Religion and competition in antiquity : an introduction

The study of ancient religion has always been shaped by the questioning of the presuppositions that guide our interpretation, often through engagement with models drawn from other disciplines.For example, it has almost become a trope to emphasise that the rise of Christianity, as a monotheistic and exclusive religion, has shaped our concept of religion to such a degree that it becomes hard, not to say impossible, to study the basically polytheistic systems of Antiquity without Christianising assumptions and conceptsas are, in fact, the very terms 'monotheism' and 'polytheism'.Much attention has been devoted to these issues, although the arguments tend to go in opposite directions.On the one hand, scholars have questioned the stark differentiation between ancient polytheism and Christian monotheism, arguing for the existence of pagan forms of monotheism in Greek and Roman culture. 1 On the other, in contrast with such attempts to bridge the gulf between Christianity and paganism in later Antiquity, other scholars have contrasted the Christian emphasis on theology with the classical focus on ritual action and have advocated a focus on rites to avoid Christianising assumptions. 2On such a view, a fundamental gap separates Christian and ancient understandings of religion.The recent work on pagan monotheism is part of a wider scholarly attempt to describe and explain religious changes in Antiquity.Study of ancient religion has long been static, in that it tried to understand the system, to retrieve its original form, and to describe its development.Only rarely convincing explanations were offered for the adoption of one religious idea and not another. 3 When developments were set out, they tended to be inspired by theories of decline and progress.A dominant view saw Greek and Roman religion declining from its supposedly original kernel.Such an approach was exemplified in the work of great historians such as Georg Wissowa and Kurt Latte 4 and even, in some way, in Georges Dumzil's indo-european investigations. 5Such visions of decline remain tributary to Western philosophical conceptualisations of the evolution of history as linear and teleological, be it by inverting them.Chronological evolution is then implicitly seen as a synonym of causal necessity and the victory of beliefs is ascribed to the winner's superiority over the subjected, as is shown, for example, by Franz Cumont's fascinating, if dated, analysis of the 'oriental religions'. 6 Such wide-ranging interpretations are now generally abandoned and replaced by attempts to explain changes through social processes and interaction. 7 We wish to signal only 1 For henotheistic elements, see Versnel (1999) and (2011).The rise of monotheistic tendencies in the Roman Empire has been discussed since the 19 th century, finding an influential formulation in Geffcken (1929), and has recently been discussed in Athanassiadi and Frede (1999), Mitchell and Van Nuffelen (2010a) and (2010b). 2 This perspective is best illustrated by Beard, North and Price (1998), but see also the references in note 22 of Van Nuffelen (2010). Bremmer (1999) 84-94. Wissowa (1912), Latte (1960). Dumzil (1974).Key features of Dumzil's approach emanate from the equation of the 'archaic' with the 'original': the reconstruction of 'original' narratives by investigating tripartite structures and the understanding of religious features through comparison with still older features in other indo-European cultures. 6Cumont (1906).See Praet in this volume. 7 Cf.e.g.Bonnet, Ribichini and Rpke (2008). 19