The Center for Religious Studies
in cooperation with the L’Institut français de Budapest
cordially invite you to a lecture by
John Scheid(Collège de France)
Water, bathing and gods. Reflections on the so-called spring cults and bathing practice
Friday,
October 25, 2013
5:30 PM
CEU, Nádor 13
Room 001
Reception to follow
Abstract: The fact that most of the temples located on the rural edges of the Roman cities were equipped with thermae seems to confirm the idea that the “water-cult” was a central element of rural cultic locations and, more generally, that water was a central element in ancient religious practice. However, this relation between thermae and temples has been misinterpreted. Not in the sense that the Romans did not venerate Nymphs or spring-gods, but because of an automatic linkage between water, cult and healing has been postulated.
From an archaeological perspective, these views also ignore a certain number of problems crucial to the understanding of the theme. The so-called water-sanctuaries are in fact very specific, and, according to Roman conceptions, water that serves for bathing no longer corresponds to “sacred” water when it is in fact used. Urban sanctuaries are also related to thermae, fountains or waterbasins, without having a connection to healing gods. In cultic spaces, water served mostly for purification, sometimes for purposes of divination. So the problem is a lot more complex then simplistic theories about “nature-cults” would have it.
Bio: John Schneid Professor for Religion, Institutions et société de la Rome antique at the Collège de France since 2001, was born in Luxembourg. He completed a doctorate at the University of Strasbourg in 1972 and received the Doctorat d’État in 1987. He has been a member of the French School in Rome (1974-1977), Assistant for Roman History at the University of Lille (1977-1983), Directeur d'études at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section des Sciences religieuses (Professor for Religions of Rome, 1983-2001). He is a Corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. His most well-read works include: An Introduction to Roman Religion (Indiana University Press, 2003), The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric (Harvard University Press, 2001), and Pouvoir et Religion a Rome ([Power and Religion in Rome] PLURIEL edition, 2011).