Purpose and Structure of the ThesCRA

An extensive work about cults and rites.

The ThesCRA (Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum) documents the evidence of classical antiquity concerning religious rituals and makes them accessible for research and to a wider public. Until its publication, there was no work of reference of this kind with systematic information on the cults and rites of classical antiquity. The ThesCRA covers equally the iconographic representations of cults and rites, the literary sources and the realia, treating images, monuments and texts on the same level. The ThesCRA presents the current state of research including the unsolved problems. Scholars from different fields have collaborated in the ThesCRA.

The ThesCRA is not an alphabetic lexicon; it is arranged according to groups of themes each consisting of distinct chapters. Its main structure shows three levels:

dynamic elements, activities: ritual activities such as procession, sacrifice, banquets, purification, prayer and divination.
static elements: the places of cult with their constructions, the cult-personnel including instruments of cult and decoration.
context and circumstances of cultic and ritual activities.

ThesCRA consists of eight volumes and one index, published between 2004 and 2012 by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; a general Index in preparation:

Volume I: XXII-450 p., 33 illustrations, 139 plates (2004);
Volume II: XXIV-507 p., 50 illustrations, 117 plates (2004);
Volume III: XX-434 p., 37 illustrations, 72 plates (2005);
Volume IV: XX-487 p., 202 illustrations, 60 plates (2005);
Volume V: XXII-503 p., 39 illustrations, 67 plates (2005);
Index of museums, collections and sites (volumes I-V): XVI-169p. (2006);
Volume VI: XXVI-423p., 52 illustrations, 126 plates (2011);
Volume VII: XX-272p., 29 illustrations, 35 plates (2011);
Volume VIII: XX-470p., 52 illustrations, 72 plates (2011);
General Index in preparation.

206 authors from 18 countries have collaborated on ThesCRA with contributions in French, English, Italian and German.

The plan of the ThesCRA is as follows:

Introduction

DYNAMIC ELEMENTS, ACTIVITIES

Volume I	1.		Processions
	2.	a.	Sacrifices
		b.	Libation
		c.	Fumigations
		d.	Offerings
Volume II	3.	a.	Purification
		b.	Consecration
		c.	Initiation
		d.	Heroization and apotheosis
	4.	a.	Banquet
		b.	Dance
		c.	Music
	5.		Rites and activities related to cult images
Volume III	6.	a.	Divination
		b.	Prayer, gestures and acts of prayer
		c.	Gestures and acts of veneration
		d.	Hikesia
		e.	Asylia
		f.	Oath
		g.	Malediction
		h.	Profanation
		i.	Magic rituals

STATIC ELEMENTS
Volume IV	1.	a.	Cult places
		b.	Representations of cult places
Volume V	2.	a.	Personnel of cult
		b.	Cult instruments

CONTEXT AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF CULTIC AND RITUAL ACTIVITIES
Volume VI	1.		Stages and circumstance of life
		a.	Birth and infancy
		b.	Childhood and adolescence
		c.	Marriage
		d.	Old age
		e.	Death and burial
		f.	Health, illness, medecine
		g.	Good fortune and misfortune
	2.		Work, hunting, travel
		a.	Agriculture
		b.	Artisanary, trade
		c.	Hunting
		d.	Fishing
		e.	Travel by land
		f.	Traval by sea
			Addendum to volume II: 1.e. Music, Greek
Volume VII	3.		Festivals and contests
Volme VIII	4.		Private Space and public space
		a.	Private/public
		b.	Domestic cults
		c.	Public cults
		d.	Associations and colleges
		e.	Institutions (incl. army)
		f.	Monetary economy
		g.	Law
		h.	Politics, diplomacy
		i.	War
	5.		Polarities in religion life
		a.	Male/Female
		b.	Inclusion/exclusion
			Religious interrelations between the classical world and neighbouring civilisations
		1.	Near East
		2.	Egypt
		3.	Scythia
		4.	Thrace
		5.	Gaul and Germania
		6.	Iberian world
			Addendum to volume VI: 1.e. Death and burial, Greek IV
			Supplement: Animals and plants

Index of museums, collections and sites (volumes I-V)

General index (volumes I-VIII)

The ThesCRA is a publication of the Foundation for the LIMC. Its financing is secured by the institutions that are members of the Foundation Council. The essential scholarly material is compiled by the scholars responsible for the different chapters. In this process the documentation already existing in the archives of the Foundation is used - the result of more than a quarter-century of international collaboration of the member states of the International Scientific Committee. The realization of the publication is supervised by the Editorial Board, the editing is done in the Central Editorial Office in Basel with the collaboration of the three connected editorial offices in Athens, Paris and Heidelberg/Würzburg.

In 2001 the Foundation for the LIMC organized a conference on cults and rites and subsequently published its results in:
Linant de Bellefonds, P. (ed.), Rites et cultes dans le monde antique, Cahiers de la Villa «Kérylos», no 12 (2002).

In collaboration with the Departement Altertumswissenschaften of the University of Basel, the Foundation for the LIMC organized at Basel two conferences:

Religion. Lehre und Praxis, Akten des Kolloquiums, Basel, 22. Oktober 2004, Archaiognosia, Supplementband 8 (2009).
Grenzen in Ritual und Kult der Antike, Internationales Kolloquium, Basel, 5.-6. November 2009 (publication in preparation).