Religion in Roman Phrygia: From Polytheism to Christianity"Phrygia in the second and third centuries CE offers more vivid evidence for what has been termed 'lived ancient religion' than any other region of the ancient world. The evidence from Phrygia is neither literary nor, in the main, issued by cities or their powerful inhabitants. It comes from farmers and herders: they have left behind numerous stone memorials of themselves and dedications to their gods, praying for the welfare of their families, their crops, and their cattle. A rare window is opened into the world of what Sir Ronald Syme called 'the voiceless earth-coloured rustics' who are 'conveniently forgotten'. The period in which Phrygian paganism flourished so visibly to our eyes was also the period in which Christianity, introduced by the apostle Paul, took root, as early and as successfully as in any part of the Roman world. In Religion in Roman Phrygia: From Polytheism to Christianity, Robert Parker presents this rich body of evidence and uses it to explore one of history's great stories and enigmas: how and why the new religion overtook its predecessor, the Christian God now meeting the needs of Phrygians hitherto satisfied by Zeus and the other gods"-- |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Contexts of religious life | 9 |
Priesthoods finance authority | 27 |
The gods | 34 |
Differentiated powers? | 66 |
Heavenly and imperial gods | 79 |
Consecrations and confessions at the sanctuary of Apollo Lairbenos | 83 |
Phrygian gods and death | 96 |
Retrospect | 163 |
Interpretatio and its effects | 172 |
Envoi | 195 |
Appendix A Myths and traditions of city origins | 203 |
Appendix B Honoured byconsecrated to Hekate and related texts | 215 |
τὸν θεόν σοι μὴ ἀδικήσῃς | 220 |
Paganism and Montanism | 223 |
Bibliography | 241 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aizanoi Akmonia Akyürek Şahin Alsenos Anatolia Apamea Apollo Archegetes Apollo Lairbenos appears Archegetes Artemis attested Beichtinschriften Caria claim coins confession inscriptions dead person deity Denizli Dionysus divine Divinités de Phrygie Dorylaion Drew-Bear and Naour EpigAnat epitaph epithet Epitynchanos Eumeneia evidence festival funerary Galatia Gephyra goddess Grabdenkmal Greece Greek Gods Haspels Hekate Helios Hellenistic Herakles Hierapolis high priest Hittite honoured Hosios Dikaios Hutter hyper Hypsistos ibid iconography imperial cult indigenous Iznik Kelp Laodikeia LGPN Lochman Lycia Lydia MAMA VII MAMA XI Mitchell Montanism Montanist monuments Mossyna Mother Nakoleia North Galatia pagan perhaps Pessinous Petzl Phry Phrygia Phrygian Votive Steles Pisidia Prymnessos Ramsay region relief religion religious Ricl Ritti Robert Roman sanctuary SEG LVIII SEG LXII statue Steinepigramme Steles Synnada temple third century Thonemann tion tomb Türsteine Upper Tembris valley village Votivreliefs Waelkens worshipped Zeus Bronton καὶ τὸν