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General and specific features of historical cults in memory culture and historical reconstruction Common evidence of all religious, literary, and historical cults, regardless of time and place, is that they all develop a set of customs, which
. Dorcey 1992 P. F. Dorcey : The Cult of Silvanus: a study in Roman folk religion . New York 1992 . Dušanic 1971 S. Dušanic : Heterokliticko metalli u natpisima rudnickog novca [Eteroclitico metalli nelle iscrizioni sulle monete delle miniere
1 As Mary Beard has demonstrated, the term ‘foreign’ in relation to Roman religion does not have an ethnic connotation but is rather a social construction. While there is no doubt that the cults considered here had
inscriptions in the form I.O.M.D. 3 The Dolichenus epithet is often referred to in a different way, however, for example: Dolichenius, Dolychenus, Dolochenus, Dolicenus, Dolcenus, Dulcenus, Dolucens. To date, more than 450 inscriptions of the cult have
contact with a different way of life, as well as with cults and habits that would strongly influence changes in various aspects of public and private life. Clear evidence of these aspects can undoubtedly be found in religious life and in the way in which
The article is devoted to the analysis of the historiographical background of the category of the so-called oriental cults/oriental religions created in the 19th century and developed by Franz Cumont. We discuss the role of this term in 20th-century historiography with the focus on the works of Tadeusz Zieliński that are important to the reception of the oriental cults metaphor. We argue that the concept of oriental cults/oriental religions in its original version is not an effective or useful research tool. However, as a historiographical concept it has fulfilled its role in a threefold way: firstly, it drew scholars’ attention to the vitality of ancient religious experience, secondly, it established the fact that Roman religion was a living organism, naturally adapted to changing political, social and cultural conditions, thirdly, it helped to understand the principles behind the construction of metaphors in the academic discourse.
-Ho-Kung, an Iconography of the Lamaist Cathedral in Peking: with notes on Lamaist mythology and cult . [Publication 18 of the Sino-Swedish Expedition.] Stockholm : Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag . Lewis , Todd T . 2000 . Popular Buddhist Texts from
Summary
Secrecy was one of the major features of the so-called mystery cults that met with significant diffusion and popularity throughout the Greco-Roman world. The Roman cult of Mithras was a particular example of mysteries that took place in secret, without any public aspect.
This paper examines the ways in which the major symbolic systems of the Mithras cult, the mithraea, the scene of the tauroctony and the hierarchy of the initiatory grades, would have operated as elaborated security systems that would have contributed to the secrecy of the cult, obstructing both the physical and cognitive access of the uninitiated to their symbolic meanings.
Further, the cognitive processes that mediate the attractiveness of secret communities and forge social cohesion among members of secret groups are explored. It is argued that secrecy was a crucial aspect which would have promoted the formation of close exclusive communities of Mithraists and the development of social cohesion between the cult members.
canon. 2 This study’s objective is to analyze the use of cultic verbs in the VL Book of Daniel (Dn) in all its pluriformity, and in Jerome’s translations of the Greek additions. This Old Testament book, transmitted along with the preceding story of
The warrior queen
The cult of Hellenistic female rulers as the basis of their symbolic participation in military acts
The Hellenistic kings’ mechanism for revealing divine power leaves no conceptual doubt, which is why it is generally accepted that the military deed, with time not necessarily an authentic one, was a major and even central element forming the basis of the cult of the ruler. The question, however, arises as to the framework within which a “military deed” could be performed in the context of the changing ontological status of women, and thus of female Hellenistic rulers. It should be considered that the concept of the military deed of female rulers as the basis of Hellenistic monarchical ideology was certainly not born on the battlefield, where queens basically did not appear. However, in spite of the lack of a military basis, the fighting female ruler is present in Hellenistic ideology. This situation begs the question of whether the armed deed, as in the case of male rulers, was at all necessary to associate the queens with war. Possibly it is a case of the reverse — maybe the military deed was a consequence rather than the cause of the cult of these female rulers, since female historical figures did not change their ontological status as a result of the armed deed.
