There are now a growing number of general reference works which situate the religious traditions of the ancient world not only within classical scholarship but within the interdisciplinary study of religions more broadly (e.g. T. Insoll [ed.], The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion [2011]; J. Barton [ed.], The Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Religions [in preparation]). The handbook under review here, published in Acumen's European History of Religions Series, is part of this laudable trend, which promises to open up new perspectives and debates on material that has so far been considered mainly within the context of ancient Greece and Rome.
Addressed to the academic non-specialist reader, the handbook offers a broad outlook on various religious traditions prior to the arrival of Christianity that, albeit in very different ways, ‘seem to have given birth to important traits of our civilization as we define it today’ (p. 1). Under this premise, the religions of ancient Greece and Rome are set side by side such diverse religious traditions as Celtic religion, Slavic religion, Germanic religion and Anglo-Saxon religion (to name but a few examples).
The handbook includes 27 chapters and an introduction. The chapters are arranged into two parts. Part 1, ‘Prehistoric Religions’, features eleven chapters and is focused on those religious traditions that are only accessible through the archaeological evidence. It includes a number of methodological contributions as well as broad chronological surveys. Part 2, ‘Ancient Europe in the Historical Period’, features sixteen chapters, which survey those religious traditions that can be studied through literary sources as well as material remains.
Nine chapters from the second part are about religious traditions that are of direct concern for the classicist reader. A chapter on Minoan and Mycenean religion (Chapter 12) by W. starts from an overview of what is known about the religions of the Aegean Bronze Age, followed by a synthesis of significant scholarly debates in this area. A final section reflects explicitly on the significance of the Bronze Age material for the religious traditions that followed, most notably, perhaps, for ancient Greek religion. This is well done and sets up the thematic focus for subsequent chapters. Chapters 13 (‘Etruscan Religion’ by J.M. Turfa), 14 (‘The Religions of the Iberic Peninsula’ by F.M. Simón) and 15 (‘Italic Religion’ by G. Bradley and R. Glinister) offer a series of broad introductions to religious traditions prior to the arrival of classical Greek and Roman religion, followed by a more focused discussion of their select features and key institutions.
Chapters 16–20 provide the classical core of the handbook. Two broad introductory chapters (Chapter 16 ‘Roman Religion’ by S.W. Rasmussen and Chapter 17 ‘Ancient Greek Religion’ by L. Albinus) are followed by a matching pair of chapters focused on a particular religious cult (Chapter 18 ‘The Graeco-Roman Cult of Isis’ by B. Bøgh and Chapter 19 ‘The Cult of Mithras’ by M. Clauss). Both of these chapters highlight the fact that in the ancient world, single cults could transcend various cultural contexts. A chapter on religious Platonism (Chapter 20, co-authored by K. Corrigan and M. Harrington) rounds off the discussion of the religions of the Greek and Roman worlds. It again illustrates the way in which religious discourse evolved beyond traditional boundaries (this time of genre) and over time.
The individual contributions are well-researched and offer succinct and authoritative introductions to their subject matter. In addition to the basic information in any given area of knowledge, they readily present methodological problems (mostly to do with reading the ancient evidence) and identify questions of current scholarly debate. A brief ‘suggested reading’ section at the end of each chapter points the reader to further literature in English. All this makes the handbook a useful reference tool, not only to the positive knowledge about a particular religion but also to the way in which it is studied.
So who may want to make use of the handbook? It is particularly targeted at readers who wish to inform themselves about the religious heritage of the entity that we call ‘Europe’ today. In particular those with an interest in the history of religions may want to make use of it to get acquainted with the diversity of religions of ancient Europe prior to the emergence of Christianity. Yet these readers will need to keep in mind that, as the editors readily admit (pp. 3–4), the ‘Europe’ that unifies the religious traditions featured in this handbook is a modern conception that does not have any meaningful equivalent in the ancient world itself. Insofar as they provide informative introductions to a given area of knowledge informed by current scholarship individual chapters may certainly be useful in undergraduate and graduate teaching. Chapter 22, ‘Continental Germanic Religion’ by R. Simek, for example, would make superb background reading for a seminar focused on Tacitus' Germania.
