Serving the Gods. Artists, Craftsmen, Ritual Specialists in the Ancient World 

In the ancient world, from Rome to Egypt, Mesopotamia and China, temples were the earthly dwellings of the gods. They also served as important religious, social and economic institutions and therefore were essential organs that influenced both society and economy. Temples demanded complex logistics. From the personnel aspect they required a variety of different specialists, not just ordinary priests. From the material perspective, they needed food supplies, animals for sacrifices, and building materials for construction and renovation. Ultimately, economic resources became visible in the form of financial outlays, landownership and stocks of luxury goods. Gods, like human kings, had their own needs: they demanded workers to serve them, but also material goods and regular supplies of food and drink. Through the texts (inscriptions, papyri, historical records), visual art and archaeological remains we can learn about the workforce of these sacred institutions. <i>Serving the Gods: Artists, Craftsmen, Ritual Specialists in the Ancient World</i> explores different aspects of serving the gods and temples, with a special focus on human and economic capital. One of the aims of the editors is to foster dialogue between different areas of research on antiquity, including civilizations beyond the Mediterranean region. The various contributions discuss topics such as the social status – ranging from elites to non-elites – of individuals, families, communities connected to different places of worship in different cultures, as well as the economy and organization of temples and their construction.