the field as well as innovative interpretative approaches applied to instances of continuity of use of ritual sites, including across the pre-Roman/Roman/post-Roman transitions, as well as instances of modern uses of Roman period ritual spaces so to frame ritual behaviours beyond the traditional connection of ritual practices and religious beliefs.

Alessandra Esposito was awarded her PhD in Classics from King's College London in 2018 with a thesis titled Performing the Sacra. Priestly roles and their organisation in Roman Britain, now published by Archaeopress. She has since published and presented on the archaeology of religion and hoarding practices in the Roman North-West and she is more recently working on digital methods applied to archaeology of religion.

Jason Lundock completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University before earning his Master's and PhD from King's College London in Classical Archaeology. His specialisations include small finds, numismatics, Roman/Late Antique Britain and archaeological theory. He currently teaches mythology at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He is the author of several articles and the monograph A Study of the Deposition and Distribution of Copper Alloy Vessels in Roman Britain.

Kaja Stemberger Flegar obtained her PhD in Roman mortuary archaeology from King's College London in 2018, and has since continued researching several topics of theoretical archaeology and identity studies, with a firm basis in the archaeological material from Roman Slovenia. She is employed as a small finds specialist at the private archaeological company PJP, d.o.o., within which she recently co-founded and became head of Institute Primus Devotus.

David Walsh received his PhD from the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent in 2016 for his thesis Development, Decline and Demise: The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity. He has since published his thesis along with various articles on the archaeology of Roman religion. He has taught at the universities of Kent and Newcastle and worked for various archaeological field units. He is currently a Career Development Fellow at Durham University.