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Document Details :

Title: Beyond Polis Religion
Subtitle: Religious Practices in the Cosmopolitan Emporion of Naukratis
Author(s): DEMETRIOU, Denise
Journal: BABESCH
Volume: 92    Date: 2017   
Pages: 49-66
DOI: 10.2143/BAB.92.0.3242685

Abstract :
This article compares Naukratis to other Greek emporia in the Mediterranean in order to explore religion in cosmopolitan settlements: Did individuals’ choices of what gods to worship relate to the settlements’ multi-ethnic and commercial nature? How did religious practices change in these communities? Did religion impart new ways of organizing society and structuring the polis? The article shows the competing religious discourses in Greek emporia, and argues that religious practices were fluid, led to religious innovation, and actively shaped politics, trade, and even the polis itself.

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