The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, Volume III, Provincial Cult. Part 3. The Provincial Centre; Provincial Cult

This volume focuses on the headquarters of provincial cults and the principal features of the worship offered there on behalf of the province. Evidence for provincial centres survives in various forms of varying degress of reliability but, while no standard pattern emerges, it seems clear that every province established a permanent base that served similar cultic, administrative, recreational and ideological purposes. Traces of provincial worship are more fleeting but a rough picture can be reconstructed of priestly regalia and of the calendar, rites and associated liturgy and ceremonial that marked the differing cults of individual provinces. Both studies conclude with an overview of the main conclusions and are profusely illustrated with over a hundred plates or diagrams.

Duncan Fishwick, D.Litt. (1971), Leiden, is Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Classics at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He has published extensively in the ruler cult, including The Imperial Cult in the Latin West. Vols. 1,1-2; 2,1-2 (Brill, 1987-92).

'Fishwick's oeuvre is of such a consistently high quality that it is destined to join the ranks of the standard works on Roman social history. Its traditional approach and format are consistent with its function as an important reference. It will be an invaluable mine of ideas and information for future scholars. This volume, together with the whole series, is a very useful resource on the imperial cult that should be accessible to students of Roman history, especially graduate students.'
Nayla Kabazi Muntasser, BMCR, 2006