Favorable Conditions of the Spread of the Cult of Asclepius across the Transportation Network of the Roman Mediterranean: A Quantitative Evaluation

Project Information

AscNet

Grant agreement ID: 892604

DOI

10.3030/892604

Project closed

EC signature date 13 March 2020

Start date 15 August 2020

End date 14 August 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 202 158,72

EU contribution

€ 202 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AscNet (Favorable Conditions of the Spread of the Cult of Asclepius across the Transportation Network of the Roman Mediterranean: A Quantitative Evaluation)

Reporting period: 2020-08-15 to 2022-08-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ASCNET project explored the mechanisms involved in the spatial dissemination of the cult of the Greek god of medicine Asclepius across the Roman Empire by employing quantitative approaches such as spatial network analysis and temporal modeling of epigraphic evidence. While the academic debate on the topic is aware of the spatial-temporal extent of the spread of the cult of Asclepius across the Roman Empire, ASCNET argued that there is a lack of nuance in the debate and it aimed to reveal more detailed answers considering specific historical processes and elements crucial for the spread of the cult. Specifically, ASCNET tested two existing hypotheses from the debate: Hypothesis 1 - Roman soldiers transported the cult of Asclepius; Hypothesis 2 - The cult of Asclepius was more popular in times of the Antonine plague (ca 165-180 CE). By conducting this type of research, the project pushed forward the notion that the application of interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of ancient history is a promising path toward generating new knowledge about the past and closes the gap between the humanities and natural sciences.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main results of the project are as follows:

Published research:
Glomb, Tomáš. 2021. "The spread of the cult of Asclepius in the context of the Roman army benefited from the presence of physicians: A spatial proximity analysis." PLoS ONE 16(8): e0256356. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256356
Glomb, Tomáš, Vojtěch Kaše, and Petra Heřmánková. 2022. “Popularity of the Cult of Asclepius in the Times of the Antonine Plague: Temporal Modeling of Epigraphic Evidence.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 43 (June): 103466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103466.

Organization of workshops and conferences:
2021 (6-11 September): Co-organization of the session Ancient Cultural Routes: Past Transportation as a Two-way Interaction Between Society and Environment (with Francesca Mazzilli, Fulminante, Francesca Fulminante, Franziska Faupel) at the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) conference in Kiel.
2022 (7-8 June): Co-organization of the workshop Religious Networks in Antiquity at the University of Bergen. The page of the workshop (https://connectedpast.net/bergen-workshop-2022/).

Talks and conference papers:
10/2020: Paper "The role of Roman soldiers and plagues in the spread of the cult of Asclepius: A quantitative approach" at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Approaches in Archaeology (CAA) Nordic.
11/2020: Paper "The popularity of Asclepius in times of the Antonine and Cyprian plague: A quantitative approach" at the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) webinar.
06/2021: Paper "Was Asclepius more popular in times of the Antonine plague? Answers from temporal modeling of epigraphic and numismatic evidence" at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Approaches in Archaeology (CAA) virtual conference.
09/2021: Paper "The Worship of Roman Deities Along The Roads: A Gis Network Approach" at the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) conference in Kiel.
09/2021: Paper "The role of the Roman army in the spatial dissemination of the cult of Asclepius: A spatial network analysis" at The Connected Past (TCP) conference in Aarhus.
06/2022: Paper "ASCNET Project: Quantifying the development of the cult of Asclepius in Roman time and space" at the Religious Networks in Antiquity workshop in Bergen.

Dissemination to the general public and students:
ASCNET contributed to consultations of students' theses at the University of Bergen (UiB), the project was introduced to students in the UiB course Religions in Antiquity and produced an educational video for high school students called "How did medicine and healing interact with the religious sphere in antiquity?" for the ReligionsOraklene initiative at the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion at UiB (https://vimeo.com/696009349).

Overview of the results:

Case Study 1 - Published as Glomb, Tomáš. 2021. "The spread of the cult of Asclepius in the context of the Roman army benefited from the presence of physicians: A spatial proximity analysis." PLoS ONE 16(8): e0256356.
This case study tested Hypothesis 1. Results of this case study revealed that the diversity in the worship of deities in the military context could have resulted from activities of specific social groups within the army (e.g. professions). In the case of the Roman border provinces between Britannia and Moesia Inferior, the spatial proximity analyses pointed out that the cult of Asclepius was to a significant degree attached to the military environment and benefited from the presence of Roman physicians.

Case Study 2 - Published as Glomb, Tomáš, Vojtěch Kaše, and Petra Heřmánková. 2022. “Popularity of the Cult of Asclepius in the Times of the Antonine Plague: Temporal Modeling of Epigraphic Evidence.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 43 (June): 103466.
This case study tested Hypothesis 2. In the academic debate, there are voices claiming that the healing cult of Asclepius was more popular in times of health crisis during the Antonine Plague (ca 165-180 CE) while other scholars claim that there are no indications that Asclepius was more popular in those times. The results of this case study based on temporal modeling of Latin inscriptions from the Roman Empire revealed that there was no increase in the number of inscriptions in the time of the Antonine Plague for the cult of Asclepius that would significantly deviate from A) the general epigraphic trend and B) long-term temporal trends for inscriptions related to other cults. Thus, the results suggest that Asclepius was not worshipped more because of the plague and the validity of the existing hypothesis was challenged.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The aim to promote interdisciplinary science of history was successfully fulfilled by ASCNET. The research results based on quantitative approaches nuanced our understanding of the developments in the spatial spread and popularity of the healing cult of Asclepius in the Roman Empire. The published articles focused on exploring existing hypotheses from the academic debate and showed that it is possible to test quantitatively hypotheses that were previously constructed in the humanities. By using methodologies such as geographical proximity analysis, network analysis, or temporal modeling to research problems from ancient history, ASCNET brought together the natural sciences and the humanities in a synergic manner. The analytical scripts used in this research and all the data are available for further use and for application in other research questions focusing on the spatial proximity of diverse data and temporal modeling of data with temporal uncertainties in different spatial-temporal frames. Finally, ASCNET collaborated and consulted with archaeologists and other experts on historical phenomena interested in computational methods. ASCNET contributed to the solidification of a growing conceptual and methodological synthesis that was, until recently, underrepresented in the academic debate on historical topics and at international conferences. This effort culminated in the co-organization of the Religious Networks in Antiquity workshop at the University of Bergen in June 2022 which explored the application of network approaches in the study of ancient religions and opened promising options for further collaborations.

Map of positions of Roman soldiers and their distance to the nearest place of worship of Asclepius