Household and Family Religion in Antiquity

John Bodel is Professor of Classics and History at Brown University. He writes about Roman social and cultural history, Latin epigraphy, and Latin literature of the Empire. His books include Roman Brick Stamps in the Kelsey Museum (1983), Graveyards and Groves: A Study of the Lex Lucerina (1994), Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (editor, 2001), and Dediche sacre nel mondo greco-romano: Diffusione, funzioni, tipologie (edited with Mika Kajava, 2008).Saul M. Olyan is Samuel Ungerleider Jr. Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University. He is the author of Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel (1988), A Thousand Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient Judaism (1993), Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult (2000), Biblical Mourning: Ritual and Social Dimensions (2004), and Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences (2008).

"While studies on the purpose and place of religion in ancient family life have been a topic of scholarly interest for some decades, this book is unique in both the scope of the papers presented and the underlying theoretical approaeh by which they are linked." (Journal of World History, December 2009)"The volume stands as a splendid landmark in opening up comparative discussion about family and domestic religion in the ancient world, and does so with an admirably wide-reaching geographical and chronological scope" (New England Classics Journal, August 2009)"This volume will find its place on the bookshelf of anyone looking for an authoritative treatment of religion and society in Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity." (The Classical Journal, August 2009)"As a collection of essays that provides insightful consideration of family or household religious life in many Near Eastern and classical cultures, it has the added benefit of offering a comparative perspective." (Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Spring 2009)"[I would] recommend the book as a worthy addition to the field of ancient religious studies and a good read for those interested in the subject." (Scholia Reviews, 2009)"The methodology of the volume is thus simultaneously contextual and comparative. An introductory essay provides a theorization of 'family,' 'household,' and 'religion' as analytical and comparative categories. A conclusion, written by the editors, offers comparative perspectives and suggests directions for future research. The individual essays provide excellent introductions to family religion in various historical periods, and would work well as introductory readings in undergraduate and graduate courses.... Recommended." (CHOICE)"[The book] offers a counterpart to text-based religion - which equates to civic, public, state religion - by analysing religious rituals, locations and objects in setting governed more by collective memory than by rules." (The Times Literary Supplement, August 2008)

• List of Figures vii Notes on Contributors xSeries Editor's Preface xiiiAcknowledgments xvMap xvi1 Introduction 1John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan2 Theorizing the Religion of Ancient Households and Families 5Stanley K. Stowers3 Family Religion in Second Millennium West Asia (Mesopotamia, Emar, Nuzi) 20Karel van der Toorn4 The Integration of Household and Community Religion in Ancient Syria 37Daniel E. Fleming5 Family, Household, and Local Religion at Late Bronze Age Ugarit 60Theodore J. Lewis6 Family Religion in Ancient Israel and its Surroundings 89Rainer Albertz7 Family Religion in Israel and the Wider Levant of the First Millennium bce 113Saul M. Olyan8 Household Religion, Family Religion, and Women's Religion in Ancient Israel 127Susan Ackerman9 Ashdod and the Material Remains of Domestic Cults in the Philistine Coastal Plain 159Rüdiger Schmitt10 Household Religion in Ancient Egypt 171Robert K. Ritner11 Household and Domestic Religion in Ancient Egypt 197Barbara S. Lesko12 Household Religion in Ancient Greece 210Christopher A. Faraone13 Family Matters: Domestic Religion in Classical Greece 229Deborah Boedeker14 Cicero's Minerva, Penates, and the Mother of the Lares: An Outline of Roman Domestic Religion 248John Bodel15 Comparative Perspectives 276John Bodel and Saul M. OlyanBibliography 283Index 314