Mystery cults in visual representation in Graeco-Roman antiquity / / edited by Nicole Belayche, Francesco Massa.

• Superior document: Religions in the Graeco-Roman World ; Volume 194
• TeilnehmendeR: Belayche, Nicole,; Massa, Francesco,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Religions in the Graeco-Roman world ; Volume 194.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity aims to fill a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity by focusing on images for investigating their ritual praxis. Nicole Belayche and Francesco Massa have gathered experts on visual language in order to illuminate cultic rituals renowned for both their "mysteries" and their images. This book tackles three interrelated questions. Focusing on the cult of Dionysus, it analyses whether, and how, images are used to depict mystery cults. The relationship between historiography and images of mystery cults is considered with a focus on the Mithraic and Isiac cults. Finally, turning to the cults of Dionysus and the Mother of the Gods, this work shows how depictions of specific cultic objects succeed in expressing mystery cults.

Table of Contents

Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Contributors -- 1 Mystery Cults and Visual Language in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: an Introduction -- Nicole Belayche and Francesco Massa -- part 1: Do Images Depict Mystery Cults, and If So, How? -- 2 Sub-Introduction -- 3 Comment figurer l'ineffable, comment lire les images? -- Cornelia Isler-Kerényi -- 4 Le phallus qui cache le mystère? Les images dionysiaques dans les décors romains: à propos d'une fresque de la Domus Transitoria -- Stéphanie Wyler -- 5 Échos de la Télétè dionysiaque dans la mosaïque romaine tardive -- Janine Balty -- part 2: Historiography and Images of Mystery Cults -- 6 Sub-Introduction -- 7 'The Seven Grades of Mithraism', or How to Build a Religion -- Philippa Adrych -- 8 Les mystères isiaques et leurs expressions figurées. Des exégèses modernes aux allusions antiques -- Richard Veymiers -- part 3: Depicting Objects to Signify Mystery Cults -- 9 Sub-Introduction -- 10 The Liknon and the Bundle: Does the Ritual 'Initiatory' Object Make the Mystery? -- Anne-Françoise Jaccottet -- 11 The Cista, a Hallmark of Mater Magna's Mysteries in the Roman World? -- Françoise Van Haeperen -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.