Household and Family Religion in Antiquity

The first book to explore the religious dimensions of the family and the household in ancient Mediterranean and West Asian antiquity. Advances our understanding of household and familial religion, as opposed to state-sponsored or civic temple cults Reconstructs domestic and family religious practices in Egypt, Greece, Rome, Israel, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Emar, and Philistia Explores many household rituals, such as providing for ancestral spirits, and petitioning of a household's patron deities or of spirits associated with the house itself Examines lifecycle rituals – from pregnancy and birth to maturity, old age, death, and beyond Looks at religious practices relating to the household both within the home itself and other spaces, such as at extramural tombs and local sanctuaries

List of Figures vii Notes on Contributors x Series Editor's Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv Map xvi 1 Introduction 1 John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan 2 Theorizing the Religion of Ancient Households and Families 5 Stanley K. Stowers 3 Family Religion in Second Millennium West Asia (Mesopotamia, Emar, Nuzi) 20 Karel van der Toorn 4 The Integration of Household and Community Religion in Ancient Syria 37 Daniel E. Fleming 5 Family, Household, and Local Religion at Late Bronze Age Ugarit 60 Theodore J. Lewis 6 Family Religion in Ancient Israel and its Surroundings 89 Rainer Albertz 7 Family Religion in Israel and the Wider Levant of the First Millennium bce 113 Saul M. Olyan 8 Household Religion, Family Religion, and Women's Religion in Ancient Israel 127 Susan Ackerman 9 Ashdod and the Material Remains of Domestic Cults in the Philistine Coastal Plain 159 Rüdiger Schmitt 10 Household Religion in Ancient Egypt 171 Robert K. Ritner 11 Household and Domestic Religion in Ancient Egypt 197 Barbara S. Lesko 12 Household Religion in Ancient Greece 210 Christopher A. Faraone 13 Family Matters: Domestic Religion in Classical Greece 229 Deborah Boedeker 14 Cicero's Minerva, Penates, and the Mother of the Lares: An Outline of Roman Domestic Religion 248 John Bodel 15 Comparative Perspectives 276 John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan Bibliography 283 Index 314