Maarten Jozef Vermaseren

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Maarten Jozef Vermaseren (born April 7, 1918 in Nijmegen , † September 9, 1985 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch historian of religion. As a successor to Franz Cumont, his specialty was the oriental cults in the Roman Empire.

After attending the Canisius College in Nijmegen, Vermaseren studied classical philology and archeology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen , interrupted by the deportation to Germany. After the war he lived in Rome for two years, where he worked as a newspaper correspondent and continued his studies. In 1948 he completed his studies, inspired by Ferdinand De Waele , with a corpus of all known monuments of the Mithras cult , from which the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae, published 1956-1960, emerged .

From 1948 to 1953 he was an assistant at the University of Utrecht , where he received his doctorate in 1951 with a thesis De Mithradienst in Rome . From 1953 to 1955 he taught ancient languages ​​at the Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap near Utrecht, and from 1958 to 1968 at the Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam. From 1968 to 1979 he was associate professor for the history of religion in Hellenism at the theological faculty of Utrecht University.

Since his studies, all of his scientific research has been focused on the oriental religions, especially Mithras , Cybele and Attis . 1952 to 1958 and 1964 to 1966 he carried out excavations in Rome in the Mithraeum under Santa Prisca . In 1959 he published his book Mithras de Geheimzinnige God (German Mithras. History of a cult , 1965), which, when translated into numerous languages, became the most important book on the Mithras cult for many decades. From 1961 he published the series Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Émpire romain , 103 volumes had appeared by his death. From 1977 to 1989 his Corpus cultus Cybelae Attidisque appeared in seven volumes .

literature

  • Homages to Maarten J. Vermaseren. Recueil d'études offert à l'occasion de son soixantième anniversaire le 7 avril 1978. 3 volumes. Brill, Leiden 1978 (vol. 1, pp. 1-7 list of publications).
  • Gabriël Sanders: In memoriam Maarten J. Vermaseren. In: Jaarboek Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van Belgie 47, 1985, pp. 309-317 (pp. 316-317 addendum to the list of publications).
  • Hermann Vetters : Maarten Jozef Vermaseren. In: Almanach of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 135, 1985, pp. 425–427.
  • Roelof van den Broek: In memoriam Maarten J. Vermaseren. In: Nederlands theologische tijdschrift 40, 1986, pp. 82–83.
  • Gabriël Sanders: Epigraphie et recherches sur les cultes orientaux à Rome. Maarten J. Vermaseren (1918-1985). In: Epigraphica 49, 1987, pp. 267-272.

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personal data
SURNAME Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vermaseren, Maarten J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch historian of religion
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Nijmegen
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1985
Place of death Amsterdam