Acknowledgements

We started working on this volume in early 2020, shortly after the world came to an abrupt halt. We owe our gratitude first and foremost to our families who supported (and endured) our research endeavours through numerous lockdowns and a global pandemic. This work is dedicated to them.

There are many people who contributed to this volume in a number of ways. The past and present editors of the Ancient Religion and Cognition series, Esther Eidinow and Tom Harrison, supported us throughout the publication process – we could not have asked for more helpful, dedicated, and kind individuals. Many thanks to Michael Sharp and Katie Idle at Cambridge University Press who have been very generous and supportive along the way, and to our anonymous peer reviewers who provided invaluable feedback. We are deeply grateful to Thorsten Opper and the team at the British Museum, Carlotta Caruso and the Museo Nazionale Romano Baths of Diocletian museum, and Mojca Vomer Gojkovič and the Pokrajinski muzej Ptuj-Ormož, who allowed excellent access to materials in their collections.

Our gratitude is also extended to many scholars who we may not have met in person, but who have influenced our own scholarship and inspired this work, notably Armin W. Geertz, Dimitris Xygalatas, Harvey Whitehouse, Jörg Rüpke, Angelos Chaniotis, and Douglas Cairns.

The research in this volume was originally presented as part of a TRAC panel in 2019, and we appreciated the opportunity to present to such an innovative and engaged audience. The present chapters have evolved significantly based on suggestions and discussions between contributors that took place both during and after this panel. These discussions played a key role in shaping the content of this volume and illustrating the strengths of dynamic and diverse approaches to rituals and lived experiences. We are greatly indebted to the contributors of this volume without whose kindness, patience, and stellar scholarship this volume would not be possible.

Last but not least, we thank you, dear reader.