In this newly updated second edition of the Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, George D. Chryssides traces the rise and development of new religious movements throughout the world. An ...updated introduction summarizes the phenomenon of new religious movements and lays out the changes to the dictionary since the 2001 edition, while the main body of the dictionary consists of close to 600 cross-referenced entries on key figures, ideas, themes, and places related to various new religious movements. An index organizes the information in the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography leads the researcher to further sources.
In this paper I study the so-called Sixteen women who were in charge of the cults of Dionysus in Elis and of Hera in Olympia. The nomenclature of the association, its hierarchical organisation and ...its activities are analysed. There are reflections on the leadership capacity of a group of women in late antiquity and on the fact that the Sixteen could serve both Hera and Dionysus simultaneously. KEYWORDS: Sixteen women of Elis, Dionysus, Hera, civic cults.
The Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements is the first comprehensive reference work to explore major new religious actors and trajectories of the East Asian region (China/Taiwan, Korea, ...Japan, and Vietnam).
Al corroborar las informaciones proporcionadas por las fuentes documentales coloniales, se identificaron en distintas regiones del altiplano centro-sur andino (Bolivia) una cuantiosa cantidad de ...espacios ceremoniales vinculados con los antiguos cultos a los wak’a tutelares. Ubicados sobre las cimas de cerros no muy elevados y cercanos a los poblados, estos se distinguen por presentar un número variable de muros en piedra dispuestos de manera concéntrica. Aunque la cronología de estos sitios se remonta a la época prehispánica, la mayoría de ellos se mantuvo vigente en el tiempo largo. Articulando nuevos datos arqueológicos con informaciones históricas y etnográficas, en este trabajo se presentan y se analizan diversos aspectos de estos sitios ceremoniales del altiplano andino.
This paper explores the nature of the initiatory experience in ancient mystery cults by focusing on the physiological sensations experienced during the initiation rites, and their possible influence ...on the mental and emotional states of the initiates. Existing research often tends to focus on the centrality of the secret doctrinal knowledge transmitted in the initiatory process. However, ancient sources, from the Classical to Imperial Roman period, imply that the essence of this process was embodied in the eye-opening experiences of the initiates, which involved many sensorial elements. For instance, Aristotle claims that those who are initiated into the mysteries do not learn anything, but rather have an experience and are put in a certain state of mind (Fr.15); Lucian emphasizes the importance of dancing in the mysteries in stating that despite their secret nature, initiation rites are commonly described in public as “dancing the mysteria” (salt.15); Aristides Quintilianus asserts that the goal of the initiatory process is to be purified from depression and anxiety through the melodies and dances of the rites (3.25). Other sources mark the importance of different elements such as darkness and light, certain smells and scents, fasts, feasts, and visual and physical interactions with material objects. The objective of my paper is twofold: 1) To offer a brief observation of the varied functions of the senses in the initiatory experience, and 2) To begin integration of the ancient evidence with methods and results provided by studies from other disciplines – especially neuroscience and cognitive science. As I wish to demonstrate, this interdisciplinary approach may illuminate significant aspects of the initiatory experience and explain some of the ways in which sensorial elements experienced by the initiates might have influenced their mind and mental states, beliefs and memory.
While Greek supplications have been analysed in many ways, in texts or images, Roman supplications remain imperfectly known. This is due to their versatility and, to some extent, their banality. ...Often determined by the social status of the supplicants, they take place in various contexts (cults, politics, trials, armies), which should be observed one by one, in order to see what belongs to simple prayer and what belongs to supplication, in its sometimes dramatic forms. This dossier aims to study the fate of supplications during the Early Empire.
Alors que les supplications grecques ont été analysées de plusieurs manières, dans les textes ou les images, les supplications romaines restent imparfaitement connues. C’est lié à leur polyvalence et, dans une certaine mesure, à leur banalité. Souvent déterminées par le statut social des suppliants, elles prennent place dans divers contextes (cultuel, politique, judiciaire, militaire), qu’il convient d’observer un à un, ne serait-ce que pour tenter de voir ce qui relève de la simple prière et ce qui appartient à la supplication proprement dite, dans ses formes parfois dramatiques. Ce dossier a l’ambition d’étudier le devenir des suppliques sous le Haut-Empire.
Rey Sarah. Introduction. In: Ktèma : civilisations de l'Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome antiques, N°46, 2021. La communication dans l’Empire romain tardif (IIIe-VIIe siècle) Problèmes linguistiques et interprétatifs. pp. 171-180.
This book fills a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Focusing on the visual language surrounding these cults, it aims to understand how images depict mysteries in different ...cults: Dionysus, Mithras, Mother of the Gods, and Isiac cults.
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