Networks in the Ancient World: Dissemination of Mithraic Communities in the Roman Empire
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This paper explores the possible merits of two theoretical approaches which might contribute to the clarification of the long-term problem of the origins of the Roman cult of Mithras. The first of these approaches is a network theory which has recently been applied, with impressive results, to many aspects of the ancient world. This paper will argue that especially the model for a small world network and the hypotheses highlighting the importance of so called "weak links" for the dissemination of cultural innovations can have a huge impact on our understanding of the social dynamics of the Roman Cult of Mithras. The second theoretical approach involves computational modeling, taking into account various cognitive, social and ecological variables. It will be argued that this type of computational modeling can help to identify important connections between variables which would otherwise remain obscure for the traditional historically oriented research. |
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