The Rules of the House (of Gods): Administrative and Ritual Norms of the Palmyrene Temples

Abstract

The epigraphic record from Palmyra brings light on the organization of the temples: personnel, management of feasts, economy and on the ritual practices towards certain deities like Allat and Shai ‘al-Qaum. These texts were previously called in the research literature “sacred laws”and what the scholarly debate nowadays labels with the term “ritual norms.”The aim of this paper, divided on the temple economy and personnel, and ritual behavior, is to understand through the scraps of information the administration of the Palmyrene temples and processes which shaped the life in the places of worship.