The Sacred Identity of Ephesos (Routledge Revivals)

The Sacred Identity of Ephesos offers a full-length interpretation of one of the largest known bequests in the Classical world, and challenges some assumptions made about the significance of the Greek cultural renaissance, the ‘Second Sophistic’. Professor Rogers shows how civic rituals symbolised a contemporary social hierarchy, and how the ruling class used foundation myths as a tangible source of power, to be wielded over new citizens and new gods. Utilising an innovative methodology for analysing large inscriptions, Professor Rogers argues that the Ephesians used their past to define their present, shedding new light on how second-century Greeks maintained their identities in relation to Romans, Christians, and Jews.