Books by Andreas Bendlin
Axt und Altar: Kult und Ritual als Schlüssel zur römischen Kultur [Ausstellung in: Hannover, Kestner-Museum 29.11.2001 - 03.03.2002; Augsburg, Römisches Museum, 22.08.2002 - 10.11.2002], 2001
Ph.D. Thesis by Andreas Bendlin
D.Phil. Thesis, Faculty of Literae Humaniores, University of Oxford, 1998
This thesis studies th... more D.Phil. Thesis, Faculty of Literae Humaniores, University of Oxford, 1998
This thesis studies the religious system of the city of Rome and its immediate hinterland from the end of the Second Punic War to the emergence of autocratic rule shortly before the turn of the millennium.
The Romans lacked a separate word for "religion". Scholars therefore hold that modern notions of religion, due to their Christianizing assumptions, cannot be applied to Roman religion, which consisted in public and social religious observance rather than in individual spirituality. The first chapter argues that Roman religion can be conceptualized as a system of social religious behaviour and individual motivational processes. A comparative definition of "religion", which transcends Christianizing assumptions, is proposed to support this argument.
In chapter two, modern interpretations of Roman religion, which view Republican religion as a "closed system" in which religion is undifferentiated from politics and from public life, are criticized. It is argued that these interpretations start from unwarranted preconceptions concerning the interrelation of religion and society. Instead, I suggest that we should apply the model of an "open system": the religious system at Rome was interrelated with its environment, but at the same time it could be conceptualized as being differentiated from other realms of social activity at Rome.
Chapter three refutes the view that the identity of religion at Rome can be described by models of political or cultural identity. Instead, religious communication in Late Republican Rome was characterized by contextual rather than by substantive meanings. The fluidity of religious meaning in Late Republican Rome, a metropolis of nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, implies that normative definitions of the constituents of Roman religion fail to convince. In relation to coloniae and municipia it is attempted to show that the religious system of Rome, a local religion geared to the physical city and its immediate hinterland, was not capable of becoming a universal religion.
In the fourth chapter, the parameters organizing Roman religion are discussed. My thesis is that Roman religion in the Late Republic was decentralized in that religious authority was diffused and religious responsibilities were divided. In the city of Rome, there existed a market of religious alternatives, which was characterized by the compatibility of different deities and cults in a polytheistic
context.
Collections in Journals by Andreas Bendlin
A. Bendlin, M. Haase (eds.), Forschungsbericht Römische Religion (2009-2011), Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 14 (2013), 239-363, Sep 2013
The most recent survey of publications in the field of Roman religion, covering Rome and Italy (i... more The most recent survey of publications in the field of Roman religion, covering Rome and Italy (including Etruria) and the provinces of the Roman Empire. The survey also includes general sections on methodology, Latin epigraphy, and early Christianity.
Forschungsbericht Römische Religion (2006-2008), 2009
Forschungsbericht Römische Religion (2003-2005), 2007
Wie sein Vorgänger (ARG 2, 2000, 283-345) will auch der zweite Forschungsbericht Römische Religio... more Wie sein Vorgänger (ARG 2, 2000, 283-345) will auch der zweite Forschungsbericht Römische Religion eine Übersicht über die wichtigen monographischen Veröffentlichungen des Berichtszeitraums mit Rezensionen einzelner, ausgewählter Werke verbinden. Ein zeitlich in den vorhergegangenen Berichtszeitramri zurückgreifender Abschnitt zur etruskischen Religion wurde neu hinzugenommen. Zeitscliriftenbeiträge werden auch in diesem Forschungsbericht lediglich bei Bedarf und ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit erwähnt. Die Entscheidung, den Berichtszeitraum auf die Jahre 1999-2002 festzusetzen, führt in wenigen Ausnahmen zu einer geringfügigen Überlappung mit dem ersten Forschungsbericht. Wir haben uns erneut dafür entschieden, Überschneidungen und unterschiedliche Meinungen in den verschiedenen Abschnitten redaktionell nicht zu vereinheitlichen. Für den nächsten Bericht bitten wir wiederum um Mitteilung oder Zusendung einschlägiger Arbeiten an die Redaktion: Universität Erfurt, Vergleichende Religionswissenschaft, Nordhäuser Strosse 63+ D-99089 Erfurt. Von dort werden die Rezensionsexemplare an die zuständigen Bearbeiter(innen) weitergeleitet. Wir danken für die gewährte Unterstützung.
