The Consumption of Religion in Roman Karanis

This article takes a critical look at methodological questions when using artefacts of material culture in the history of religions: how were figurines typified in old excavations and how do we today decide between categorisation of objects as toys or religious objects? Drawing on artefacts excavated at Karanis in the 1930s and also including ethnographic evidence, the paper seeks to overcome the old dichotomy by taking into account the option of an amphibolous use of figurines, that is, a use vividly oscillating between the two alleged poles depending on agent and situation.