ThesCRA, Volume V

Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA)is a major multivolume reference on all known aspects of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman cults and rituals. Providing both a sweeping overview and in-depth investigation, ThesCRA covers the period from Homeric times (1000 B.C.) to late Roman times (A.D. 400).

A definitive work on the topic, ThesCRA is the culmination of many years of research by scholars from across the United States and Europe and throughout the Mediterranean world. Each of their texts―either in English, French, German, or Italian―is followed by a catalogue entry listing the epigraphical and literary sources cited and referencing ancient iconographical documents related to the topic. Many of these iconographical items are depicted either in line drawings in the texts or in the plate sections of each volume.

Volumes are arranged thematically. The first three volumes, published in 2005, deal with dynamic elements of cult: divination; prayer, gestures, and acts of prayer; gestures and acts of veneration; oaths; maledictions; profanation; magic; and consecration and foundation rites. Volumes IV and V move on to static elements of cult places and their depictions in antiquity in volume IV, and the personnel of cults in volume V.

ThesCRA was developed by the eminent group of scholars who published the eight double-volumes of LIMC (Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae). Among the many contributors to the ThesCRA volumes are Sir John Boardman, Walter Burkert, Giovannangelo Camporeale, Fritz Graf, Antoine Hermary, Tonio Hölscher, Vassilis Lambrinoudakis, John Scheid, Erika Simon, Mario Torelli, and Marion True.