Ancient religion and rhetoric are closely intertwined in ancient texts and contexts. An influential trend in modern interdisciplinary theory and bibliography is that religion is embedded in civic and social institutions and structures. Continuing research, textual interpretations and a broad analytical focus emphasizing social, political and legal approaches have shed welcome light on the synergy between religion and the art of public (i.e. political, social and rhetorical) speaking in Greek and Roman antiquity. The contributions to this volume explore themes and topics that lie in the heart of interdisciplinary research, including performance, legal/political etiquettes, magic practices, death discourses – areas of modern epistemology that are considered as shaping the attitudes of the people towards important matters of life and religion. The value of this volume lies in its two distinct features: firstly, that it examines the widest possible spectrum of genres in Greco-Roman antiquity and beyond. This broad thematic, temporal and cultural latitude of the proposed volume has the potential to provide new insights into, and open up the terms of the examination about, the ways in which religious rhetoric is manifested in literature and reflects upon civic, social and cultural institutions. The second distinct feature of this volume is that it draws on theories beyond the confines of Classics – e.g. cognitive, sociological and anthropological theories, performance, sex/gender studies, linguistics, pragmatics and other interdisciplinary theories, death discourses – to approach the topic under examination in both classical and postclassical times. In elucidating the features and the purposes of the use of religious discourse in diversified texts and contexts in antiquity, this volume is important in establishing a framework within which the components and the function of religious discourse and rhetoric might be explored in other transcultural and transhistorical contexts. The insights taken from the contributions to this volume would enable researchers across a range of disciplines – e.g. religious studies, modern history and sociology – to use theoretical perspectives, methodologies and conceptual tools to frame the sprawling examination of aspects of religion and rhetoric across the ages. Neglecting the study of rhetoric and religious discourse would result in missing out on a key part of the rhetorical tradition’s history and perhaps even misunderstanding a vital piece of the essence of rhetoric itself. weiterlesen