Lux perpetua. Funerary practices and beliefs about the afterlife from Roman antiquity to the imperial era.
Mimesis| N° d'inventaire | 32942 |
| Format | 21 x 14 |
| Détails | 600 p., paperback |
| Publication | Paris, 2025 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9788869764769 |
Lux Perpetua, Franz Cumont's last work, published posthumously in 1949, is a masterful work exploring funerary practices and beliefs about the afterlife from Roman antiquity to the imperial era. It offers a remarkable synthesis and a deep understanding of how the Romans perceived immortality . This work is an essential reference that, among other things, has highlighted the importance of Eastern cults and their impact on spirituality in ancient Rome. The author shows how, over the centuries, the Underworld moved from the depths of the Earth, where Greek literary tradition placed it, to heaven, giving rise to the theme of celestial eschatology. The work highlights these two tendencies in the pagan conception of the afterlife. The first, materialist, is represented above all by Virgil; it is dependent on Pythagorean Orphism. The second, imbued with mystical spirituality, dates back to Plato. Most Roman philosophers adhered to this theory, as did many Christian authors.
Lux Perpetua, Franz Cumont's last work, published posthumously in 1949, is a masterful work exploring funerary practices and beliefs about the afterlife from Roman antiquity to the imperial era. It offers a remarkable synthesis and a deep understanding of how the Romans perceived immortality . This work is an essential reference that, among other things, has highlighted the importance of Eastern cults and their impact on spirituality in ancient Rome. The author shows how, over the centuries, the Underworld moved from the depths of the Earth, where Greek literary tradition placed it, to heaven, giving rise to the theme of celestial eschatology. The work highlights these two tendencies in the pagan conception of the afterlife. The first, materialist, is represented above all by Virgil; it is dependent on Pythagorean Orphism. The second, imbued with mystical spirituality, dates back to Plato. Most Roman philosophers adhered to this theory, as did many Christian authors.