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Cognitive Aspects of Mithraic Rituals in Pannonia

Project description

Religious cults and rituals in Ancient Rome

The cult of Mithras was very popular in Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire situated in present-day western Hungary, and in parts of Austria and several Balkan countries. The cult was an underground Roman religious group that worshipped the pagan deity Mithras. Research is lacking on how ritual practices were acquired, carried out, remembered, spread and changed between various Mithraic communities in Pannonia. In addition, little is known about how Mithraic religious networks were established. The EU-funded CAMRIP project will address these gaps by analysing, comparing and contrasting evidence from Mithraic communities and settlements throughout Pannonia. It aims to show that Mithraic community ritual practices varied from one place to another.

Objective

Traditional scholarship focusing on the examination of archaeological material from the Roman province of Pannonia has ignored cognitive and sensory theoretical approaches, particularly when it comes to the study of Roman religion and ritual. Although the cult of Mithras was extremely popular in Roman Pannonia, we still know little about 1) how ritual practices were learned, performed, remembered, diffused and transformed between different Mithraic communities in Pannonia, and 2) how Mithraic religious networks were formed. My research project aims to bridge this gap in scholarship by applying interdisciplinary cognitive and sensory theoretical perspectives to the analysis of archaeological, epigraphic and iconographic evidence for the cult of Mithras from various Pannonian settlements, in order to investigate and answer 1) and 2). I hypothesize that the project will demonstrate that Mithraic communities throughout Pannonia exhibit localized variations of ritual practices, thereby challenging traditional interpretations of homogeneity of Mithraic ritual. The project will be developed as a series of case studies, where evidence from Mithraic communities and settlements across Pannonia will be analyzed, compared and contrasted. These case studies will be published in the form of peer-reviewed articles. The University of Vienna is the ideal place to conduct this research, firstly because of Vienna's archaeological heritage as an important Roman Pannonian settlement; secondly because of Vienna's museums, archives and libraries which hold Austro-Hungarian excavation reports and archaeological materials; and thirdly due to Vienna's strategic location on the Roman Danube frontier and its proximity to many other Pannonian archaeological sites. Most importantly, collaboration with Prof. Dr. Günther Schörner, a leading international scholar on Roman rituals and cognition, will enable me to broaden my research expertise and contribute to research output at UNIVIE.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Net EU contribution
€ 183 600,96
Address
UNIVERSITATSRING 1
1010 Wien
Austria
Region
Ostösterreich Wien Wien
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data