Pollution and religion in ancient Rome

Pollution could come from any number of sources in the Roman world. Bodily functions, sexual activity, bloodshed, death - any of these could cause disaster if brought into contact with religion. Its presence could invalidate sacrifices, taint religious officials, and threaten to bring down the anger...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Pollution & Religion in Ancient Rome
Main Author: Lennon, Jack J. 1985- (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
Subito Delivery Service: Order now.
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2014.
In:Year: 2014
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Roman Empire / Religion / Contamination
Further subjects:B Purity, Ritual Rome
B Rome Religion
B Pollution ; Religious aspects
B Pollution Religious aspects
B Pollution Religious aspects
B Rome ; Religion
B Rome Religion
Online Access: Review
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Print version: 9781107037908
Description
Summary:Pollution could come from any number of sources in the Roman world. Bodily functions, sexual activity, bloodshed, death - any of these could cause disaster if brought into contact with religion. Its presence could invalidate sacrifices, taint religious officials, and threaten to bring down the anger of the gods upon the city. Orators could use pollution as a means of denigrating opponents and obstructing religious procedures, and writers could emphasise the 'otherness' of barbarians by drawing attention to their different ideas about what was or was not 'dirty'. Yet despite all this, religious pollution remained a vague concept within the Latin language, and what constituted pollution could change depending on the context in which it appeared. Calling upon a range of research disciplines, this book highlights the significant role that pollution played across Roman religion, and the role it played in the construction of religious identity.
Defining pollution -- Lexical categories -- Pure and the polluted in Roman religion -- Birth, sex, and bodily margins -- Blood -- Death and remembrance -- Pollution and rhetoric -- Conclusion
Item Description:Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015)
ISBN:1139795430
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139795432