Rethinking the Concept of ‘Healing Settlements’: Water, Cults, Constructions and Contexts in the Ancient World (Archaeopress Roman Archaeology)

‘Rethinking the Concept of ‘Healing Settlements’: Water, Cults, Constructions and Contexts in the Ancient World’ brings together papers dealing with therapeutic aspects connected to thermomineral sites both in Italy and in the Roman Provinces, as well as cultic issues surrounding health and healing. The first part of the book consists of contributions that are focused on the numerous problems concerning the exploitation of curative springs and the settlement patterns at spa sites in terms of topography, infrastructure, architecture, cult, society and economy, emphasizing the particularities accompanying the use of beneficial sources and comparing them to that of common freshwaters. The papers in the second part of the volume concentrate on religious aspects connected to health, fertility and healing, focussing especially on sites located at particular natural surroundings such as caves and water sources. Together, the contributions in this book give us an idea of the amount and quality of research currently being undertaken in different parts of the Roman world (and complemented by one paper on the Greek world) on the topic of health and healing associated with cults and salutiferous waters.Table of ContentsPreface – by Christopher SmithPart I Thermo-Mineral Waters: From Italy to the Roman ProvincesMethodological Aspects – by Maddalena Bassani, Ugo FuscoShrines and Healing Waters in Ancient Italy. Buildings, Cults, Deities – by Maddalena BassaniThe Thermo-Mineral Springs at Veii (RM) and its Territory: New Discoveries and Old Excavations – by Ugo FuscoCult and Healing Water in Roman Gaul – by Matteo MarcatoPlaces of Worship and Healing Water in Roman Germaniae and Raetia – by Cecilia ZanettiHealing by Water: Therapy and Religion in the Roman Spas of the Iberian Peninsula – by Sérgio Carneiro and Silvia González SouteloPreliminary Considerations on Thermal Spas in the Eastern Roman Provinces: The Case of Asia Minor – by Emanuela BorgiaRoman Healing Settlements in Bulgaria: Past Scholarship and Future Perspectives – by Mariya AvramovaBefore the Hammam: The Ancient Spas of Roman North Africa – by Jens KoehlerPart II Cult Places and HealingCult Places and Healing: Some Preliminary Remarks – by Marion Bolder-Boos and Annalisa CalapàSacred Caves and ‘Fertility Cults’. Some Considerations about Cave Sanctuaries in Etruria – by Annalisa CalapàHercules and Healing – by Marion Bolder-BoosLacus and Lucus: Lakes and Groves as Markers of Healing Cults in Central Italy – by Ingrid Edlund-Berry and Jean M. TurfaNomina Nuda Tenemus? The Epigraphical Records of Dedications in Two Healing Sanctuaries in Athens and in Oropos – by Maria Elena GorriniResults and Future Prospects – by Francesca Ghedini and Paola Zanovello Read more