Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions /
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This collection of papers from two workshops - held in Heidelberg, Germany, in July 1996 and Jerusalem, Israel, in October 1997 - is concerned with anthropological rather than theological aspects of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions, ranging from the 'primary' religions of the archaic period and their complex developments in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the 'soteriological' movements and 'secondary' religions that emerged in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book focuses on \'Confession and Conversion\', while the second part is devoted to the topic of \'Guilt, Sin and Rituals of Purification\'. The primary purpose of this volume is to convey a sense of the dynamics and dialectical relationships between the various Near Eastern and Mediterranean religions from the archaic period to Late Antiquity.
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Two contributions in German, one in French. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004379084 :
0169-8834 ;
La raison des signes : présages, rites, destin dans les sociétés de la méditerranée ancienne /
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Comment prévoir l'inconnu et contrôler l'inattendu ? Les Anciens ont tenté de répondre à ces questions en interprétant des signes dans lesquels il reconnaissaient des messages divins. Ce recueil permet de comparer la diversité de leurs questionnements dans les sociétés polythéistes ou monothéistes de la Méditerranée antique. Il interroge premièrement la construction rituelle des signes au sein des institutions divinatoires ; deuxièmement, des phénomènes naturels spontanés, qui, apparus hors de toute institution, ont néanmoins valeur de présages ou d'avertissements ; troisièmement, l'intentionnalité manifestée à travers l'intervention divine dans l'histoire des peuples ou les vies singulières ; quatrièmement, l'épistémologie des signes dans des élaborations philosophiques ou théologiques qui éclairent la tension entre données oraculaires et contrôle ritualisé des signes, entre données révélées et argumentations raisonnées visant à neutraliser les injonctions du destin. How to foresee the unknown and master the unexpected? Ancient people tried to answer those questions by interpreting signs considered as divine messages. In this volume, the writers compare and examine this manifold questioning in the polytheistic and monotheistic societies of the ancient Mediterranean Sea. In the first place, it is shown how signs were ritually constructed within instituted practice of divination ; second, how, although some spontaneous natural phenomena appeared out of any instituted context, may nevertheless constitute omens or monition ; third, how the gods' intervention may reveal a sort of intention in the course of national history or individual life ; finally, the essays study the epistemology of signs at work in some philosophical or theological elaborations, which may enlighten the tension between oracular evidence and ritual control of signs, and between revealed facts and reasoning arguments intending to neutralize the injunctions of the divine.
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Text in French; summaries in English. :
1 online resource (xviii, 626 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004210912 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The wisdom of Thoth : magical texts in ancient Mediterranean civilisations /
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This volume represents a selection of contributions on Mediterranean themes from a wider international interdisciplinary conference on Magical Texts in Ancient Civilizations, organised by the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
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Conference proceedings. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
9781784912482 (PDF ebook) :
Maritime-related cults in the coastal cities of Philistia during the Roman period : legacy and change /
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This title questions the origins and the traditions of the cultic rites practised during Roman times along the southern shores of the Land of Israel. This area was known since biblical times as 'Peleshet' (Philistia), after the name of one of the Sea Peoples that had settled there at the beginning of the Iron Age. Philistia's important cities Jaffa, Ashkelon, Gaza and Rafiah were culturally and religiously integrated into the Graeco-Roman world. At the same time, each city developed its own original and unique group of myths and cults that had their roots in earlier periods. Their emergence and formation were influenced by environmental conditions as well as by ethno-social structures and political circumstances. Philistia's port cities served as crossroads for the routes connecting the main centres of culture and commerce in ancient times.
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Also issued in print: 2019. :
1 online resource (ii, 212 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour). :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789692570 (PDF ebook) :