El espectro de la religiosidad, o lo que convierte a un objeto en religioso. Hábitos, fuentes que siguen un patrón y significados religiosos de los objetos-imagen en Pompeya

How do image-objects obtain a religious meaning? When can we interpret material evidence as traces of a religious ritual? These questions are central to the archaeology of religion, but often answered in favor of religion without sound criteria. Using examples from Pompeii I look into “material religion” through the lens of viewing habits and habitualized practices embedded in and shaping social and cultural habitus in a Roman city of the 1st cent. CE. This practice-oriented approach to religion and material culture allows for a more nuanced interpretation of when and how people in Graeco-Roman antiquity conceived of an image-object as religious and ascribed a religious meaning to it. Based on an understanding of religion as communication with supra-human agents, the notion of a “spectrum of religiousness” softens the black-and-white view on motifs and objects as either religious or profane. The distinction of a gradually varying perception of image-objects is archaeologically based on both loosely assembled evidence (e.g. the iconographical and material remains in a house) or intentionally arranged evidence (e.g. niches with altars in front of them). In the repetition of such material reflections of practices the religious character of imageobjects comes to the fore.¿Cómo adquieren los objetos-imagen un significado religioso? ¿Cuándo podemos interpretar las fuentes materiales como restos de un ritual religioso? Estas cuestiones son fundamentales para la arqueología de la religión, pero a menudo se responden en favor de lo religioso sin criterios sólidos. Utilizando ejemplos de Pompeya, exploro en este estudio la “religión material” a través del prisma de los hábitos de visión y de las prácticas habitualizadas que están imbricadas en, y que a su vez moldean el habitus social y cultural de una ciudad romana del siglo I d.C. Este enfoque de la religión y de la cultura material centrado en la práctica permite una interpretación más precisa de cuándo y cómo las personas en la Antigüedad grecorromana concebían un objeto-imagen como religioso y le adscribían un significado religioso. Basado en la idea de religión como comunicación con agentes suprahumanos, la noción de “espectro de religiosidad” suaviza la visión en blanco y negro de los motivos y de los objetos como religiosos o profanos. La distinción de una percepción gradualmente variante de los objetos-imagen esta fundamentada arqueológicamente, tanto en los materiales que aparecen reunidos de manera indirecta o casual (ej. los vestigios iconográficos y materiales de una casa), como en aquellos que fueron deliberadamente organizados (ej. nichos con altares en frente de ellos). En la repetición de estos reflejos materiales de las prácticas se aprecia el carácter religioso de los objetos-imagen

Kilns, Commodities and Consumers: Greco-Roman Pottery Production in Eastern Marmarica (Northwestern Egypt)

The northwestern coastal zone of Egypt is not an area well known for its rich archaeolo­gical record, especially when compared to the adjoining regions like the Cyrenaica in the west and the Nile Valley to the east. As a part of ancient Marmarica it was an ecologically and economically marginal region of semi­arid environmental conditions. However, a remarkably dense pattern of Greco­Roman settlements and agricultural use has been uncovered by recent archaeological and geographical research in the Eastern Marmarica. A surplus economy based on dry farming and livestock can be reconstructed for the hin­ terland of ancient Paraitonion (modern Marsa Matruh). The need to trade agricultural goods such as grapes and/or wine, barley, figs, olives and/or olive oil explains the large number of pottery production sites in the area. This paper will deal firstly with the layout and features of more than forty surveyed pottery production sites, which mainly manufac­tured amphoras, and secondly, the topographical distribution of these sites within the area. Based on these analyses, aspects of the economic organization relating to the transport vessels, the filled goods and the exchange centres of the region can be reconstructed. A preliminary typological and chronological evaluation of the vessels produced closes the discussion.Abb. 5: © DigitalGlobe, Inc. (2005), provided by European Space Imagin

The experience of pilgrimage in the Roman Empire: communitas, paideiā, and piety-signaling

Pilgrimage of various types is well attested in the pre-Christian religions of the Roman Empire, but there is comparatively little evidence for the personal experiences of pilgrims. Some recent studies have argued that typical pilgrims of this period were members of the intellectual elite highly versed in literary culture (paideia) who saw sacred places as museums of Greek culture. In this paper, I try to reconstruct what we can about the experience of pilgrimage in early Roman Empire, looking at three cases studies: a. Philo’s somewhat idealized account of Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which stresses intense common feeling (or communitas, to use Victor Turner’s term) between participants; b. Pilgrimage to the oracle of Apollo at Claros, to which cities of Asia Minor and elsewhere sent sacred delegations, largely made up choirs of children who performed hymns at the sanctuary. It may be suggested that the experience of the pilgrimage was in large part an educative one - learning about Greek culture and learning how to behave in public; itmight even be seen as a sort of rite of passage. c. The healing-pilgrimages of Aelius Aristides to Pergamum and elsewhere. Aristides’ experience at Pergamum is full of paideia, though that was not the primary motivation, and it sometimes approaches communitas, though in the end the presence of other people tends to serve the purpose of an audience and foil for his own brilliance. Key aspects of his experience seem to be: a) suffering and b) a feeling of closeness to the god, sometimes bordering on identification with him

The Power of a Good Story: Narrative Persuasion in Extremist Propaganda and Videos against Violent Extremism

The perceived threat of extremist online propaganda has generated a need for countermeasures applicable to large audiences. The dissemination of videos designed to counter violent extremism (CVE videos) is widely discussed. These videos are often described as “counter-narratives,” implying that narrativity is a crucial factor for their effectiveness. Experimental research testing this assumption is rare and direct comparisons of narrativity effects between propaganda and CVE videos are lacking. To fill this gap, we conducted two experiments (one in a laboratory and one online) in which we confronted German participants with different religious affiliations and from various cultural backgrounds (NStudy 1 = 338 and NStudy 2 = 155) with Islamist extremist or right-wing extremist propaganda videos and with corresponding CVE videos. The results confirmed that narrativity (a) increases persuasive processing of propaganda and CVE videos, (b) fosters amplification intentions regarding these videos, and (c) increases attraction to extremists versus counter-activists. Thus, our studies highlight the crucial role of narrativity in both extremist propaganda and video-based CVE approaches

Efficient Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Pedigree Data with the Sum-Product Algorithm

In this paper, we analyze data sets consisting of pedigrees where the response is the age at onset of colorectal cancer (CRC). The occurrence of familial clusters of CRC suggests the existence of a latent, inheritable risk factor. We aimed to compute the probability of a family possessing this risk factor, as well as the hazard rate increase for these risk factor carriers. Due to the inheritability of this risk factor, the estimation necessitates a costly marginalization of the likelihood. We therefore developed an EM algorithm by applying factor graphs and the sum-product algorithm in the E-step, reducing the computational complexity from exponential to linear in the number of family members. Our algorithm is as precise as a direct likelihood maximization in a simulation study and a real family study on CRC risk. For 250 simulated families of size 19 and 21, the runtime of our algorithm is faster by a factor of 4 and 29, respectively. On the largest family (23 members) in the real data, our algorithm is 6 times faster. We introduce a flexible and runtime-efficient tool for statistical inference in biomedical event data that opens the door for advanced analyses of pedigree data