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Five - Idols in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2020

Philip Kiernan
Affiliation:
Kennesaw State University, Georgia
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Summary

This chapter reconstructs how temple visitors engaged with idols, and the daily lives of idols. Some Roman reliefs represent encounters with statues in terms of epiphanies, and accounts of personal interactions with idols suggest that proximity to the idol itself was desirable. Varro, Ovid, and other writers describe interactions such as anointing, adorning, cleaning, bathing, and feeding idols, suggesting they had the same needs and pleasures of a human body. The veracity of these accounts, too often dismissed by historians of ancient religion, are confirmed by finds on the floor of a temple at Thun-Allmendingen. Idols could also accept gifts, such as coins, or pieces of jewelry to add to their wardrobes, and worshipers placed these offerings as close as possible to the idol. Sometimes, idols, or representative cult images, left their temples in processions, participating in public events. After examining the concept of darshan in contemporary India, it is suggested that Roman interactions with idols are understandable if the idol was regarded as an elite member of local society, endowed with agency, who participated in the life of the community. Idols made the gods accessible by allowing worshipers to interact with them in a human way.

Type
Chapter
Information
Roman Cult Images
The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity
, pp. 196 - 221
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Idols in Action
  • Philip Kiernan, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
  • Book: Roman Cult Images
  • Online publication: 15 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108766555.005
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  • Idols in Action
  • Philip Kiernan, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
  • Book: Roman Cult Images
  • Online publication: 15 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108766555.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Idols in Action
  • Philip Kiernan, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
  • Book: Roman Cult Images
  • Online publication: 15 May 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108766555.005
Available formats
×