Preliminary material /Maarten J. Vermaseren -- EINFÜHRUNG IN DIE GESCHICHTE UND NEUE PERSPEKTIVEN /CARSTEN COLPE -- RÖMISCHE RELIGION UND RELIGIÖSER UMBRUCH /H. S. VERSNEL -- KLEINASIEN HERKUNFTSLAND ORIENTALISCHER GOTTHEITEN /FRIEDRICH KARL DÖRNER -- MITHRAS IN DER RÖMERZEIT /MAARTEN J. VERMASEREN -- ISIS UND SARAPIS /LADISLAV VIDMAN -- ANDERE ÄGYPTISCHE GOTTHEITEN /GÜNTHER HÖLBL -- IUPITER DOLICHENUS /ELMAR SCHWERTHEIM -- JUPITER HELIOPOLITANUS /YOUSSEF HAJJAR -- DIE DEA SYRIA UND ANDERE SYRISCHE GOTTHEITEN IM IMPERIUM ROMANUM /HAN J. W. DRIJVERS -- KYBELE UND ATTIS /GABRIEL SANDERS -- ARTEMIS EPHESIA UND APHRODITE VON APHRODISIAS /ROBERT FLEISCHER -- DER SABAZIOS-KULT /RUDOLF FELLMANN -- MYSTERIEN (IN KULT UND RELIGION) UND PHILOSOPHIE /HEINRICH DÖRRIE -- FRÜHCHRISTLICHE RELIGION /ROELOF VAN DEN BROEK -- AUSEINANDERSETZUNG DES CHRISTENTUMS MIT DER UMWELT /BERNHARD KÖTTING -- GNOSIS /GILLES QUISPEL -- DER MANICHÄISMUS /ALEXANDER BÖHLIG -- DAS JUDENTUM /HANNELORE KÜNZL -- PAPYRI MAGICAE GRAECAE UND MAGISCHE GEMMEN /JACQUES SCHWARTZ -- THRAKISCHE UND DANUBISCHE REITERGÖTTER /MANFRED OPPERMANN -- INDEX /Maarten J. Vermaseren -- VERZEICHNIS DER IM TEXT GENANNTEN GEOGRAPHISCHEN NAMEN (KARTEN I UND II) /Maarten J. Vermaseren -- Geographische Karten I und II /Maarten J. Vermaseren -- ÉTUDES PRÉLIMINAIRES AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTALES DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN /Maarten J. Vermaseren.

Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World deals with the integration of the cult of Isis among Roman cults, the subsequent transformation of Isis and Sarapis into gods of the Roman state, and the epigraphic employment of the names of these two deities independent from their cultic context. The myth that the guardians of tradition and Roman religion tried to curb the cult of Isis in order to rid Rome and the imperium from this decadent cult will be dispelled. A closer look at inscriptions from the Rhine and Danubian provinces shows that most dedicators were not Isiac cult initiates and that women did not outnumber men as dedicators. Inscriptions that mention the two deities in connection with a wish for the well-being of the emperor and the imperial family are of special significance.

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Covering the Hellenistic and Imperial periods in both pagan polytheistic as well as Jewish monotheistic settings, this edited collection focuses on individuation in everyday religious practices across the ancient Mediterranean as identified in institutional developments and philosophical reflections on the self.

The earliest written references to the Osirian myth-complex appeared already in the Pyramid Text spells (c. 2400–2300 BCE). The most complete exposition of this ancient Egyptian myth is, however, found in the Greek treatise On Isis and Osiris, in which the 2nd-century CE Platonist Plutarch utilises Egyptian mythology to advocate his philosophical ideas concerning the divine and the nature of the cosmos. This book aims at “decoding” Plutarch’s narrative of the Osirian myth, linking his claims to the existing Egyptian and Greek parallels. It thus analyses a multitude of mythic and religious traditions from a transcultural perspective, exploring the relation of the Pharaonic features of the Osirian divinities to the features they had acquired in Ptolemaic and Roman times, interpreting the Egyptian myth within the overall framework of parallel mythologies from other cultures, and examining whether the brief mythic stories (historiolae) recited in Late Egyptian ritual texts can be deployed to enrich the context of certain obscure episodes in Plutarch’s account of the myth. The book will be of great interest not only to scholars and students of Plutarch and later Middle Platonism, but also to Egyptologists. Due to its thematic variety and scope, this publication will also appeal to a wider array of readers (specialists and non-specialists alike) interested in religious syncretism, interreligious connections, and the challenge of multiculturalism from Hellenistic times until Late Antiquity.

Preliminary Material /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Mythology and the Sethian Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --From Origin of Evil to Origin of Righteousness /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Unde Malum: From Apocalyptic Literature to Gnostic Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Archons as Seducers /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Gnostic Race /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Seth and the Child /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Salvation History /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Sacred Geography /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Sons of God or Sons of Seth? /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Echoes and Repercussions /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Elements in Hermetic Traditions /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Myths in Manichaean Garb /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Gnostic Sexual Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Bibliography /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa.