How should ancient religious ideas be approached? Is religion an applicable term to antiquity? Should classicists, ancient historians, and religious studies scholars work more closely together?
Nickolas P. Roubekas argues that there is a disciplinary gap between the study of Greek and Roman religions and the study of "religion" as a category-a gap that has often resulted in contradictory conclusions regarding Greek and Roman religion. This book addresses this lack of interdisciplinarity by providing an overview, criticism and assessment of this chasm. It provides a theoretical approach to this historical period, raising the issue of the relationship between "theory of religion" and "history of religion", and explores how history influences theory. It also presents an in-depth critique of some crucial problems that have been central to the discussions of scholars who work on Graeco-Roman antiquity, and offers solutions that may lead to a more scientific study of Greek and Roman religions.
In addressing these issues, Roubekas advocates for more interdisciplinarity between religious studies and classical studies, encouraging a re-examination of their approach to the study of religions of the past.
