ebook img

An Introduction to Roman Religion PDF

241 Pages·2003·49.354 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview An Introduction to Roman Religion

An Introduction to Roman Religion Thisbookisdedicatedtothosewhofirstsawittakingshape. An Introduction to Roman Religion John Scheid Translated by Janet Lloyd Edinburgh University Press First published in English 2003 by Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 GeorgeSquare,Edinburgh Translation # Janet Lloyd,2003 Transferred to Digital Print 2010 First published in Franceas La religion des Romans # Armand Colin/Masson, Paris, 1998 Typeset in Bembo and CenturyGothic by Bibliocraft Ltd, Dundee Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne ACIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7486 1607 1 (hardback) ISBN 0 7486 1608 X(paperback) The right of JohnScheid to be identified as author of thiswork has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs andPatents Act 1988. CONTENTS List of text boxes vii Publisher’s acknowledgement viii Introduction 1 PART 1 QUESTIONSOF METHODOLOGY Chapter 1 Problems and problematics 5 Chapter 2 Definitions, concepts, difficulties 18 Chapter 3 Ritual and its formulations 30 PART II STRUCTURES Chapter 4 The division of time: calendars, rituals, regular festivals 41 Chapter 5 Thedivision of space:temples, sanctuaries and other sacred places 60 PART III RELIGIOUS RITUALS Chapter 6 Sacrifice 79 Chapter 7 Auspices and rituals of divination 111 PART IV THE ACTORS Chapter 8 Priestly figures 129 Chapter 9 The double life of the Roman gods 147 PART V EXEGESESAND SPECULATIONS Chapter 10 Interpretations of Roman religion 173 Chronology 193 Principal people 213 Glossary 216 Further reading 219 Index 226 LISTOFTEXTBOXES Some perspectives that, for many years, determined the modern view of Roman religion 6 Definitions of religion 20 Impiety according to the Romans 27 Examples of the decoding of ritual actions and gestures 33 The natural year according to Eudoxus of Cnidus and Varro 43 The principal Roman civic calendars 45 An account of a public sacrifice 86 Two private sacrifices 92 Auguries and auspices 114 The public priests of Rome under the Republic 134 The public priests of Rome under the Empire 136 A selection of the public Roman deities 155 Diui and diuae who received cults in Rome 160 PUBLISHER’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Edinburgh University Press wish to thank Lady Lloyd for translating the book, Dr Mary Beard for her work in prepar- ing the book for English-speaking readers, the author for his help during both processes, and the French Ministry of Culture for the award of a subvention towards the cost of translation. Introduction Roman religion does not speak for itself, although we might imagine that it did. Rome is no more, and its culture and religion long dead, but we still use the same religious vocabulary. ‘Religion’, ‘piety’, ‘deity’, ‘sacrifice’, ‘ritual’, superstition’, ‘temple’ and ‘altar’ are all words that have survived down the centuries. That continuity alone seems to guarantee that no misunderstanding is possible. Yet this apparent closeness to us masks many differences. Western culture may still today be the legacy of Rome, but thatdoes notmean thattheRomanswerejust likeourselves. Onmanypoints,inparticularreligion,theRomanswerevery differentfromus.Besides,eventheterm‘theRomans’covers amultitudeofpeople,identitiesandcultures.What,afterall, was a Roman? A citizen of Rome itself or of Latium? And in whatperiod?AtthetimeofthePunicWars,atthebeginning of the common era, or under the Empire? The cultural identity of a ‘Roman’ differed from one period to another. From the first century BC onward, he might have been a native of a city in Italy – a city in Umbria, Etruria or Magna Graecia – and soon even of a city overseas. Under the Empire, there were ‘Romans’ throughout the Roman world; some were descended from emigrants from Rome and Italy, others were naturalised foreigners (peregrini). Did they all share the same culture? Nor should we forget that Roman citizens represented a definite minority of the inhabitants of the Roman world. Up until the first century BC even most of the free inhabitants of Italy were excluded from full citizen- ship,andonlyinAD212didallfreeperegrinibecomeRoman citizens.And,ofcourse,alltheseextensionsofcitizenshipdid

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.