Religious life in classical and Hellenistic Rhodes: cultic activity, identity, and organisation

Thesis

The present thesis constitutes a study of the religious life of Rhodes, from the classical to the late Hellenistic period. Chronologically, this spans the significant chapter of the island’s synoikism at the end of the fifth century and the united state’s rise to power as one of the foremost trading centres of the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period. The structure of my thesis is partly chronological and partly thematic. I aim to determine the developments that took place in Rhodian religion, largely due to the synoikism, but also affected by other factors, such as the all-important incorporation of the peraia. Aside from that I focus on the different groups that were involved in the island’s religion: demes, tribes, religious personnel of all levels, foreigners and inhabitants of the surrounding islands and mainland, whose status and rights are often difficult to establish precisely. This goal is reflected in my choice of chapters, which cover Rhodian (pre-synoikism) religious identity, the effects of the synoikism on religious life, a detailed study of the cults in the different cities of the island and of religion in the ‘peraia’, and chapters on priests, associations, and, finally, the interplay between religion and society, in which chapter I hope to draw out what is distinctively ‘Rhodian’ about religion on Rhodes.

Authors: Zachhuber, J

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford