Religion in Roman Phrygia

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Phrygia in the second and third centuries CE offers more vivid evidence for what has been termed 'lived ancient religion' than any other region of the ancient world. The evidence from Phrygia is neither literary nor, in the main, issued by cities or their powerful inhabitants. It comes from farmers and herders: they have left behind numerous stone memorials of themselves and dedications to their gods, praying for the welfare of their families, their crops, and their cattle. A rare window is opened into the world of what Sir Ronald Syme called 'the voiceless earth-coloured rustics' who are 'conveniently forgotten'. The period in which Phrygian paganism flourished so visibly to our eyes was also the period in which Christianity, introduced by the apostle Paul, took root, as early and as successfully as in any part of the Roman world. In Religion in Roman Phrygia: From Polytheism to Christianity, Robert Parker presents this rich body of evidence and uses it to explore one of history's great stories and enigmas: how and why the new religion overtook its predecessor, the Christian God now meeting the needs of Phrygians hitherto satisfied by Zeus and the other gods"--