Senses, Cognition, and Ritual Experience in the Roman World

Explores how the senses shaped the way the Romans perceived, understood, and remembered ritual experiences.

Transcending conventional script-based approaches to rituals, readers are guided into an accessible and diverse realm of embodied religious experiences. Cognitive and sensory approaches connect mind (cognition) and body (senses), exploring a variety of ritual experiences (pagan & Christian) in the Roman world.How do the senses shape the way we perceive, understand, and remember ritual experiences? This book applies cognitive and sensory approaches to Roman rituals, reconnecting readers with religious experiences as members of an embodied audience. These approaches allow us to move beyond the literate elites to examine broader audiences of diverse individuals, who experienced rituals as participants and/or performers. Case studies of ritual experiences from a variety of places, spaces, and contexts across the Roman world, including polytheistic and Christian rituals, state rituals, private rituals, performances, and processions, demonstrate the dynamic and broad-scale application that cognitive approaches offer for ancient religion, paving the way for future interdisciplinary engagement. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.