Pollution and religion in ancient Rome / Jack J. Lennon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lennon, Jack J., 1985- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pollution--Religious aspects.

Pollution.

Rome--Religion.

Rome.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 229 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Pollution & Religion in Ancient Rome

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Pollution could come from any number of sources in the Roman world. Bodily functions, sexual activity, bloodshed, death - any of these could cause disaster if brought into contact with religion. Its presence could invalidate sacrifices, taint religious officials, and threaten to bring down the anger of the gods upon the city. Orators could use pollution as a means of denigrating opponents and obstructing religious procedures, and writers could emphasise the 'otherness' of barbarians by drawing attention to their different ideas about what was or was not 'dirty'. Yet despite all this, religious pollution remained a vague concept within the Latin language, and what constituted pollution could change depending on the context in which it appeared. Calling upon a range of research disciplines, this book highlights the significant role that pollution played across Roman religion, and the role it played in the construction of religious identity.

Contents:

Defining pollution

Lexical categories

Pure and the polluted in Roman religion

Birth, sex, and bodily margins

Blood

Death and remembrance

Pollution and rhetoric

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-89275-4

1-107-42462-3

1-107-42262-0

1-139-79543-0

1-107-41952-2

1-107-42069-5

1-107-41686-8

1-107-41820-8

OCLC:

863202505