The present volume derives from two panels (‘Memory and Religion in the Greek World’ and ‘Religious Experience in Sanctuaries in the Roman World’) which formed part of a larger conference dedicated to ‘Religion in the History of European Culture’. In the spirit of this wider context, the editors call on us not to acquiesce in reducing ancient religion to ‘gods, temples, priesthoods, and the rituals performed within this framework’ (p. 7) but, rather, to broaden our perspective to include the emotional and cognitive dimension of ancient religion in order to integrate the study of Greek and Roman religion into a broader, comparative framework of interpretation. Here memory and experience take centre stage as categories through which to approach this dimension and, relatedly, to chart the ways in which individuals and their communities interacted in religious contexts.

Mirroring the two conference panels, the volume is split into two halves, each with a short introduction. It is regrettable that the introductory chapters are so brief, constituting a mere handful of pages in total, and deal with fundamental questions in a cursory, and not always clear, way (for example, the suggestion that religion should be regarded as ‘a cultural product’ [p. 7] would certainly require further elaboration to be helpful). One is left with the feeling that much more could have been done by way of reflecting on these categories themselves, the ways they relate to and may depend on one another, and on the different ways we might profitably understand and apply them (indeed, different authors in this volume adopt very different approaches to thinking about religious experience as a heuristic category). In C.'s introduction to ‘Memory and Religion in the Greek world’, for example, the focus on the relation between individual and society (emphasised in the main introduction and prominent in several of the contributions in this section) is left aside in favour of outlining the more familiar concept of cultural memory as a ‘reconstructive’ way of reorganising the past to reflect, shape and advertise communal identity in the present (cf., e.g., B. Kowalzig, Singing for the Gods [2007]). The chapters vary in quality, ranging from the thought-provoking, rigorous and insightful to more limited, narrative discussions, which engage only minimally with recent scholarship and theory. None the less, the volume has much to offer and the stronger contributions certainly demonstrate the promise and potential of pursuing and, importantly, broadening the scope of these burgeoning lines of enquiry in the field of ancient religion.

I offer in what follows a brief outline of the different contributions. In a dense but extremely rich and rewarding chapter, C. takes an in-depth look at the story of Glaucus as told by the Spartan Leotychidas in Herodotus' Histories. The discussion ranges widely, with texts subjected to close structural and textual scrutiny. C. explores through the lens of the oath the significance of memory and oblivion for thinking about social relationships, the distinctions between men and gods and the involvement of the latter in human affairs in a Greek context. The insights offered are numerous, and while some of C.'s inferences can seem rushed and may not persuade every reader, this article deserves as close a scrutiny as C. demonstrates that these Herodotean passages demand.

Solima offers some preliminary reflections on the intricate relationship between memory and religion instantiated by the cults and sanctuaries of Artemis in the Peloponnese. She presents a number of examples where cults, rites or particular eponyms of the gods are tied into, and so perpetuate, the mythical or political memory of the city, in turn legitimising the cults themselves. Greater attention might profitably have been given to the sources, almost exclusively Pausanias, in which these rituals and cult aetia are discussed. If memory is constantly up for renegotiation, what role does Pausanias play in shaping our picture of these issues and what influenced his decision to present them as he did?

Also turning to Pausanias' Periêgêsis and to Messene, Bonanno explores what made the Messenians a ‘paradigmatic example of “good practice” regarding memory’ (p. 64) and the significance of this for Pausanias' project as a whole. In an insightful and engaging chapter, Bonanno contrasts two stories of sacred memory forgotten and regained: the burial and recovery of the teletê of the Andanian Mysteries as described by Pausanias and the retrieval of the Book of the Law in the reign of Josiah, recorded in 2 Kings. She explores the very different outcomes of the distinctive ritual re-writes which follow on from each of these rediscoveries, picking up the themes of intention and responsibility prominent in C.'s contribution.

Chiai begins from Dionysius' observation that it is the aim of historians ‘to preserve and divulge local history’ (p. 81) and offers a wide-ranging survey of well-known epigraphic texts which show cities and sanctuaries actively engaged in the same practice. By thus recording and publicising their sacred histories, cities and cults were able, inter alia, to construct their own identity and affirm their credentials, both as part of the old guard and as divinely favoured, in relation to other poleis or sanctuaries.

With Motta's contribution we come to Late Antiquity and the miraculous interventions of Athena and Achilles on behalf of Athens, which are recorded in Zosimus' Nova Historia. Motta investigates the extent of Zosimus' debt to Eunapius, exploring in detail the latter's historical perspective and context, including the prominence of archaic heroes in fourth-century literature, public discourse and cult. The role of individual authors in recasting religious and civic memory is thus well illustrated, though more could have been done to develop this explicitly in relation to the volume's theoretical preoccupation with the category of memory.

In a thought-provoking and suggestive, if brief, discussion of the place of emotion in Roman temples, R. issues a call to arms to recognise ‘emotionally loaded religious experiences’ as not just the preserve of Christians, mystics and exceptional individuals but as ‘fundamental for the plausibility of religious actions as well as religious concepts’ and as part and parcel of Roman religion as practised in public temples (p. 142). R. focuses on sanctuaries as loci of intense (and deliberately intensified) divine presence, outlining some of the ways architectural features and cult regulation shaped the experience of the visitor and assessing the sorts of emotional responses to cult images highlighted by the authors who critique them.

Arnhold focuses not on public sanctuaries but on private religious associations. She offers some detailed and striking test cases for the ways that different configurations of sacred space and, particularly, the balance struck between exclusion and inclusion, secrecy and revelation, could impact upon collective and individual religious experience. The relation between individual and wider cult community returns to the foreground here.

M. takes a focused look at a group of Roman Dionysiac sarcophagi and suggests that their imagery alludes not only to the realm of Greek mythology but to genuine rituals experienced by young Roman women and aimed at granting fecundity. If M. is right to see in these images such a combination of Greek myth and Roman ritual, it would be interesting to ask further what was at stake in and what motivated this combination.

Guittard explores what we know about the procession of the Salii, outlining the timing of the ritual within the Roman calendar, the route taken and pointing to some ways in which scholars have sought to understand its meaning. Religious experience seems largely absent as a heuristic principle here.

With G.'s contribution we turn to a civic temple, intricately stitched into the surrounding fabric of the city: the sanctuary of Isis at Pompeii. In a chapter which works well alongside Arnhold's discussion of configurations of private sacred spaces, G. explores how the connections between sanctuary and theatre allowed the cult of Isis at Pompeii to engage in a diverse array of ritual practices, from ‘ritual dramas’ to private feasts, which afforded similarly diverse religious experiences to worshippers.

The latter half of this volume, then, does not fully answer R. and M.'s call to extend our analysis of ‘religious experiences’ from ‘mystery cults’ to ‘the public temples of cities or villages’ (p. 135) (private associations and Apuleius remain particularly prominent). It does, however, (particularly R.'s own contribution) show the potential of such enquiries.