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Religion

Graeco-Roman Religions

Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity by Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui (Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts: DeGruyter) Many recent discoveries have confirmed the importance of Orphism for ancient Greek religion, philosophy and literature. Its nature and role are still, however, among the most debated problems of Classical scholarship. A cornerstone of the question is its relationship to Christianity, which modern authors have too often discussed from apologetic perspectives or projections of the Christian model into its supposed precedent. Besides, modern approaches are strongly based on ancient ones, since Orpheus and the poems and mysteries attributed to him were fundamental in the religious controversies of Late Antiquity. Both Pagan and Christian authors often present Orphism as a precedent, alternative or imitation of Chistianity.This free and thorough study of the ancient sources sheds light on these controversial questions. The presence of the Orphic tradition in Imperial Age, documented by literary and epigraphical evidence, is confronted with the informations transmitted by Christian apologists on Orphic poems and cults. The manifold Christian treatments of Pagan sources, and their particular value to understand Greek religion, are illuminated by this specific case, which exemplifies the complex encounter between Classical culture and Jewish-Christian tradition.  More

Greek Sacred Law (2nd Edition with a Postscript)  by Eran Lupu (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World: Brill Academic Publishers) This work contains two parts. Part I constitutes a guide to the corpus of Greek sacred law and its contents. A discussion of the history of the corpus and the principles governing its composition is followed by a detailed review of its contents, in which the evidence is classified according to subject matter. Part II contains inscriptions published since the late 1960s from all around the Greek world excluding Cos and Asia Minor (checklists for these are appended). The text of each inscription is presented alongside restorations, epigraphical commentary, translation, and a comprehensive running commentary. Most of the inscriptions are illustrated. The volume should prove useful to scholars of Greek religion, historians, and epigraphists.

Excerpt: The present work, for which I tentatively suggest the abbreviation NGSL,' is divided into two parts. Part I was conceived as a practical guide to the corpus of Greek sacred laws for the general classicist rather than a theoretical exposition. It is meant to introduce the evidence by means of the evidence itself, and I therefore had to limit the footnotes and the references to scholarship.

My primary aim in part II was to collect and republish the sacred laws from mainland Greece, the colonies, and the islands, with the exception of Cos, published after the appearance of Sokolowski's Lois sacrées des cites grecques in 1969. I have, nevertheless, included two inscriptions (nos. i i and 13) which were published in the 1960s. Inscriptions from Cos and Asia Minor are not included, but I have added checklists of significant new documents. I have left out any inscriptions included in Sokolowski's corpus, even when they were enriched by new fragments or improved considerably in respect to readings. A list of some such inscriptions is to be found, however, in Appendix B 3. Also added are concordances for the various parts of the corpus.

The principles that guided me in making the present selection are stated in part I pp. 4-9. It suffices to note here that an occasional stipulation on the subject of religion or cult practice does not necessarily qualify a document as a sacred law. Some cases are admittedly undecided. On the whole, I have avoided including here a number of fragments where identification as sacred laws depends entirely upon inference or restorations and/or is not backed up by definite parallels.'

I have also avoided particularly small fragments which in and of themselves did not seem to justify a full commentary.

Like my predecessors, I have not included here documents that deal explicitly with the cult of the dead and those that deal with ruler cult. The exclusion is somewhat artificial; rectifying the situation must, however, await a revision of the entire corpus.

Format

Each chapter comprises the following parts: lemma, text, translation, restorations, epigraphical commentary, and commentary.

Lemma. The lemma contains a brief description of the stone, its findspot, including, when this is possible, the archaeological context, measurements, current location of the stone, and a list of publications of the text, relevant discussions, and published photographs of the stone. Derivative editions (i.e. those not based on an autopsy) are listed in parentheses.

I have done my best to find editions and discussions of the documents included here. I may have failed to do so in more than one case. As for discussions, I have listed only relevant discussions, be they short or long. I am afraid that I have not found an ideal way to treat reviews or short notices regarding works that discuss the inscriptions in question. On the whole, they are mentioned in the lemma if they add something to the discussion by opposing a given author's point or by a reasoned endorsement of it or when the work cited cannot be considered readily available. The bulk of Part II was finished by early 2002. I have tried to incorporate works covered by the Bulletin Epigraphique for the year 1999 and SEG i X LVII (1997). Later bibliography has been cited only occasionally. This s probably most notable in such popular documents as nos. 1 and 27 which have generated a great deal of discussion.'

