Blackwell Reference Online

This Companion provides a comprehensive treatment of Roman religion within its cultural, social, and historical contexts.

Written by international experts, this reference resource offers a new approach, directing its focus away from the gods and concentrating on the human-figures of Roman religion. The Companion addresses the media through which religion was experienced and shared, including epigraphy, mosaics, wall-paintings, drama, and poetry, and provides, for example, the first ever history of religious motifs on coins. Placing the various discourses and practices into a larger geographical and cultural framework, this Companion also considers the cults, gods, iconography, rituals, and texts that were exported widely throughout the empire, revealing the sprawling landscape of Roman religion. Judaism and Christianity are firmly placed within a strongly historical approach, covering the period from the eighth century bc to the fourth century ad.