Rural Cult Centres in the Hauran As Part of a Broader Network of the Near East 100 Bcd 300

The book challenges earlier scholars’ emphasis on the role played by local identities and Romanisation in religion and religious architecture in the Roman Empire through the first comprehensive multidisciplinary analysis of rural cult centres in the Hauran (southern Syria) from the pre-Roman to the Roman period (100 BC-AD 300). The Hauran is an interesting and revealing object of study because it has been a geographical crossroads between different cultures over time. Inspired by recent theories on interconnectivity and globalisation, the monograph argues that cult centres and the Hauran itself are part of a human network at a macro level on the basis of the analysis of archaeological, architectural, sculptural and epigraphic evidence and landscape. As a result of this multi-disciplinary approach, the author also re-assesses the social meaning of these sanctuaries, discusses the identity of the elite group that contributed financially to the building of sanctuaries, and attempts to reconstruct ritual and economic activities in cult centres. This work re-evaluates the significance of contacts between the elite of the Hauran and other cultures of the Near East in shaping cult sites, and it includes the first catalogue of rural cult centres of the Hauran (in the appendix).