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Mystery Cults in the Roman Empire: Pagans and Christians in Competition.
MASSA Francesco.

Mystery Cults in the Roman Empire: Pagans and Christians in Competition.

The Beautiful Letters
€33,00 €0,00
N° d'inventaire 29757
Format 15.3 x 21.5
Détails 432 p., paperback.
Publication Paris, 2023
Etat Nine
ISBN 9782251454740
In the polytheistic religions of Antiquity, with their strong public and collective dimension, so-called "mystery" cults, reserved for groups of initiates, long played a limited role, despite the celebrity of some of them, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries. But under the Roman Empire, the notion of mysteries seems to have experienced unprecedented diffusion and to influence both religious practices and the ways of representing them. This process concerns both Christian groups and traditional cults. Indeed, from the middle of the 2nd century , Christian authors appropriated the vocabulary of mystery cults to speak of their own rituals and beliefs, and thus constructed forms of competition with the proponents of traditional religions.

From this moment until the end of Antiquity, the mysteries of polytheistic religions and the new Christian mysteries continued to intersect. The notion of mysteries became the site of interactions between pagans and Christians, reflecting the new political and religious power relations that were established in the territories of a multicultural and multireligious empire. This book traces this evolution and questions the role that Christian discourse may have played on "pagan" mystery cults.
In the polytheistic religions of Antiquity, with their strong public and collective dimension, so-called "mystery" cults, reserved for groups of initiates, long played a limited role, despite the celebrity of some of them, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries. But under the Roman Empire, the notion of mysteries seems to have experienced unprecedented diffusion and to influence both religious practices and the ways of representing them. This process concerns both Christian groups and traditional cults. Indeed, from the middle of the 2nd century , Christian authors appropriated the vocabulary of mystery cults to speak of their own rituals and beliefs, and thus constructed forms of competition with the proponents of traditional religions.

From this moment until the end of Antiquity, the mysteries of polytheistic religions and the new Christian mysteries continued to intersect. The notion of mysteries became the site of interactions between pagans and Christians, reflecting the new political and religious power relations that were established in the territories of a multicultural and multireligious empire. This book traces this evolution and questions the role that Christian discourse may have played on "pagan" mystery cults.