Papers by Andreas Bendlin
Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2019
The rediscovery in the summer of 2017 of a large monumental tomb of unusual form outside the Stab... more The rediscovery in the summer of 2017 of a large monumental tomb of unusual form outside the Stabian Gate at Pompeii caused an immediate sensation, and the swift initial publication by M. Osanna in JRA 31 (2018) of the long funerary inscription fronting the W side of the base, facing the road, has been welcomed gratefully by the scholarly community. The text — at 183 words, by far the longest funerary inscription yet found at Pompeii — records a series of extraordinary benefactions by an unnamed local worthy, beginning with a banquet held on the occasion of his coming-of-age ceremony and continuing, it seems, well into his adult life, up to the final years of the town when the monument was built. As Osanna and others have recognized, the inscription, which seems to allude to an historical event (Tac., Ann. 14.17), the riot between Nucerians and Pompeians around Pompeii’s amphitheater in A.D. 59, provides valuable if ambivalent new information relevant to the demographic, economic an...
in M. Gibbs, M. Nicolic, and P. Ripat (eds.), Themes in Roman society and culture: an introduction to ancient Rome, 2nd ed. (OUP Canada 2021), 246-276, 2021
Second, expanded and updated edition of a chapter on religion at Rome (rather than on "Roman reli... more Second, expanded and updated edition of a chapter on religion at Rome (rather than on "Roman religion", which, I argue, fails to capture the realities of religion in the ground), written - per the edited volume's aims and purposes - to provide an accessible introduction to religious life in the city of Rome and highlight some of the scholarly controversies in the field.
If you would like to receive a PDF of the whole chapter, feel free to send me an email.
J. Dijkstra, C. Raschle (eds.), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 2020
Histories of religion in the Roman Mediterranean are routinely informed by the idea that the empi... more Histories of religion in the Roman Mediterranean are routinely informed by the idea that the empire before the mid-third century CE was a space of consensual cohabitation of deities and cults: if violence occurred, it was motivated by predominantly non-religious considerations; if religious causes played a role, they were exceptional. Religious violence emerged only in later Antiquity. Critiquing that narrative, this paper starts from the insight that the notion of religious violence misapprehends the relation of violence and religion, which is always contingent. Until they are disaggregated, we continue to misconstrue how the religious domain can be appropriated in support of violence–before and after the mid-third century.
A corollary problem is the scholarly focus on physical violence in an effort to identify religious violence. We must acknowledge the existence of different forms of violence: physical, structural and cultural. By paying attention to these different forms, I show that Jewish diasporas in Flavian Rome and Puteoli were exposed to sustained levels of violence, and that the social actors related violence in part to religion. Violence against the Jews of Roman Italy did not occur in a socio-historical vacuum, however. It was one specific manifestation of systemic violence, which other diasporic groups, their religious practices and deities also experienced.
W.E. Arnal, R.S. Ascough, R.A. Derrenbacker Jr. & P.A. Harland (eds), Scribal Practices and Social Structures among Jesus Adherents. Essays in Honour of John S. Kloppenborg, 2016
My aim in this essay is to elucidate the meaning of the phrase collegia sodalicia, which occurs o... more My aim in this essay is to elucidate the meaning of the phrase collegia sodalicia, which occurs only in Digests 47.22.1 pr. (= Marcian F 73a Lenel), the introductory section of the Digests’ title De collegiis et corporibus (47.22).
In the first part of this essay, I outline some salient features of Marcian F 73a and briefly contextualize Marcian’s Institutes, the work of late Severan date from which Justinian’s compilers excerpted Digests 47.22.1 pr.-1.2.
