Book contents
- Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
- Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Part I Colonial Histories
- Part II Themes in the Making of Hegemony
- 3 Making Africa with Punic Signs
- 4 Making a God
- 5 Making Sanctuary Communities
- 6 Making Children Subjects of Empire
- 7 Making Offerings
- 8 Remaking Spaces and Societies
- 9 Making Empire
- Book part
- References
- Index
8 - Remaking Spaces and Societies
from Part II - Themes in the Making of Hegemony
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2024
- Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
- Religion and the Making of Roman Africa
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Part I Colonial Histories
- Part II Themes in the Making of Hegemony
- 3 Making Africa with Punic Signs
- 4 Making a God
- 5 Making Sanctuary Communities
- 6 Making Children Subjects of Empire
- 7 Making Offerings
- 8 Remaking Spaces and Societies
- 9 Making Empire
- Book part
- References
- Index
Summary
The new conceptualization of molk-style rites shown in Chapter 7 led to shifts in how sanctuaries were structured and in the entailments these new structures had for the communities who used them. While past studies have focused on the movement from open-air stele fields to monumental sanctuaries as evidence of “Romanization” or the creation of “Romano-African” temple-types, this chapter argues that these new built temples instead participated in wider civic-style practices of benefaction and spectacle in ways that sought to foreground sacrificer-benefector figures. At the end of the second century CE, a number of stele-sanctuaries were rebuilt in monumental forms that privileged central altars, the spectacle of animal offering, and dining. This shift in the spatial dimension of worship afforded new possibilities of practice and social ordering that closely resemble those of the wider imperial world, creating a “sacrificial compromise” where local forms of authority were predicated on being central to the pageantry of sacrifice.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religion and the Making of Roman AfricaVotive Stelae, Traditions, and Empire, pp. 320 - 383Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024