According to a rite borrowed by the Romans from the Etruscans, a pit was dug in the centre of the city, when the latter's foundations were laid, in order to make the Inferi communicate with the upper world. First fruits and other gifts were thrown into the pit, as well as a clod of the earth of the settlers' native country. Thus they restored their broken contact with the Manes of their ancestors. -from "The Nether World" Franz Cumont was one of the preeminent classical scholars of his day, and his investigations into the history of religion had a dramatic impact upon the fields of archaeology, comparative mythology, and anthropology. This 1922 volume collects the influential series of lectures he delivered at Yale University highlighting one aspect of his groundbreaking studies of Roman paganism: the Romans' view of the afterlife. Cumont discusses the Romans' attitudes about the importance of the tomb, the distinctions they made between a "shade" and a "soul," the rules of admittance to Hades and the Elysian Fields, the supernatural journeys of the dead, the ancient roots of the Romans' beliefs and practices, and much more. With solid research behind him, Cumont's reassuring erudition righted inaccuracies about Roman religion that had lingered, particularly in the writings of Christian apologists, and this continues to be a fundamental work of Roman paganism today. Belgian archaeologist and historian FRANZ-VALERY-MARIE CUMONT (1869-1947) wrote numerous books, among them Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra (1900), considered his masterwork.
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Belgian archaeologist and historian FRANZ-VALERY-MARIE CUMONT (1869-1947) wrote numerous books, among them Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra (1900), considered his masterwork.
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THE idea of death has perhaps never been more present to humanity than during the years through which we have just passed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
pagan theologians, astral immortality, subterranean kingdom, eternal house, planetary spheres Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Elysian Fields, Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Most High, Roman Republic, Greater Greece, Milky Way, Aeneis Buch, Contra Celsum, Hermes Trismeg, Julian the Apostate, Modern Greek, Persian Mazdeism, True Histories New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE idea of death has perhaps never been more present to humanity than during the years through which we have just passed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
pagan theologians, astral immortality, subterranean kingdom, eternal house, planetary spheres Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Elysian Fields, Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Most High, Roman Republic, Greater Greece, Milky Way, Aeneis Buch, Contra Celsum, Hermes Trismeg, Julian the Apostate, Modern Greek, Persian Mazdeism, True Histories New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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- Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times by Carol Zaleski in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion) by Michael Philip Penn in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Dream And The Underworld by James Hillman in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
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