Customer Reviews

Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although this book was written in the early twentieth century, the information it provides is invaluable for any scholar of Roman religion. The text is a superb overview of the material that was available when Cumont wrote and provides an excellent starting point for any exploration into the influence of the Oriental cults on Roman paganism. Scholars of early Christianity will find the text particularly helpful in establishing the context in which the earliest Christian texts were written.

I only get to provide one rating for this book, which is a problem because the book itself is very good--5 stars--but the edition which Amazon sent me is abysmal--one star. Perhaps unfairly I've chosen to rate it based on the edition, but it's such a bad edition that it gets in the way of the substance of the book. The book is put out by something called "Filiquarian Publishing". The "book" is more like a typed manuscript that has been bound at the local Kinko's: 8.5x11 pages, unformatted, light grey Courier type, something that's pretty hard on these middle-aged eyes. Actually it appears that it was printed by Amazon a couple of days after I made my order--according to the back page, it was "Made in USA, Lexington KY, 17 August 2010". When I received it I thought that this was unfortunate but unavoidable because it's an old book, maybe out of print, the only way to get a copy of it, etc. But now I see Amazon is offering a different edition by a different publisher (Forgotten Books) which may be a reprint; in any event the type looks better--provided Amazon actually sends that edition, because often the edition which is featured in "Look Inside" is not the one they'll send.

So buyer beware, not just for this book but others put out by Filiquarian, which I understand have the same issue: apparently they scan books and print the unformatted raw text rather than arrange for reprints. If it's absolutely the only way to get a book, fine, but shop around first.