The spread of religion in the Western Roman Empire. A study of the geographical and chronological distribution of Latin votive inscriptions over the Roman Empire.
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2024-10-30
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en
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This study demonstrates how the geographical and chronological spread of religion over the Roman Empire can be examined during the period from approximately 0 to 300 AD. Its aim is to provide a comprehensive analysis of this spread, identifying general patterns and trends. The analysis is conducted using votive inscriptions from the Epigraphic Database Heidelberg (EDH).
The expansion of Rome from the third century BC onward led to intensive interactions with other cultures. Religious life in both Rome and its provinces underwent fundamental changes, such as the introduction of new deities or combinations of deities.
For the analysis of this spread, a new database was created, supplementing the EDH data with four additional variables: deity names, pantheon, gender, and site type. The combination of these variables with coordinates, place names, and dating enables quantitative and spatial analyses using tools like Excel, Access, and QGIS. The results are presented in tables and maps.
The geographical and statistical analyses of the relationships between the various variables reveal patterns in the spread of deities or groups of deities and their dating. This study provides important insights into the complexity of the dissemination.
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Faculteit der Letteren