Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age

Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age

Antonia Tripolitis

Language: English

Pages: 175

ISBN: 080284913X

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age is a superb introduction to the principal Western religions and their philosophical counterparts from the beginnings of Alexander the Great's empire in 331 B.C.E. to the emergence of the Christian world in the fourth century C. E. Anton?a Tripolitis, a noted scholar of Late Antiquity, examines the rise of the Hellenistic-Roman world and presents a comprehensive overview of its beliefs and practices, their socio-psychological and historical development, and the reasons for their success or failure. Her work explores Mithraism, Hellenistic Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism, and the philosophies of Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Middle Platonism. It also includes a review of the principal mystery cults, Demeter in Eleusis, Dionysus, Isis, and Cybele or Magna Mater.

Based on the most reliable and up-to-date research on the ancient world, this volume is valuable both as a general guide to ancient Western religion and as essential background reading for the study of early Christianity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

political reasons such as the Bacchanalian conspiracy that was suppressed by the Roman senate in 186 It did not matter what people believed or how they lived, as long as they stayed within the law. This meant acknowledging and paying homage to the state gods and to the emperor by participating in the state rites and ceremonies. Refusal to do so indicated disrespect for the empire and the divine powers that protected it and indifference for the welfare of the general public. The Romans 1 1 were

irreconcilable differences between the words and deeds of the superior God and those of the Creator God. 3 3 Although he did not accept the Old Testament as a Christian Scripture, Marcion considered it an important and reliable historical account of the history of mankind, and in particular of the Jewish race. Concerning the New Testament, Marcion accepted the Epistles of Paul (but not the Pastorals and Hebrews) and the Gospel of Luke. He believed that of all the apostles, only Paul understood

power to grow and to decrease. 71 When he reached the seventh sphere, Man wished to break through the bounds of their orbits and looked down into Physis, the lower nature. Nature, when it saw that Man possessed all the energy of the ruling powers, the seven planets, and the form of God, smiled at him with love. Man, in turn, saw his reflection in the lower nature or matter, became enamored of it, descended into it, and became incarnated. 72 67. Corp. herm. 1.10-11. 68. Corp. herm. 1.12-13; c f-

of a blessed afterlife through knowledge of one's origin, identity, and destiny. Old and new cults, religious philosophies, and the religions of the time — Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism — attempted to fulfill this need. There was also a strong tendency toward the belief in a single deity. This was evident in Judaism, which claimed that the national god, Yahweh, was the god of all, and in the cults, where the various divine names — Isis, Cybele, Mithras, or others — were designations of

systematization of, 5 , 1 0 4 - 1 5 , 1 4 7 ; deceitfulness, 138 worship, 96-97 Decius, 104 Christians: as atheists, 101; before Christ, 103 deiknoumena, (Origen), 109 21 Demeter cult, 3 , 1 7 - 2 1 , 27, 29 Christology, 142 Demetrius, 107 church, 96 demiurge, 15, 4 2 , 1 2 3 , 1 3 7 - 3 8 , 1 4 4 church fathers, 73 Democritus of Abdera, 39 Cicero, 21 demonology, 70n.15 Cilicia, 47 Destiny, 1 3 7 , 1 3 9 , 1 4 0 , 1 4 1 circumcision, 93 Diaspora Judaism, 3, 61-66, 85-86,145

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