The experience of pilgrimage in the Roman Empire: communitas, paideiā, and piety-signaling

Abstract

: Pilgrimage of various types is well attested in the pre-Christian religions of the Roman Empire, but there is comparatively little evidence for the personal experiences of pilgrims. Some recent studies have argued that typical pilgrims of this period were members of the intellectual elite highly versed in literary culture (paideia) who saw sacred places as museums of Greek culture. In this paper, I try to reconstruct what we can about the experience of pilgrimage in early Roman Empire, looking at three cases studies: another by the frost so that they seemed like a continuous sheet of ice, and the water was such as is likely in such weather. When the divine manifestation (epiphanei ā ) was an-nounced friends escorted us and various doctors, some of them acquaintances and those who came either out of concern or even for the purpose of investigation ... When we reached the river there was no need for anyone to encourage us. But, being still full of warmth from the vision of the god, I cast off my clothes, and, not wanting a massage, I flung them where the river was deepest. Then as in a pool of very gentle and tempered water I passed my time swimming all about and splashing myself all over. When I came out, all my skin had a rosy hue, and there was a lightness throughout my body. There was also much shouting from those present and from those coming up, shouting the cele-brated phrase, ‘ Great is Asclepius ’ .