Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions

In antiquity, the Mediterranean region was linked by sea andland routes that facilitated the spread of religious beliefs andpractices among the civilizations of the ancient world. TheCambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions provides anintroduction to the major religions of this area and explorescurrent research regarding the similarities and differences amongthem. The period covered is from the prehistoric period to lateantiquity, that is, ca.4000 BCE to 600 CE. The first nine essays inthe volume provide an overview of the characteristics andhistorical developments of the major religions of the region,including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria-Canaan, Israel,Anatolia, Iran, Greece, Rome and early Christianity. The last fiveessays deal with key topics in current research on these religions,including violence, identity, the body, gender and visuality,taking an explicitly comparative approach and presenting recenttheoretical and methodological advances in contemporaryscholarship.