Ancient Religions Books

New and Published Books

1. Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives

   New Critical Perspectives

   Edited by David Dodd, Christopher A. Faraone

   Scholars of classical history and literature have for more than a century accepted `initiation' as a tool for understanding a variety of obscure rituals and myths, ranging from the ancient Greek wedding and adolescent haircutting rituals to initiatory motifs or structures in Greek myth, comedy and...

   Published April 4th 2012 by Routledge
2. Time in Roman Religion

   One Thousand Years of Religious History

   By Gary Forsythe

   Series: Routledge Studies in Ancient History

   Religion is a major subfield of ancient history and classical studies, and Roman religion in particular is usually studied today by experts in two rather distinct halves: the religion of the Roman Republic, covering the fifth through first centuries B.C.; and the religious diversity of the Roman...

   Published March 20th 2012 by Routledge
3. Early Christian Dress

   Gender, Virtue, and Authority

   By Kristi Upson-Saia

   Series: Routledge Studies in Ancient History

   Early Christian Dress is the first full-length monograph on the subject of dress in early Christianity. It pays attention to the ways in which dress expressed and shaped Christian identity, the role dress played in Christians’ rivalries with pagan neighbours, and especially to the ways in which...

   Published June 13th 2011 by Routledge
4. Religion in Late Roman Britain

   Forces of Change

   By Dorothy Watts

   Religion in Late Roman Britain explores the changes in religion over the fourth century; the historical background for these changes and the forces which contributed to them.Dorothy Watts examines the reasons for the decline of Christianity and the continuation of the pagan, Celtic cults in Britain...

   Published January 26th 2011 by Routledge
5. Aphrodite

   By Monica S. Cyrino

   Series: Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World

   Aphrodite explores the many myths and meanings of the Greek goddess of love, sex and beauty. One of the most widely worshipped and popular deities in Greek antiquity, Aphrodite emerges from the imaginations of the ancient Greek writers and artists as a multifaceted, powerful and charismatic figure....

   Published March 28th 2010 by Routledge
6. King Arthur in Antiquity

   By Graham Anderson

   This original and compelling study argues against the traditional identification of Arthur as a king in Celtic Britain. Instead, Graham Anderson explores the evidence for two much older figures, known to classical writers as kings of Arcadia and Lydia, over a millenium before. He shows how these...

   Published May 15th 2009 by Routledge
7. Apollo

   By Fritz Graf

   Series: Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World

   Fritz Graf here presents a survey of a god once thought of as the most powerful of gods, and capable of great wrath should he be crossed: Apollo the sun god. From his first attestations in Homer, through the complex question of pre-Homeric Apollo, to the opposition between Apollo and Dionysos in...

   Published October 15th 2008 by Routledge
8. Ancient Greek Cults

   A Guide

   By Jennifer Larson

   Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology, showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a...

   Published October 9th 2008 by Routledge
9. Theodore of Mopsuestia

   By Frederick McLeod

   Series: The Early Church Fathers

   Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, (c.350-428) stands out as the pre-eminent exponent of the School of Antioch’s literal, historical and rational emphases in exegesis and of its staunch defence of Christ’s humanity. At his death, he was hailed as one of the outstanding, prolific biblical theologians...

   Published August 18th 2008 by Routledge
10. Ritual Texts for the Afterlife

    Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets

    By Fritz Graf, Sarah Iles Johnston

    Fascinating texts written on small gold tablets that were deposited in graves provide a unique source of information about what some Greeks and Romans believed regarding the fate that awaited them after death, and how they could influence it. These texts, dating from the late fifth century...

    Published May 16th 2007 by Routledge