Burial rituals, ideas of afterlife, and the individual in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire

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Death and the individual represent a burgeoning area of research in the ancient world. Eleven international scholars from Ancient History, Archaeology, Egyptology, Patristics, and the History of Religions delve into contemporary issues surrounding death, dying, and the afterlife in the diverse cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, spanning from Hellenistic to Roman times. The focus is on how discourses and practices related to death and the dead interact with individual experiences and identities. The volume is structured into three sections: the first examines the poetics of the afterlife from Homer to Lucian; the second explores individual expressions of death in the Roman Empire; and the third addresses how groups assert their claims regarding death and the afterlife. This interdisciplinary approach sheds light on the complex ways in which ancient societies understood and represented mortality, providing valuable insights into the cultural significance of death and individual identity in historical contexts.