Materiality and Visibility of Rituals in the Ancient World

A philological approach has long dominated the study of ancient religions, while archaeological and art historical evidence in the form of (cult) statues, votive objects, cult paraphernalia, and architecture has played a secondary role, primarily as illustration supporting information conveyed by ancient authors. Consequently, text-oriented interpretations have shaped a scholarly axiom that presupposes the existence of an ancient theology that can be hardly proven for Greece, Rome, or Etruria where religion was grounded in ritual practice. Even cultures with much stronger religious textual traditions, such as those of Egypt or the Near East, seem to have placed great emphasis on ritual as a performative religious act with prominent material-oriented aspects. More recently, however, rituals as the central component of ancient religious activities have come to be studied increasingly from an anthropological perspective. The volume Materiality and Visibility of Rituals in the Ancient World will continue this tradition by paying close attention to ritual objects and spaces as carriers of religious information but likewise from a classical archaeological and art historical perspective.