Results and news

 2018

• Previously I have published a comprehensive bibliography of Roman religion in Dacia and the history of Roman religious studies in Romania.
• At the 24th International Limeskongress (1-9th September 2018) I have presented the results of my PhD studies and together with several colleagues from the 11th Session we have organized a non-official round table focusing on the current problems of the Roman religious communication in the Danubian provinces.
• A review of Tóth István’s paradigmatic work on Pannonian religion and a short history of religious studies focusing on Pannonia was published in JRA 31,2018.
• The first monograph focusing on sanctuaries of Roman Dacia was published in December 2018 (Szabó Cs.,  Sanctuaries in Roman Dacia. Materiality and religious experience, Archaeopress, Oxford, 2018)
• The new volume of the Acta Antiqua (58, 2018) is focsing on new archaeological evidences of the cult of Mithras in the Danubian provinces. A CIMRM Supplement of Dacia was published recently in the volume.

2019

• I presented my project and the results of my PhD studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Affiliation from Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvári Akadémiai Bizottság) at 8th March, 2019.
• The results of my research focusing on Roman religious communication and space sacralisation in Dacia was presented in April 2019 at the ICS London as part of the ending conference of the Sanctuary Project. The new project was be mentioned too.
• My book focusing on space sacralisation in Dacia was presented at the University of Szeged on 26th April, 2019.
• I presented a paper on space sacralisation as a strategy of Roman religious communication in the Danubian provinces at an international conference organized by the CRS CEU and the University of Szeged on 13th June 2019.
• A short overview on the historiography of Roman religious studies on the Danubian provinces was submitted for the anniversary volume of the Belgrade Institute of Archaeology and will be published in the end of 2019.
• Considering the popularisation of science and scholarly work as one of my priorities in Romania and beyond, I have published a  booklet for the greater public, presenting for the first time the Roman gods of Dacia in a form of an illustrated dictionary. A Hungarian version of the book is in preparation.
• In the period of 13th August – 13th September 2019 I had a short research stay in Rome  at the Accademia di Romania and several other libraries, focusing on space sacralisation and sanctuaries in Raetia (financed by the OTKA PD postdoctoral research grant and the Hasso Plattner individual research scholarship by ULBS)
• On 25th October 2019. I have presented a paper about the role of food and feasts in Roman religious communication in the Danubian provinces at the international conference on Histories of Food in Central-East Europe in Sibiu.
• On 7th November 2019 I presented a paper on continuities and reinventing religious traditions in the Danubian provinces at the international conference organized by UAIC and LAD in Iasi, Romania.
• Ten reviews were published of my book on Sanctuaries in Roman Dacia in 3 years: A review was published in ARYS nr. 17, 2019. Another important review of the same book was published in Bryn Mawr. A Romanian review was published recently and a short overview of my work was mentioned also in the prestigious JRS. A second Romanian review was published in Cercetari Arhelogice. A Croatian review appeared in 2019 and a Polish review was published in 2020. A review was published in the prestigious American Journal of Archaeology. The review of C. Moser was published in JRA in 2020. A review of a Hungarian colleague was published in 2021.

2020

• A short study on Roman religion in urban context during the Principate was recently published in the Festschrift volume of prof. Zsolt Visy.
• A popularizing article focusing on the archaeology of the Danubian provinces was published in the Erdélyi Krónika journal.
• A study focusing on the role of nature in religious communication in Dacia was published in a volume edited by R. Haeussler and  G. F. Chiai.
• An article focusing on the digital databases on Roman Dacia was published in the volume 7/2, 2020 of the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology.
• A study focusing on the history of the notion of Danubian provinces was published in July 2020 in the journal Transilvania.
• A programatic study focusing on the methodological approach on mapping Roman religion was published in autumn 2020 in the European Journal of Science and Theology, vol. 16, nr. 5. 2020.
• A catalogue of sanctuaries in Roman Dacia – which serves as a methodological model for my catalogue of other provinces – was recently published in the RGZM Jahrbuch nr. 62.

