Performing Christian Female Identity in Roman Alexandria
The Christian women of Roman Alexandria are something of a mystery, but they were integral to the transformation of religion.
Religious Toleration and Political Power in the Roman World
From the beginning of the Roman republic to the end of the empire, a theory of religious toleration never existed to give the people ruled by Rome a choice as to which deities and rituals they wanted to believe in.
Birth prevention before the era of modern contraception
It is generally agreed that the Gynaecology of Soranus is the most rational medical treatise on birth control in the classical literature.
Hellenism and the Shaping of the Byzantine Empire
While the role of Byzantine Hellenism on the art, literature, and society of the Empire has been the subject of tremendous study, the question of its origins has, nonetheless, rarely been raised, and the strongly Hellenic Byzantine identity seems, to a large extent, to have been taken for granted historiographically.
The Concept of God/the Gods as King in the Ancient Near East and the Bible
The first section of this paper will survey some of the texts which archeologists have found in the ancient Near Eastern world to see how men describe their gods. Because the ancient world had so many gods, because of the large number of texts and because of the complexity of trying to reproduce an accurate conceptualization of a term like “god,” there will be no attempt to present a total picture of each god, during each period, as it was seen by each different class group within the society.
The Cult of Isis and Early Christianity
There are similarities in the worship and the belief behind the Cult of Isis during the Roman era with those that are reflected in Early Christian beliefs.
Why Jesus Could Walk on the Sea but He Could Not Read and Write: Reflections on Historicity and Interpretation in Historical Jesus Research
Anyone familiar with NT scholarship will think that the title of this paper has it wrong: current scholarship is fairly unanimous that Jesus could read and write but that he probably did not walk on the water. Although some scholars are skeptical about the texts, there is multiple independent attestation from John and Luke that he could actually write and/or read.
The Resurrection of Jesus in its Jewish Context
In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus can only be understood correctly within the faith and theology about resurrection present in certain circles of his contemporary Judaism. In this paper, therefore, I am asking historical questions, questions about the meaning of Jesus
Trouble In The Kingdom: Church and State in the Fourth Century
What should be the proper relationship between organized religion and the state? If you would have asked a Greek in the second century BC or a Roman in the first century AD that question, they would undoubtedly have given you similar quizzical stares.
Livy and the Bacchanalia
Livy begins his account by claiming that the Bacchanalia had come to Rome from Etruria and Campania.9 Classical Bacchic cult was a ritual enactment of the maenads