Ancient World Seminar: Lucinda Dirven (Radboud University/ University of Amsterdam), "Religious lives in the Arsacid Empire. Unity in Diversity"

Abstract

The Arsacids, who ruled over large parts of the Near East from 250 BC to 224 AD, were Zoroastrians. The common opinion is that they did not use their religion for political purposes. Consequently, it is argued that the Arsacids hardly influenced the varied religious lives of people outside of Iran. In this paper, I will argue that this does not apply to the Arsacid dynastic cult, which was adopted by important noble families and vassal kings in the Arsacid Empire and beyond. An illustrative example can be found in the city of Hatra (Northern Iraq), where this Arsacid cult was incorporated into a predominantly Aramaic religious culture.

About the Speaker

Lucinda Dirven is professor by special appointment of antique religions at Radboud University, Nijmegen since 2020. She studied art history and theology (history of religions and comparative religion) at the University of Leiden, where she obtained her PhD that was published in 1999 as The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos. A Case Study of Religious Interaction (Brill Publishers). After this she worked at the departments of archaeology and (ancient) history at the universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam. Ever since her PhD, her research has concentrated on the Roman and Parthian Near East (especially Dura, Hatra and Palmyra) on the one hand and the religious influences of these regions on the Roman West on the other hand. Currently, she is finishing a catalogue on the sculptures from Hatra and is preparing the final report on the mithraeum of Dura-Europos, together with Matthew McCartey (University of British Columbia).