Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods

352 Pages·2005·1.68 MB·English

by  Jason P. Davies

Rome’sReligiousHistory
This book explores the way in which three ancient historians, writing in
Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the past. Although pre-
vious scholarship has generally portrayed these writers as somewhat dis-
missive of traditional Roman religion, it is argued here that Livy, Tacitus
and Ammianus saw themselves as being very close to the centre of those
traditions. The gods are presented as a potent historical force, and a close
readingofthehistorians’textseasilybearsoutthisconclusion.Theirtreat-
mentofthegodsisnotlimitedtoportrayingtheroleandpowerofthedivine
in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the negotiation with the
readerconcerningwhatconstituteda‘proper’religioussystem.Priestsand
otherreligiousexpertsfunctionasanindexofthedecline(orrestoration)of
Rome and each writer formulates a sophisticated position on the practical
andsocialaspectsofRomanreligion.
JASON P. DAVIES isaResearchFellowattheDepartmentofEducation
andProfessionalDevelopment,UniversityCollegeLondon.

Rome’s Religious History:
Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus
on their Gods
JASON P. DAVIES
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521834827
© Jason P. Davies 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2004
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-83482-7 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-04791-3 paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2008
Contents
Acknowledgements pagevii
Noteonthetexts ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Religionanditsreception 1
1.2 Historiography 12
1.3 Religionandhistoriography 17
2 LivyandtheinventionofRomanreligion 21
2.1 ThereceptionofLivy 21
2.2 Actualityofphenomena 27
2.3 Interpretation 61
2.4 Choice 78
3 GodsandmeninLivy 86
3.1 Introduction 86
3.2 Explanation 86
3.3 Theagencyofthegods 96
3.4 Interpretationandpower 123
3.5 Conclusions 138
4 TacitusandtherestorationofRome 143
4.1 Religiouscategories 144
4.2 Tacitus:amanofdistinctions 153
4.3 Conclusions 221
5 Ammianusandafinalsettlement 226
5.1 Introduction 226
5.2 AreligionforRome 236
5.3 ThefundamentalsofAmmianus’Romanreligion 265
5.4 AmmianusandtheRomantradition 282
v
vi Contents
6 Conclusions 286
Bibliography 292
Indexlocorum 319
Subjectindex 333
Acknowledgements
Soleauthorshipisamarvellousfictionifthismonographisanythingtogo
by and these Acknowledgements will exhaust the synonyms for ‘generos-
ity’.Countlessblundersanderrorsofalesserorderhavebeenpointedout
tomeateverystage,aswellasinsightstoonumeroustolist,fromthedays
whenthiswasadoctoralthesis,throughtoitspresentform.ProfessorJohn
North’sunstintingsupport,whetherassupervisororfriend,throughthelast
decadeorsomadethetaskconsiderablyeasierthanitmightotherwisehave
been.C.RobertPhillipsIII,anunofficialsupervisorifevertherewasone,
shamedmerepeatedlywithhisattentivereadingofthemanydrafts.Imust
also thank Christina Kraus for her endless efforts to improve on almost
every version. Emma Dench and Denis Feeney made the generous transi-
tionfromexaminerstosupportiveadvisers,andGavinKellyreadtheproofs
andofferedhumblingsuggestionsontheentirework,notjusttherequested
Ammianus chapter: like all the others, his pertinent observations made a
considerable difference. The insightful Press readers also found consider-
ableroomforimprovement,forwhichIamgrateful.
A substantial debt of gratitude is owed also to Rhiannon Ash, Rebecca
Flemming, Alan Griffiths, David Levene, John Marincola, Gary Miles,
Stephen Oakley, Susan Palmer-Jones, Christopher Pelling, Russell Shone,
CharlesStewartandallthestaffattheLibraryoftheInstituteofClassical
StudiesinLondon.Innumerableothersmadeoftenvitalcontributions.
Much of the rewriting was undertaken during a fellowship at the Well-
come Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, in tandem with a
widermedicallyorientatedreligiousproject:ProfessorsVivianNuttonand
HalCookprovidedanenviableworkingenvironment,asdidAlan‘punctu-
ation’Shiel,DebraScallanandGwynGriffiths.DominicWujastyk,alsoof
theCentre,initiatedapoorstudentintoLATEX,whichmadetheproduction
ofthefinalversionmuchmoreefficient.Themanuscriptwasfinallycom-
pleted during a Research Fellowship in the Department of Education and
ProfessionalDevelopmentatUCLaspartoftheinterdisciplinaryprojecton
EvidencefundedbytheLeverhulmeTrustandtheERSC.
vii
viii Acknowledgements
Theresearchunderpinningthebookcouldnothavebeenpossiblewith-
outBBEdit,fromBareBonesSoftware,whosetechnicalsupportstaff,both
pastandpresent,enabledmetokeeptrackofthehundredsofdifferentref-
erences required to discuss the religious material and produce the various
manuscripts:special(butfarfromexclusive)thanksgotoChristianSmith
inthisregard.Anotherprogram,NisusWriter,wasindispensableformuch
ofthewriting,notleastbyvirtueoftheexpertassistanceofYusuke‘Kino’
Kinoshita. The final burden, of publication, was shared generously by the
variousofficersofCambridgeUniversityPresstowhomIalsoowethanks.
In the face of such assistance, the only part of the work for which I
can claim sole responsibility is the errors. Last and never least, my wife
Wendy and elder son Ryan showed their patience with the long-term loan
of husband or father to this project, and baby Jack’s smiles also made the
taskalighterone.
Finally,Imustthankmymother,F.HilaryEcclestone.
Note on the texts
Since the editions offered no consistency, spelling has been standardised
(i.e.‘u’for‘v’and‘V’for‘U’).Lowercaseforthefirstletterofasentence
hasalsobeenappliedthroughout,notwithstandingtheeditionsused.
ForLivythefollowingtextshavebeenused:
1–10OxfordClassicalTexts:
1–5Ogilvie(1974)
6–10Walters&Conway(1919)
21–45Teubner:
21–22Dorey(1971)
23–25Dorey(1976)
26–27Walsh(1982)
29–30Walsh(1986)
31–40Briscoe(1991:2vols.)
41–45Briscoe(1986)
ForTacitus:
Teubner(botheditedbyHeubner):
Annals(1983)
Histories(1978)
ForAmmianus:
Teubner(Seyfarth:2vols.,1978)
ix