Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Description

This book fills a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Focusing on the visual language surrounding these cults, it aims to understand how images depict mysteries in different cults: Dionysus, Mithras, Mother of the Gods, and Isiac cults. Contents Figures Notes on Contributors 1 Mystery Cults and Visual Language in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: An Introduction Part 1 Do Images Depict Mystery Cults, and If So, How? Introduction to Part 1 2 Comment figurer l’ineffable, comment lire les images ? 3 Le phallus qui cache le mystère ? Les images dionysiaques dans les décors romains : à propos d’une fresque de la Domus Transitoria 4 Échos de la Télétè dionysiaque dans la mosaïque romaine tardive Part 2 Historiography and Images of Mystery Cults Introduction to Part 2 5 ‘The Seven Grades of Mithraism’, or How to Build a Religion 6 Les mystères isiaques et leurs expressions figurées. Des exégèses modernes aux allusions antiques Part 3 Depicting Objects to Signify Mystery Cults Introduction to Part 3 7 The Liknon and the Bundle: Does the Ritual ‘Initiatory’ Object Make the Mystery? 8 The Cista, a Hallmark of Mater Magna’s Mysteries in the Roman World? Selected Bibliography Index of Ancient Authors Index of Inscriptions (in corpora) General Index