Author Description

Can we still talk about « oriental religions » while setting them apart from « the other religions » in the Greek and Roman world? The concept of oriental religions was made canonical by Franz Cumont more than a century ago. Today, it is unanimously questioned, and with solid arguments. But it remains important to understand the context in which the concept arose and functioned. Only then can we return to the ancient religious landscape of Antiquity and study it with more adequate tools. The conference, of which this volume provides the acts, sets out to take stock of the study of oriental religions and to explore them in a new perspective, to study the historiographical heritage and to review the current debate. This volume shows how, at the turn of the twentieth century, a specialised field of knowledge arose with contributions from various disciplines such as ancient history, the history of religions, history of christianity and theology. It also points to new pathways in the research, based upon recently discovered material and inspired by new perspectives and new questions. Finally, this volume sheds new and, we hope, decisive light on the way ancient cults were inscribed in space and time, and on the strategies of integration and demarcation, the complexity of which appears far clearer to us now than it did a century ago, when the epoch-making book by Franz Cumont « The oriental religions in Roman paganism » was first published and started its influence on generations of scholars. (BREPOLS.net)