Abstract

In recent years, the term «diaspora» has undergone a semantic inflation owing to the success of diaspora studies. Accordingly, to investigate the relationship between religion and diaspora in a comparative historical-religious perspective, one must first address this problem of definition (par. 1) and reflect on its history (par. 2). Using methodological considerations relating to the relationship between religion (monotheistic or polytheistic) and the diasporic phenomenon, this article examines the case of ancient religions, dwelling in particular on the Phoenician (par. 3) and Zoroastrian diasporas (par. 4), and concludes with a proposedtypology distinguishing religious diaspora and diasporic religion (par. 5).