In the second part, I demonstrate that the purported “sodalician associations” of Digests 47.22.1 pr. never existed. That phrase originated from a textual misunderstanding, which one can trace already in the Digests, if not before. I propose that Marcian wrote collegia sodaliciaue, “collegia or sodalicia”. I then segue to some of the implications my reinterpretation of Marcian F 73a holds for the study of associations in the Roman world.
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World), Sep 2013
Themes in Roman society and culture: an introduction to ancient Rome, 2014
A chapter on religion at Rome (rather than on "Roman religion"), written - per the volume's aims ... more A chapter on religion at Rome (rather than on "Roman religion"), written - per the volume's aims and purposes - to provide an accessible introduction to religious life in the city of Rome and to highlight some of the scholarly controversies in the field.
The Religious History of the Roman Empire: Pagans, …, 2011
Römische Religion im historischen Wandel: Diskursentwicklung von Plautus bis Ovid (2009), 2009
A Companion to Greek Religion, Jan 1, 2007
Trivium. Revue franco-allemande de sciences …, 2009
1. Religion et religiosité vers 1900En 1907, le professeur strasbourgeois de philologie classique... more 1. Religion et religiosité vers 1900En 1907, le professeur strasbourgeois de philologie classique, Richard Reitzenstein, prononce un discours à la Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität de Strasbourg à l'occasion de l'anniversaire de l'empereur allemand. L'intéressé est présent. ...
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Books by Andreas Bendlin
Ph.D. Thesis by Andreas Bendlin
This thesis studies the religious system of the city of Rome and its immediate hinterland from the end of the Second Punic War to the emergence of autocratic rule shortly before the turn of the millennium.
The Romans lacked a separate word for "religion". Scholars therefore hold that modern notions of religion, due to their Christianizing assumptions, cannot be applied to Roman religion, which consisted in public and social religious observance rather than in individual spirituality. The first chapter argues that Roman religion can be conceptualized as a system of social religious behaviour and individual motivational processes. A comparative definition of "religion", which transcends Christianizing assumptions, is proposed to support this argument.
In chapter two, modern interpretations of Roman religion, which view Republican religion as a "closed system" in which religion is undifferentiated from politics and from public life, are criticized. It is argued that these interpretations start from unwarranted preconceptions concerning the interrelation of religion and society. Instead, I suggest that we should apply the model of an "open system": the religious system at Rome was interrelated with its environment, but at the same time it could be conceptualized as being differentiated from other realms of social activity at Rome.
Chapter three refutes the view that the identity of religion at Rome can be described by models of political or cultural identity. Instead, religious communication in Late Republican Rome was characterized by contextual rather than by substantive meanings. The fluidity of religious meaning in Late Republican Rome, a metropolis of nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, implies that normative definitions of the constituents of Roman religion fail to convince. In relation to coloniae and municipia it is attempted to show that the religious system of Rome, a local religion geared to the physical city and its immediate hinterland, was not capable of becoming a universal religion.
In the fourth chapter, the parameters organizing Roman religion are discussed. My thesis is that Roman religion in the Late Republic was decentralized in that religious authority was diffused and religious responsibilities were divided. In the city of Rome, there existed a market of religious alternatives, which was characterized by the compatibility of different deities and cults in a polytheistic
context.
Collections in Journals by Andreas Bendlin
Papers by Andreas Bendlin
If you would like to receive a PDF of the whole chapter, feel free to send me an email.
A corollary problem is the scholarly focus on physical violence in an effort to identify religious violence. We must acknowledge the existence of different forms of violence: physical, structural and cultural. By paying attention to these different forms, I show that Jewish diasporas in Flavian Rome and Puteoli were exposed to sustained levels of violence, and that the social actors related violence in part to religion. Violence against the Jews of Roman Italy did not occur in a socio-historical vacuum, however. It was one specific manifestation of systemic violence, which other diasporic groups, their religious practices and deities also experienced.
