This study presents 39 brief essays that survey the ritual world of the ancient and medieval worlds. Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, the commissioned articles examine the emotions behind ritual, the organisation of rituals, mistakes and errors in the execution of rituals, ritual as a tool for political expansion, ritual as an expression of power, and the criticism of rituals. The geographical and chronological range is broad, with articles covering the rituals, beliefs, priests, religious texts and religious politics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece and Rome, Carolingian Europe and medieval Germany.