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(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)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(se abrirá en una nueva ventana).
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/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)).
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(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)).
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.
