Religion

Carved stone genius (c) The Vindolanda Trust

Rare Genius at Vindolanda

A Roman relief of a Genius – a protective guardian spirit – has recently been found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, hidden underneath the floor of a barracks. While inscriptions dedicated to genii have been found across Roman Britain,…

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Understanding Karnak’s origins

Recent research at the Karnak temple complex near Luxor, Egypt, is offering new insights into the site’s origins and the development of the surrounding landscape over its 3,000 years of use. The famous religious site has been subject to excavations…

The UK’s first crematorium

Sherds was intrigued to encounter two interesting items recently that have to do with the treatment of human remains. (Anyone who is grieving or has suffered a recent bereavement might like to skip over these reports.)

Quakers and their meeting houses: Building a picture of a religious group through its architecture

Of the many new religious groups that emerged from the ferment of ideas that characterised the Civil War and Commonwealth era (1630s to 1666), the Quakers proved to be one of the best organised and most influential. They have also gone further than other dissenting congregations in abandoning the architectural form that has been used for worship since the earliest days of Christianity by inventing a new kind of worship space – the meeting house. Chris Catling reports on a study of this distinctive Quaker building and its 17th-century origins.

Etruscan bronze lamp

What is it? This ornate bronze hanging oil lamp, 60cm in diameter and weighing 57.72kg, comes from the Etruscan civilisation. It is decorated with a unique combination of iconography that has been the subject of discussion since its discovery. In…

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated

REVIEW BY HILARY FORREST This is a most unusual book – bound in an antique Chinese fashion originating from the Ming period, with pages tied together between boards with string. The content, however, relates not to China, but to mainstream…

‘Magical’ Coptic texts

A collection of 600 ‘magical’ texts written in Coptic has been published following five years of study by researchers at the University of Würzburg. Papyri Copticae Magicae (published by de Gruyter) includes writings found on papyrus, parchment, paper, and ostraca.…

Hallucinogens and body fluids

Analysis of the contents of a Ptolemaic Bes-shaped jug from the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida has revealed a complex concoction of fermented fruit, psychoactive plant-based substances, and human fluids that include breast milk, oral and vaginal fluids, and…

The gods of Dura-Europos

From the worship of local Syrian protector gods to Christianity, many different religions flourished in the cosmopolitan crossroads city of Dura-Europos. Jen Baird brings us face to face with the diverse divine through the art of this ancient site.

Left The hermitage of St Colman Mac Duagh (AD 560 632) who spent two periods of his life as a religious recluse still survives in a forest glade with a spring at the foot of Slievecarran in the Burren National Park in County Clare. It serves as a type site for similar retreats, which typically consist of a cave and a chapel. Although located in an isolated setting, it was still within half a day’s walk of the royal court and port at Kinvara, and the monastic centre at Kilmacduagh.

Seeking seclusion: medieval hermitages in Britain and Ireland

Medieval monasteries and their communities have been (and continue to be) well studied, but not so the structures associated with those who chose a more solitary route to salvation: hermits and anchorites. Dr Simon Roffey’s new book, An Archaeological History of Hermitages and Eremitic Communities in Medieval Britain and Beyond, sets out to remedy that omission, as Chris Catling reports.

Above Statues on display depict a diverse range of deities, including Artemis (foreground), Aphrodite (left), and Ares (right).

Return of the Gods

A new exhibition running at the World Museum in Liverpool illuminates some of the key figures of ancient Greek and Roman myth, and explores how religious beliefs entwined with everyday life in the Classical world. Carly Hilts set out on a heroic quest of her own, braving the Eurovision crowds to find out more.

Minerva: cultivating wisdom

A deity of wisdom and war, born fully grown, and armed, from the head of her father Zeus/Jupiter, Minerva – and her Greek counterpart Athena – played an important part in Greek and Roman religion.

St Bartholomew the Great: tracing the history of London’s oldest surviving parish church

Making people laugh in the 12th century proved to be lucrative work for Rahere (d. 1143), who is variously described as a jester, minstrel, and courtier to Henry I (c.1068-1135; r. 1100-1135). But that was in his early life: Rahere later became a devout cleric who, falling ill on a pilgrimage to Rome, vowed to establish a hospital in London if he survived. The result was St Bartholomew, founded in 1123 as a joint foundation of hospital and priory. A commemorative volume has just been published to mark the 900th anniversary of the church, as Chris Catling reports.