French actuel is by no means the same as English actual Frequently the reader must divine the author’s meaning by retrojecting what is printed back into French. The English translation unfortunately leaves much to be desired in terms of idiom. If a foreign language was acceptable to the German publisher, the author should have been encouraged to publish her work in the language in which she wrote it. Belayche’s work appears in an English translation in this new German series, but it is hard to understand why. A thriving world of pagan cults and myths emerges, often closely integrated with the encompassing Jewish and Christian communities. Little of it is absolutely new, but this is the first time it has been brought together in one place, and there are many thoughtful interpretations. For a region where Judaism and Christianity has traditionally received the lion’s share of attention, this volume provides a wealth of information. Nicole Belayche has produced the first comprehensive analysis of Palestinian paganism, site by site, from the time of Bar Kokhba to Julian.
PAGEN CULRS SERIES
The book is excellent on its own terms, even if not on the terms of the series in which it has appeared. This is a thorough study of local pagan cults in Judaea-Palestine with extensive repetition of sources of every kind and scarcely any correlation with the central Roman authority (except when the emperor turned up in the region). Paradoxically we must be grateful that these general goals scarcely apply to the first volume in the series.
Römischen’ im lokalen Kontext treten gleichermaßen in den Blick.” They declare explicitly that it is not their intention to duplicate the archaeological, epigraphical, and historical sources but rather to provide a systematic religious history with particular reference to the spread, impact, and change of Roman religion in the various provinces (“ unter besonderer Beachtung der Ausbreitung, Wirkung und Veränderung der römischen Religion in diesen Gebieten”).In their preface, the editors justify their new enterprise by stressing that analyses of local provincial religions should be combined with study of the connection with the central Roman authority as well as the situation in other provinces. This is the first volume in a new German series, edited by Hubert Cancik and Jörg Rüpke together with a board of distinguished European scholars.
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