In the first part of this essay, I outline some salient features of Marcian F 73a and briefly contextualize Marcian’s Institutes, the work of late Severan date from which Justinian’s compilers excerpted Digests 47.22.1 pr.-1.2.
In the second part, I demonstrate that the purported “sodalician associations” of Digests 47.22.1 pr. never existed. That phrase originated from a textual misunderstanding, which one can trace already in the Digests, if not before. I propose that Marcian wrote collegia sodaliciaue, “collegia or sodalicia”. I then segue to some of the implications my reinterpretation of Marcian F 73a holds for the study of associations in the Roman world.
For the edition of the text, enter "Bendlin" in the publication field in http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epigraphik_en.""
This thesis studies the religious system of the city of Rome and its immediate hinterland from the end of the Second Punic War to the emergence of autocratic rule shortly before the turn of the millennium.
The Romans lacked a separate word for "religion". Scholars therefore hold that modern notions of religion, due to their Christianizing assumptions, cannot be applied to Roman religion, which consisted in public and social religious observance rather than in individual spirituality. The first chapter argues that Roman religion can be conceptualized as a system of social religious behaviour and individual motivational processes. A comparative definition of "religion", which transcends Christianizing assumptions, is proposed to support this argument.
In chapter two, modern interpretations of Roman religion, which view Republican religion as a "closed system" in which religion is undifferentiated from politics and from public life, are criticized. It is argued that these interpretations start from unwarranted preconceptions concerning the interrelation of religion and society. Instead, I suggest that we should apply the model of an "open system": the religious system at Rome was interrelated with its environment, but at the same time it could be conceptualized as being differentiated from other realms of social activity at Rome.
Chapter three refutes the view that the identity of religion at Rome can be described by models of political or cultural identity. Instead, religious communication in Late Republican Rome was characterized by contextual rather than by substantive meanings. The fluidity of religious meaning in Late Republican Rome, a metropolis of nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, implies that normative definitions of the constituents of Roman religion fail to convince. In relation to coloniae and municipia it is attempted to show that the religious system of Rome, a local religion geared to the physical city and its immediate hinterland, was not capable of becoming a universal religion.
In the fourth chapter, the parameters organizing Roman religion are discussed. My thesis is that Roman religion in the Late Republic was decentralized in that religious authority was diffused and religious responsibilities were divided. In the city of Rome, there existed a market of religious alternatives, which was characterized by the compatibility of different deities and cults in a polytheistic
context.
If you would like to receive a PDF of the whole chapter, feel free to send me an email.
A corollary problem is the scholarly focus on physical violence in an effort to identify religious violence. We must acknowledge the existence of different forms of violence: physical, structural and cultural. By paying attention to these different forms, I show that Jewish diasporas in Flavian Rome and Puteoli were exposed to sustained levels of violence, and that the social actors related violence in part to religion. Violence against the Jews of Roman Italy did not occur in a socio-historical vacuum, however. It was one specific manifestation of systemic violence, which other diasporic groups, their religious practices and deities also experienced.
In the first part of this essay, I outline some salient features of Marcian F 73a and briefly contextualize Marcian’s Institutes, the work of late Severan date from which Justinian’s compilers excerpted Digests 47.22.1 pr.-1.2.
In the second part, I demonstrate that the purported “sodalician associations” of Digests 47.22.1 pr. never existed. That phrase originated from a textual misunderstanding, which one can trace already in the Digests, if not before. I propose that Marcian wrote collegia sodaliciaue, “collegia or sodalicia”. I then segue to some of the implications my reinterpretation of Marcian F 73a holds for the study of associations in the Roman world.
For the edition of the text, enter "Bendlin" in the publication field in http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epigraphik_en.""
mobility, migration, and the religion of migrants in the city of Rome,
Berlin, July 5, 2016
http://medien.cedis.fu-berlin.de/topoi/migration_2016/05_07_2016_andreas_bendlin.mp4
0'00' - 8'44'' Introduction (Rainer Kampling, Katholische Theologie, FU Berlin)
8'46'' - 62'20'' Talk
62'25'' Discussion