Book Review: Religion in the Roman Empire

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Review by Benedetta Bessi, John Cabot University)

James B. Rives, Religion in the Roman Empire. Blackwell Ancient Religions, 2. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Pp. 237.

The Table of Contents indicates that there is an Egyptian section within Chapter 2, Regional Religious Traditions of the Empire:

Chapter Two, "Regional Religious Traditions of the Empire", contains a quick survey of the religious practices in the various areas of the Roman Empire (Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Italy). For each of them the author first briefly presents the historical events which led them into the Romans' sphere of influence and then describes the peculiarities of local divinities and their cult. A summarizing paragraph reflects on the dynamic tensions between uniformity and diversity, particularization and generalization, continuity and change which were so important in shaping the religious phenomenon in the Greco-Roman world.

See the above page for the full review.