2021

• A study focusing on appropriations in religious life during the Antonine Plague was published in early 2021 focusing on the cult of Glycon which was well attested in the Danubian provinces too.
• In the end of 2020 I have published a short article on the role of the healing sanctuaries in intra – and extra-provincial religious mobilities and pilgrimages in the Danubian provinces.
• A study focusing on the historiography of Roman religion in Central-East Europe  was published as Csaba Szabó, Roman Religious Communications in the Danubian Provinces. Historiography and New Perspectives, in Ancient Cult in Balkans through Archaeological Findings and Iconography, ed. S. Petković, N. Gavrilović Vitas, Belgrade 2020. 159-172. ISBN 978-86-80094-12-0.
• Partial results of my project were presented this week on the international conference of the ERC Advanced Grant project Mappinggods: Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean. Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries International Colloquium 10-12 Feb 2021 Toulouse (France).
• My public lecture on Religious Glocalisation in the Danubian provinces from 25th March 2021 is available online.
• A study entitled “Sacralised spaces of Mithras in Roman Dacia” was published in the Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae in August 2021.
• A Hungarian article focusing on the conteporary approaches of archaeology of religion was  published in the Korunk journal, nr. 7. from 2021.
• Partial results of the quantitative analysis (big data) of the votive epigraphic material from the Danubian provinces were presented at a local conference organised by the Center of Roman Studies from the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj at 1st September 2021.
• A paper focusing on the materiality of religion in Roman Danubian provinces was presented at the International conference entitled “Materiality of religion in CEE” organised by the Department of Religious Studies, at the University of Szeged between 24-25th September 2021.
• An international conference focusing on the archaeology of sanctuaries in the Danubian provinces took place on 15-16th October 2021 organised by the Department of Religious Studies (as part of the OTKA postdoctoral project) and the ÖAW. Program here. My paper – and the detailed summary of my project and the preliminary results – you can listen here.
• A study focusing on the Egyptianizing materials of Roman religious communication in the Western provinces of the Danubian region was published in November 2021.
• A study focusing on space sacralisation in antiquity and the case study of Roman Dacia was published in the end of November 2021 in  nr. 3/2021 of the journal Transylvania Review.
• I had a lecture on the so-called Oriental (Orientalised) Roman cults at the Department of Ancient History of the University of Szeged on 24th November 2021. The lecture is available online (in Hungarian).
• A chapter focusing on the cult of Mithras in Apulum was published in the bilingual exhibition catalogue  entitled Laurent Bricault, Richard Veymiers and Nicolas Amoroso (dir.), Le Mystère Mithra. Plongée au cœur d’un culte romain. Catalogue de l’exposition, Morlanwelz, Musée royal de Mariemont, 2021.
• The major results of the project will be published in a monograph, the very first book ever written focusing on a glocal approach of Roman reliigon in the Danubian provinces. The book entitled “Roman Religion in the Danubian Provinces: Space Sacralisation and Religious Communication During the Principate” submitted on 31st October will be published by Oxbow Books in spring 2022.

