Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Nicole Belayche is professor emerita at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, PSL (Paris). Her research interests include pagan cults in the Roman Empire and analysis of rituals in the context of interactions, and she has recently co-edited Puissances divines à l’épreuve du comparatisme (2017).Francesco Massa, Ph.D., is assistant professor at the University of Fribourg. He is specialised in religious interactions in the Roman Empire, and is the author of Tra la vigna e la croce. Dioniso nei discorsi letterari e figurativi cristiani (2014).

"In conclusione, sono molti gli interrogativi e gli stimoli che il volume di Belayche e Massa offre sul linguaggio visuale che ruota intorno ai misteri. Il volume è molto ben curato editorialmente, pochissime le sviste e buono l’apparato iconografico (...). La sfida nel rintracciare testimonianze visuali sui misteri ovviamente prosegue, ma questa raccolta costituisce di certo un utile punto di partenza." - Margherita Facella, Università di Pisa, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2021.10.29

• ContentsList of IllustrationsList of Contributors1 Mystery Cults and Visual Language in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: an IntroductionNicole Belayche and Francesco Massapart 1: Do Images Depict Mystery Cults, and If So, How?2 Sub-Introduction3 Comment figurer l’ineffable, comment lire les images ?Cornelia Isler-Kerényi4 Le phallus qui cache le mystère ? Les images dionysiaques dans les décors romains : à propos d’une fresque de la Domus TransitoriaStéphanie Wyler5 Échos de la Télétè dionysiaque dans la mosaïque romaine tardiveJanine Baltypart 2: Historiography and Images of Mystery Cults6 Sub-Introduction7 ‘The Seven Grades of Mithraism’, or How to Build a ReligionPhilippa Adrych8 Les mystères isiaques et leurs expressions figurées. Des exégèses modernes aux allusions antiquesRichard Veymierspart 3: Depicting Objects to Signify Mystery Cults9 Sub-Introduction10 The Liknon and the Bundle: Does the Ritual ‘Initiatory’ Object Make the Mystery?Anne-Françoise Jaccottet11 The Cista, a Hallmark of Mater Magna’s Mysteries in the Roman World?Françoise Van HaeperenSelected BibliographyIndex