Perché un dio è potente?
The religious landscape of the Lydian and Phrygian countryside in imperial age was characterized by the presence of many rural shrines, which were perceived as important landmarks in the daily life of peasants in these remote corners of the Roman Empire. The gods worshiped here were represented in t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Italian |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Morcelliana
2010
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| In: |
Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni
Year: 2010, Volume: 76, Issue: 1, Pages: 187-230 |
| Further subjects: | B
Inscriptions
B Rome B Magic B Religion B Ritual B Roman gods |
| Summary: | The religious landscape of the Lydian and Phrygian countryside in imperial age was characterized by the presence of many rural shrines, which were perceived as important landmarks in the daily life of peasants in these remote corners of the Roman Empire. The gods worshiped here were represented in the inscriptions as omniscient and omnipotent monarchs, who from heaven saw and knew all things. For this reason they were able to act in a fair and infallible way, punishing criminals for example, who in a way or another managed to escape human justice, and restoring the right. Several of their actions, such as documented by religious inscriptions, took place following the complaint of the wrong suffered by the victim, made in writing to the priests and probably posted in the temple. The one who was found guilty, usually after being hit by a terrible disease, was forced to make an act of public confession in the sanctuary and repair the damage that he has caused. Other times, divine intervention was caused by an act of impiety, voluntary or involuntary, committed against the authorities of the temple or the deity itself, who, feeling offended, could even punish with death the unfortunate person that was found guilty: this shows among other things how religion served a role of social control, to which is connected the personal relationship that the faithful established and built over time with their village deity. The epigraphic witnesses, unfortunately all found outside of their archaeological context, make it possible not only to reconstruct the religious mentality of these territories, but also to study the way in which, through a clever and intelligent work of propaganda, the local clergy was building and publicize the figures of these deities. Another important aspect is given by henotheistic character of most of these divine entities, that, even if represented as omnipotent deities, are nevertheless closely linked to the territory in which they were worshiped, as if in legal terms. The reconstruction of the areas of competence of these gods, as well as the ways of construction of the divine, is the subject of the present research. (English) |
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| ISSN: | 2611-8742 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni
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