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Title: Rituals and Power : The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor by S. R. F. Price ISBN: 0-521-31268-X Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 27 September, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Best book on the subject
Comment: If you want to learn about the Roman Imperial Cult, this is the book to read. Price has not simply compiled a great deal of evidence, but analyzed it with sophistication and imagination. Reading this book was one of the best experiences in my life as a scholar.
Rating: 5
Summary: 'Rituals and Power' present a puzzle...
Comment: Why were the Emperors of Rome worshipped as gods in the eastern Mediterranean? S. R. F. Price addresses this question in his impressive work of scholarship 'Rituals and Power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor'.
Price's book first discusses the presence of the imperial cult in the Greek cities of the Empire, and the history of the cult's development. The imperial cult, which began with the deification of Julius Caesar and Augustus in the years of Augustus' reign, was to have a lasting impact on the role of the Emperor and on the way in which subject cities, particularly those of the Greek east, came to terms with their subjugation. Partly in response, cities deified the Emperor and, on occasion, members of his family, built temples and made statues and busts, all for the greater glory of Rome. The cult became as much a political as a religious phenomenon, another way to imbue civic benefits and patronage. The well-being of cities and their inhabitants became tied to the temples built and sacrifices made to the rulers of the Roman world. In the end, Dr. Price's goal of improving the 'understanding of the relationship of religious ritual and political power' is neatly achieved.
Three centuries after Augustus was uncomfortable with the idea of being deified, his distant successor Diocletian used the mystery and pageantry of the cult to restore power to an Imperiacy which had been dangerously weakened by fifty years of near-anarchy. Yet within another fifty years, Constantine's purported conversion to Xianity would not only result in the abolition of the cult, but the ultimate weakening of the Emperor, this time in favour of the newly-hatched Bishops of the East and West.
While not, perhaps, the most accessible book for a beginning student of ancient history, it will be of interest to anyone with a background in ancient history, or a curiosity about the later years of the Roman Empire, Roman religion and bureaucracy, and early Xianity. Dr. Price has written a very good and very thorough book, which will continue to be an important work in the study of this subject for many years to come.
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Title: The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting (Biblical Resource) by Colin J. Hemer ISBN: 0802847145 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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