Votive Body Parts in Greek and Roman Religion (Cambridge Classical Studies)
Cambridge University Press, 8/19/2021
EAN 9781316610428, ISBN10: 131661042X
Paperback, 234 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
This book examines a type of object that was widespread and very popular in classical antiquity - votive offerings in the shape of parts of the human body. It collects examples from four principal areas and time periods: Classical Greece, pre-Roman Italy, Roman Gaul and Roman Asia Minor. It uses a compare-and-contrast methodology to highlight differences between these sets of votives, exploring the implications for our understandings of how beliefs about the body changed across classical antiquity. The book also looks at how far these ancient beliefs overlap with, or differ from, modern ideas about the body and its physical and conceptual boundaries. Central themes of the book include illness and healing, bodily fragmentation, human-animal hybridity, transmission and reception of traditions, and the mechanics of personal transformation in religious rituals.
1. Introduction
fragments of history
2. Fragmentation as metaphor
anatomical votives in Classical Greece, fifth-fourth centuries BC
3. Under the skin
anatomical votives in Republican Italy, fourth-first centuries BC
4. The anxiety of influence
anatomical votives in Roman Gaul, first century BC-first century AD
5. Punishing bodies
the Lydian and Phrygian 'propitiatory' stelai, second-third centuries AD
Afterword
revisiting fragmentation.