Pantheon: A New History of Roman Religion

573 Pages·2018·109.85 MB·English

by  Jörg Rüpke

Pantheon

Pantheon
A New History of Roman Religion
Jörg Rüpke
Translated by
David M. B. Richardson
Princeton University Press
Princeton & Oxford
Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
This is a translation of Pantheon, by Jörg Rüpke, © Verlag C. H. Beck oHG,
München 2016
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Jacket design by Chris Ferrante
Jacket photograph © Pino D’Amico
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Rüpke, Jörg, author.
Title: Pantheon : a new history of Roman religion / Jörg Rüpke ; translated by
David M. B. Richardson.
Other titles: Pantheon. En glish
Description: Prince ton, N.J. : Prince ton University Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017015360 | ISBN 9780691156835 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Rome— Religion. | Religions— History. | Religion— History.
Classification: LCC BL803 .R84513 2018 | DDC 292.07— dc23 LC rec ord
available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2017015360
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Arno Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
I A History of Mediterranean Religion 1
1 What Is Meant by a History of Mediterranean Religion? 1
2 Religion 5
3 Facets of Religious Competence 11
4 Religion as a Strategy at the Level of the Individual 21
II Revolutions in Religious Media in Iron Age Italy:
The Ninth to Seventh Centuries BC 24
1 The Special 24
2 The Transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age in the
Mediterranean Region 28
3 Ritual Deposits 35
4 Burials 39
5 Gods, Images, and Banquets 47
III Religious Infrastructure: The Seventh to the Fifth
Centuries BC 55
1 Houses for Gods 55
2 Temples and Altars? 63
3 Dynamics of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries 73
v
vi Contents
IV Religious Practices: The Sixth to Third Centuries BC 83
1 The Use of Bodies 83
2 Sacralization 95
3 Complex Rituals 99
4 Stories and Images 103
V The Appropriation and Shaping of Religious Practices
by Religious Actors: The Fifth to First Centuries BC 109
1 Heterarchy and Aristocracy 109
2 Priests 115
3 Distinction 122
4 Banquet Culture 130
5 Mass Communication 136
6 The Divine 151
VI Speaking and Writing about Religion: The Third
to First Centuries BC 158
1 The Textuality of Ritual 158
2 Observation of Self and of the Other 163
3 Systematization 172
VII The Redoubling of Religion in the Augustan Saddle
Period: The First Century BC to the First Century AD 183
1 Restoration as Innovation 183
2 Religion in Space 196
3 The Redoubling of Religion 201
VIII Lived Religion: The First to Second Centuries AD 211
1 Individuals in Their Relationship with the World 212
2 Home and Family 216
3 Learning Religion 224
Contents vii
4 Places Where Religion Was Experienced 226
5 Domestic Gods 247
6 Lived Religion Rather Than Domestic Cult 255
IX New Gods: The First Century BC to the
Second Century AD 262
1 Background 262
2 Isis and Serapis 264
3 Augusti: Initiatives 272
4 The Self 289
5 Résumé 292
X Experts and Providers: The First to Third Centuries AD 296
1 Religious Authority 296
2 Experts Male and Female 300
3 “Public” Priests and Religious Innovation 307
4 Prophetesses and Visionaries 310
5 Founders of Religion 313
6 Changes 319
XI Notional and Real Communities: The First
to Third Centuries AD 327
1 Textual Communities 329
2 Narratives 340
3 Historization and the Origin of Christianity 348
4 Religious Experiences and Identities 358
XII Demarcations and Modes of Community:
The Third to Fourth Centuries AD 364
1 The Market Value of Religious Knowledge 364
2 Political Actors 369
viii Contents
3 The Treatment of Difference 377
4 The Competitive Scene 382
XIII Epilogue 386
Notes 391
References 439
Index 535
List of Illustrations
1. Mnajdra (Malta), Neolithic temple 31
2. Ash urn, Vulci, ca. 800 – 750 BC 40
3. Tumuli tombs at Cerveteri/Caere 42
4. Benvenuti Situla, detail, ca. 600 BC 49
5. Stone figures, Cerveteri, 700– 650 BC 50
6. Palace of Murlo/Pioggio Civitate, reconstruction 51
7. Bronze lituus from Caere 53
8. Numa with lituus on denarius of Pomponius
Molo, 97 BC 53
9. Plan of Satricum, the archaic phase 56
10. Terracotta model of early Greek temple, ca. eighth
century BC 59
11. Terracotta, Temple of Mater Matuta at Satricum,
ca. 490 BC 62
12. Stele with relief from Marzabotto 69
13. Arula from Roselle, Etruria, fourth– second century BC 71
14. Terracotta plaque with galloping horsemen, ca. 530 BC 81
15. Terracotta statues of women, Lavinium, fifth century BC 85
16. Terracotta intestines and uterus, third to second
century BC, Etruria 88
17. Pietas, reverse of a sestertius of Antoninus Pius, AD 138 91
ix