2022

• A lecture focusing on the Representation of women in Roman religious epigraphy in the Danubian provinces was presented at a conference organised by the Department of Ancient History of the University of Szeged on 30th March 2022.
• A lecture presenting the role of baths and water sanctuaries as religious thirdspaces and boundaries will be presented at 7-8th April 2022 in Split at the TRAC International Conference. 
• Paper presented (video presentation) on the Sanctuaries of Roman Raetia at the conference dedicated In Memoriam Bajusz István, Targu-Mures-Marosvásárhely, 19-20th May 2022.
• First launch of the monograph of the project: 30th May 2022, Central European University, Vienna. All details here. 
• Second launch of the book – with the monograph of Nadezda Gavrilovic from 2021 – was presented on 2nd June 2022 at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Szeged.
• Third book launch was organised by the Astra Municipal Library, Sibiu in Romania on 10th June 2022.
• On 1st September 2022 I hold the Keynote lecture at the international conference Sapiens Ubique Civis IX at the Department of Classical Philology, University of Szeged on 3 narrative votive inscriptions from the Danubian provinces.
• On 13th September 2022 I presented a paper on the ecology, history and religion of the river Danube at the Swedish Institute of Athens as part of the Living Streams international workshop.
• On 16th September 2022 I presented a paper on Space sacralisation in the mithraea of Dacia and Pannonia Inferior at the international conference “Contesting “Oriental” Cults” organised by the Faculty of Humanities, Zagreb. 
• In the period of 21-25th November I had a course at the University of Vienna, Department of Religious studies focusing on Roman religion in the Danubian provinces, based on my research and book.
• On 29th November 2022 I have a lecture in Graz, organised by the Resonance Program of the Max Weber Kolleg Erfurt and the University of Graz. Topic: Glocalisation and Roman religion in the Danubian provinces.

Several works directly related to the project are in preparation, forthcoming or already in press. The following works will be published in 2022 or 2023 where the name of the project will be mentioned:

1.  Spaces of Reinvented Religious Traditions in the Danubian Provinces. In: Corinne Bonnet et al. (éd.), Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2022, 691-705. DOI: 10.1515/9783110798432-036.
2.   Sacralisations of space in the Danubian provinces during the Principate. In: Woolf, Greg et al. (ed.), Sanctuaries and Experience: Knowledge, Practice and Space in the Ancient World. Forthcoming.
3.  Religion in the making in Roman Dacia. Religious communication in the frontiers of the Roman Empire. In: Proceedings of the XXIII Limeskongress, Belgrade, Forthcoming.
4.  The reception of Roman Mithras in Transylvania in the 18 th -19 th century,  La Revista de Historiografía (RevHisto), 37, 2022, 249-271.
5.  Csaba Szabó, Az örök Dacia mítosza. A dákoromán kontinuitás metahistóriája a kortárs román régészet- és történettudományban. [The myth of Dacia Aeterna. The metahistory of Dacian-Roman continuity in the contemporary Romanian historiography]. In: Történelmi Szemle 64, 1/2022, 5-21.
6.   Sanctuaries in Raetia: space sacralisation in Roman religion at the edges of the Roman Empire. In: Cercetari Arheologice, 2022, 29, 63-82.
7. Géza Alföldy and the study of Roman religion. In: Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae  61, nr. 2, 2022, 1-14.
8.  Szabó Csaba, Nők és isteneik. Női reprezentáció a római vallás epigráfiai forrásaiban a dunai provinciákban. In: Nők az ókorban. Konferencia-kötet, Acta Antiqua et Archaeologica, Supplementum XVI. Szerkesztette: Székely Melinda és Dávid Nóra. Szeged 2022, 62-72.
9.  Mystery cults in the Central Balkan Roman provinces. In: Bowden, Hugh – Rassia-Iliana, Aikatarini (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Ancient Mystery Cults, Oxford, Oxford Univerity Press, in preparation.
10.  I. Introduction: Space sacralisation in the Danubian provinces. In: Csaba Szabó – Christian Gugl (eds.), Sanctuaries in the Danubian provinces. Interdisciplinary dialogues in archaeology of religion, Brill, Boston-Leiden, in preparation.
11.  Naming the gods in the Danubian provinces: divine agency in religious communication. In: Csaba Szabó – Christian Gugl (eds.), Sanctuaries in the Danubian provinces. Interdisciplinary dialogues in archaeology of religion, Brill, Boston-Leiden, in preparation.

In the period of November 2018 and January 2022 I have published 1 monograph, 11 studies and 1 popularising articles which mention the name of the project. 5 more published in February-November 2022 and 4 more are in press. Number of total publications (including reviews) from this period: 29. Number of academic, independent citations in the period of 2018-2022: 67.

The digital atlas was completed in late autumn of 2022