CERFAUX, L., and J. TONDRIAU,
Le culte des souverains. Un concurrent du christianisme dans la civilisation gréco-romaine.
Desclée & cie, Tournai, 1957.535p. Sewn. Signature in pencil on free endpaper. (Rare).
'This must be the biggest book yet on its subject. Investigation begins with the oriental monarchies of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia, and the kingships of the Hebrew and Canaanite peoples. A short study of Cretan institutions and Homeric royalty leads into the hero cults and religious and philosophical concepts of Classical Greece. With the Macedonian world treatment begins on an amper scale. The attitude of Alexander in his lifetime, his legacy, the ithyphallic hymn to Demetrius, the relative contributions of Orient and Greece to the growth of Hellenistic ruler cults are analysed in detail, and great emphasis is placed on the choice of Dionysus as heavenly paradigm of kings. The rejection of ruler worship by the Jews is then traced. There follows a similar detailed study of the phenomenon in Rome: the impact on the Italic heritage of Greek practice and the repetition of the process in Roman forms. Its development is passed in review through all the emperors to Diocletian and into the Byzantine world. Its characteristic features are contrasted with Christianity, and a final chapter attempts to summarize the importance as a whole of ruler worship.' (E.G. TURNER in The Classical Review (New Series), 1959, p.164).
€ 45.00
(Antiquarian)