Project Gutenberg's The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, by Franz Cumont

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Title: The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism

Author: Franz Cumont

Release Date: August 1, 2007 [EBook #22213]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORIENTAL RELIGIONS ***

Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Keith Edkins and
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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.

Some short Greek renderings in the main text were printed as page
footnotes. To avoid confusion with the links to the scholarly notes, these
have been moved to parentheses next to the English renderings.

* * * * *

The Oriental Religions in
Roman Paganism

By

Franz Cumont

With an Introductory Essay by
Grant Showerman

Authorized Translation

Chicago
The Open Court Publishing Company

London Agents
Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co.

1911

* * * * *

COPYRIGHT BY
THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO.
1911

* * * * *

TO MY TEACHER AND FRIEND

CHARLES MICHEL

* * * * *

{iii}

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.--The Significance of Franz Cumont's Work, By Grant Showerman
... v

PREFACE ... xv

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ... xxv

I. ROME AND THE ORIENT ... 1

Superiority of the Orient, 1.--Its Influence on Political Institutions,
3.--Its Influence on Civil Law, 5.--Its Influence on Science, 6.--Its
Influence on Literature and Art, 7.--Its Influence on Industry,
9.--SOURCES: Destruction of Pagan Rituals, 11.--Mythographers,
12.--Historians, 13.--Satirists, 13.--Philosophers, 14.--Christian
Polemicists, 15.--Archeological Documents, 16.

II. WHY THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS SPREAD ... 20

Difference in the Religions of the Orient and the Occident, 20.--Spread of
Oriental Religions, 22.--Economic Influences, 23.--Theory of Degeneration,
25.--Conversions are of Individuals, 27.--Appeal of the Oriental Religions
to the Senses, 28.--Appeal to the Intelligence, 31.--