Commemorating the dead : texts and artifacts in context : studies of Roman, Jewish, and Christian burials / edited by Laurie Brink and Deborah Green ; with an introduction by Richard Saller.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Brink, Laurie, 1961-

Green, Deborah A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Burial.

Funeral rites and ceremonies--Rome.

Funeral rites and ceremonies.

Jewish funeral rites and ceremonies.

Funeral service.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Walter de Gruyter, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The distinctions and similarities among Roman, Jewish, and Christian burials can provide evidence of social networks, family life, and, perhaps, religious sensibilities. Is the Roman development from columbaria to catacombs the result of evolving religious identities or simply a matter of a change in burial fashions? Do the material remains from Jewish burials evidence an adherence to ancient customs, or the adaptation of rituals from surrounding cultures? What Greco-Roman funerary images were taken over and "baptized" as Christian ones? The answers to these and other questions require that the material culture be viewed, whenever possible, in situ, through multiple disciplinary lenses and in light of ancient texts. Roman historians (John Bodel, Richard Saller, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill), archaeologists (Susan Stevens, Amy Hirschfeld), scholars of rabbinic period Judaism (Deborah Green), Christian history (Robin M. Jensen), and the New Testament (David Balch, Laurie Brink, O.P., Margaret M. Mitchell, Carolyn Osiek, R.S.C.J.) engaged in a research trip to Rome and Tunisia to investigate imperial period burials first hand. Commemorting the Dead is the result of a three year scholarly conversation on their findings.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

Introduction

Archaeology and Artifacts

Chapter 1. An Overview of the Intellectual History of Catacomb Archaeology

Chapter 2. Housing the Dead: The Tomb as House in Roman Italy

Chapter 3. Commemorating the Dead in the Communal Cemeteries of Carthage

Ritual and Religious Rites

Chapter 4. Dining with the Dead: From the Mensa to the Altar in Christian Late Antiquity

Chapter 5. Sweet Spices in the Tomb: An Initial Study on the Use of Perfume in Jewish Burials

Patronal Relations and Changes in Burial Practices

Chapter 6. From Columbaria to Catacombs: Collective Burial in Pagan and Christian Rome

Chapter 7. Roman and Christian Burial Practices and the Patronage of Women

Envisioning Context and Meaning

Chapter 8. From Endymion in Roman Domus to Jonah in Christian Catacombs: From Houses of the Living to Houses for the Dead. Iconography and Religion in Transition

Chapter 9. Looking for Abercius: Reimagining Contexts of Interpretation of the "Earliest Christian Inscription"

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [341]-378) and index.

ISBN:

9786611999391

9781281999399

1281999393

9783110211573

3110211572

OCLC:

476275596