Works cited in the lemma are usually discussed in the appropriate place in the commentary. When this is not the case, and/or when the contents of the work cited are not immediately clear from its title, they are indicated in a footnote.

Measurements. All measurements are in meters.

Translations. Translations are mine. I must, nevertheless, stress
debt to former translations (whenever these exist). I have attempted
to make the translations literal yet readable. It may be claimed that
in some cases my translation is too similar to a former one. It should,
however, be noted that in some cases there are only so many ways to
translate a word or a phrase literally. In such cases there seemed to
be no point in attempting a different translation merely for the sake
of variation. I have used square brackets ([ ]) only occasionally in the
translations. Wholly restored words are included within square brackets, but I avoided using them in partially restored words when I found
the restoration convincing. Interpretative additions to the translations
are included in parentheses. The translations should be seen as an integral part of the commentary; they thus represent my interpretation of
the texts. It cannot be overstressed that the translations should never be used without the text.

Commentary. In most chapters, the commentary includes general remarks followed by line-by-line commentary. On the whole, I tried to concentrate on the religious aspects of the documents. Nevertheless, when the context is less familiar, I have included comments on other aspects as well. Thus, it seemed proper to comment on references to (e.g.) Rhodian tribes or the Samian calendar, whereas similar comments on (e.g.) Attic archons or demes seemed superfluous.

Date. The date is discussed in the commentary at the end of the general remarks, where it is also noted if the date is discussed elsewhere.

Bibliography. To keep the general bibliography within reasonable limits, I have usually avoided incorporating into it works, mainly books but occasionally articles, which are cited only once or twice or those which are used in a limited context only. When a work is cited more than once in a particular context, I have sometimes referred to it by ibid. or op. cit. I have, however, done so only in consecutive or adjacent footnotes, so that tracing the original reference should not be difficult.

Short notes and reviews are ordinarily not cited in the general bibliography.

Bibliographical References. Reference in the commentary is given primarily to works that are included in the lemma and to those that I have used as the basis for my arguments. I have tried to refer to works that include further bibliographical references and mostly to works that are generally accessible—but it seemed pointless to refer the reader constantly to standard works such as RE, or LIMO, which are referred to only when I relied on them myself.

I have attempted to credit works that referred me to relevant sources (ordinarily in parentheses). I do not doubt that I have failed to do so occasionally. Normally, I have not credited works in such a way when I reached my sources independently.

Epigraphical References. When reference is made to a restoration, it appears normally in square brackets (e.g. [LSCG 151 A 62]).

When the date cited for an inscription included in Sokolowski's corpus differs from the date assigned to it therein, the source for the date is commonly cited in parentheses (e.g. LSCG 15 (IG I' 7; ca. 460-450)). Standard corpora references for inscriptions included in Sokolowski's corpus are otherwise rarely cited in the text; they can be found in Concordance i below Reference to one or more later editions is usually cited in Part I for inscriptions included in LGS but not in Sokolowski's corpus.

Old Testament and Mishnaic References. All Old Testament and Mishnaic citations refer to the original texts.

In reference to the Mishnah I have, for the benefit of the uninitiated, cited both the tractate (in italics) and (in parentheses) the order, e.g. Mishnah (Qodashim) Midot 3.4.

Abbreviations. Abbreviations of works and periodicals are primarily those given in AJA 104, 2000: to-24. Otherwise, for periodicals, abbreviations are those used in L'année philologique; for authors and works, those used in the OCD3 and, if they are not mentioned there, those used in LSJ. Abbreviations of epigraphical corpora are those used in J.H.M. Strubbe (with the assistance of W. Bakker), Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum. Consolidated Index to Volumes XXXVI—XLV (1986-1995), Amsterdam, 1999, 677-688. The list of abbreviations (p. XIX) includes corpora not cited there, abbreviated differently, or cited among publications in lemmata.

Transliteration. I make no exclusive claim to consistency. Regarding names, I have tried to follow the forms used in the second and third editions of the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Otherwise, names are usually transliterated. In such cases k is used for Greek x, y for Greek v, and ch for Greek x. Greek words are, on the whole, transliterated, but I have tried to avoid discrepancies such as Hecate/Hekataion or even Dionysus Bromios. As for modern Greek diacritical marks, I have retained whatever system individual authors were using.