The Roman Imperial Cult: Local Practices and the Reception of the Emperor - Couverture rigide

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 3032140463 ISBN 13 : 9783032140463

Editeur : Palgrave Macmillan, 2026

Synopsis

This book offers a novel approach to the study of the Roman imperial cult, disrupting the traditional Eurocentric narrative and tendency to relativise the cult’s religious dimension in favour of its political implications. Instead, this collection argues for understanding the imperial cult within diverse local contexts, where it evolved through intricate interactions with existing religious traditions and institutions. Consequently, this volume also contends that the often-promoted, singular narrative of the imperial cult fails to capture its complexity and multipolar nature, making it essential to speak of imperial cults in the plural. 

This book examines the cult’s flexibility and regional specificity through epigraphic numismatic, literary and archaeological evidence from Greece, Hispania (Baetica and Lusitania), Asia Minor, Italy, the Lower Danube region, Crete and Cyrene, Egypt and Germania, from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. These sources reveal that the imperial cult was deeply embedded in local religious and social fabrics, while also engaging with distinct socio-political conditions and impacting various religious discourses, including those of Christian authors. By focusing on the local adaptations and religious innovations that characterised the imperial cult, the book advocates for a more nuanced and context-sensitive analysis.

Chapters 1, 2 and 13 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Sofia Bianchi Mancini earned her PhD from the University of Erfurt, Germany. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Junior Fellow at the Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien at the University of Erfurt. As Project Leader, she is researching religious property and appropriation mechanisms in the Roman Empire, with a focus on structural changes in the Imperial period.

Lorena Pérez Yarza is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and holds a PhD from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Her current research explores religious interactions among specific population groups in the western Mediterranean and the transition of epigraphic practices into late antiquity within the ERC project STONE-MASTERS.

Silvia Fogliazza is an archaeologist with extensive expertise in ancient religions and local cults, including their Roman contexts. She earned her PhD from La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in an international cotutelle with Paris Nanterre University, France. She is currently affiliated with the International Study Centre of Ancient Religions (Ca’ Foscari University), the research group Poikilia and the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi, Italy.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Palgrave Macmillan
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 3032140463
• ISBN 13: 9783032140463
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 388
• Éditeur: Bianchi Mancini Sofia, Pérez Yarza Lorena, Fogliazza Silvia
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH; ProductSafety@springernature.com; ; Europaplatz 3,69115 Heidelberg, Germany; Heidelberg; 69115; Allemagne