Book Review of Rural Cult Centres in the Hauran: Part of the Broader Network of the Near East (100 BC–AD), by Francesca Mazzilli

Abstract

This book on the cultic places of villages in southern Syria and northern Jordan, based partly on a doctoral thesis completed at Durham University (“Beyond Religion: Cultural Exchange and Economy in Northern Phoenicia and the Hauran, Syria,” 2014), aims to reconsider the impressive number of rural sanctuaries—57 of them—in the region of the Hauran from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The author’s term “cult centre” turns the reader’s attention to human activities in the ancient sanctuaries, perceived as vibrant places.