Roman festivals in the Greek East : from the early empire to the Middle Byzantine Era / Fritz Graf.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Graf, Fritz, author.

Series:

Greek culture in the Roman world.

Greek culture in the Roman world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Festivals--Rome.

Festivals.

Festivals--Greece.

Rites and ceremonies--Rome.

Rites and ceremonies.

Rites and ceremonies--Greece.

Rome--Social life and customs.

Rome.

Rome--History--Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Greece--History--146 B.C.-323 A.D.

Greece.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 363 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This study explores the development of ancient festival culture in the Greek East of the Roman Empire, paying particular attention to the fundamental religious changes that occurred. After analysing how Greek city festivals developed in the first two Imperial centuries, it concentrates on the major Roman festivals that were adopted in the Eastern cities and traces their history up to the time of Justinian and beyond. It addresses several key questions for the religious history of later antiquity: who were the actors behind these adoptions? How did the closed religious communities, Jews and pre-Constantinian Christians, articulate their resistance? How did these festivals change when the empire converted to Christianity? Why did emperors not yield to the long-standing pressure of the Church to abolish them? And finally, how did these very popular festivals - despite their pagan tradition - influence the form of the newly developed Christian liturgy?

Contents:

Cover; Half-title page; Series page; Title page; Copyright page; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction; Part I Festivals in the Greek East before Constantine; Part II Roman festivals in the Greek East after Constantine; Part III Christianity and private ritual; References; Index; Chapter 1 Greek city festivals in the Imperial age; Chapter 2 Roman festivals in eastern cities; Introduction; Chapter 3 Theodosius' reform of the legal calendar; Chapter 4 Contested festivals in the fourth century; Chapter 5 The Lupercalia from Augustus to Constantine Porphyrogennetos

Chapter 6 John Malalas and ritual aetiologyChapter 7 The Brumalia; Chapter 8 Kalendae Ianuariae again, and again; Chapter 9 Christian liturgy and the imperial festival tradition; Introduction; Chapter 10 Incubation in a Christian world; Chapter 11 Magic in a Christian Empire; Epilogue The persistence of festivals and the end of sacrifices; Introduction; Imagining festivals; Tradition and innovation in Greek festivals; Eastern splendors; Criticizing festivals; Conclusions; Introduction; Roman festivals in Syria Palaestina; Further Roman festivals; Conclusions; The imperial rescript

Theodosius as law giver in summer 389Theodosius' reform of the legal calendar of the City of Rome; The reception of Theodosius' text; The Christian contestation of the Kalendae Ianuariae; Councils and emperors; Augustus and the Lupercalia in the Imperial age; Pope Gelasius and the Lupercalia in late fifth century Rome; Constantine Porphyrogennetos and the Lupercalia in tenth century Constantinople; Transformations of a festival; Introduction; Rhomos and double kingship; Romulus and the Brumalia; Brutus and the Consilia; Conclusions; The Bruma in the Latin West

The Brumalia in ConstantinopleFrom Bruma to Brumalia; The Christian contestation; The disappearance of the Brumalia; Kalandai in twelfth century Constantinople; Vota and ludi votivi; Postscript from Muslim North Africa; Introduction; Christian liturgy in Jerusalem; The Jerusalem liturgy and ancient festivals; Introduction: a spa in the Holy Land; Past scholarship; Pagan incubation; Dreaming among Christians; Incubation among the Christians; Narratives of dream healing; Augustine and magic; Magic in imperial legislation; Amulets and the Christians; Church and state; The tenacity of festivals

Bottom up and top downThe end of sacrifice, and the continuity of festivals

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Nov 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-42365-4

1-316-42642-4

1-316-42681-5

1-316-42837-0

1-316-42720-X

1-316-42915-6

1-316-13577-2