Pantheon

From one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, an innovative and comprehensive account of religion in the ancient Roman and Mediterranean world In this ambitious and authoritative book, Jörg Rüpke provides a comprehensive and strikingly original narrative history of ancient Roman and Mediterranean religion over more than a millennium—from the late Bronze Age through the Roman imperial period and up to late antiquity. While focused primarily on the city of Rome, Pantheon fully integrates the many religious traditions found in the Mediterranean world, including Judaism and Christianity. This generously illustrated book is also distinguished by its unique emphasis on lived religion, a perspective that stresses how individuals’ experiences and practices transform religion into something different from its official form. The result is a radically new picture of Roman religion and of a crucial period in Western religion—one that influenced Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and even the modern idea of religion itself.

It’s been ten years since the Great Enhancement, and the world still hasn’t recovered. Superhero tropes from the world before the Enhancement, which Reine, a thief, had never lived in, split their morality into black and white. The metahumans hired by the government to hunt their own became “heroes,” and the rest were forced into the role of villains. When Reine’s parents are killed after trying to rob a metahero’s mansion—a murder justified in every right and law—she must make her own justice in a world where the lines between right and wrong are corrupt and unclear. Even if it means she has to join forces with the most powerful metavillain in North America, Pantheon, by enlisting at his school for villains-in-training. Reine’s new roommate at Pantheon’s Academy is an outcast named Sky. Blamed for the death of her father—a powerful metavillain who many looked up to—Sky sees the newcomer Reine as a source of redemption: by betraying Reine, Sky will prove to her peers that she is a ruthless metavillain worthy of respect. However, the more the two get to know each other, the more complicated things become. And with metaheroes closing in on the Academy, Starflight at the helm, unlikely alliances must be made if either student is able to prevail. Reine and Sky, both friends and foes, soon find themselves on similar paths leading into the dangerous unknown.

The institution of the pantheon has come a long way from its classical origins. Invented to describe a temple dedicated to many deities, the term later became so far removed from its original meaning, that by the twentieth century, it has been able to exist independently of any architectural and sculptural monument. This collection of essays is the first to trace the transformation of the monumental idea of the pantheon from its origins in Greek and Roman antiquity to its later appearance as a means of commemorating and enshrining the ideals of national identity and statehood. Illuminating the emergence of the pantheon in a range of different cultures and periods by exploring its different manifestations and implementations, the essays open new historical perspectives on the formation of national and civic identities.

Millions play Hi-Rez Studios' SMITE--a Massive Online Battle Arena game where gods from any different Pantheons fight it out to determine the fate of both the godly realm, and our own world. Revealed here is the never before told tale of how the conflict between the gods began--from the assassination of Zeus in Olympus, to the goddess Hel tricking Thor into leading an army against her own father Loki, to the death of Ares and the plunging of the Pantheons into all-out war! Be a god. Choose a side. Save the world . . . or destroy it! Millions play the game, and this is the first time the backstory has been told!