Journal Of Hellenic Religion (J. Hell. relig.)

Rasmussen, H., Rasmussen, S., Religion and Society: Rituals, Resources and Identity in the Ancient Graeco-Roman World : The BOMOS-Conferences 2002-2005, (Analecta Romana Instituti Danici Supplementum XL). Rome: Edizioni Quasar (2008). ISBN-13: 978-8871403717; 296 p. : ill., maps ; 30 cm.

Since its inauguration in 2001, the BOMOS network has embarked on a weighty project of conferences and publications exploring specific topics via interdisciplinary approaches in the field of ancient Graeco-Roman religions. The present volume under review brings together papers delivered at three conferences, organized by the BOMOS network between the years (2002-2005). Preceded by the editors’ excellent and succinct preface, the twenty-eight articles are presented in three thematic parts [i. Ritual and Cult, ii. Resources and Manpower, iii. Religion and Identity], which correspond to the three conferences respectively.

It would go beyond the scope of this review to offer a detailed synopsis of all the 28 papers collected in these three sections. On a general (and distinctly positive) note, this reviewer would like to emphasise that, for the main part, the contributions in question are concerned either with ancient evidence or with the material evidence from recent and older excavations concerning the ritual practices of Greco-Roman religion. The chapters that follow are arranged on broad thematic bases.