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Religions 11: What is Roman religion? Key concepts Chronological overview 753 BCE: Rome’s foundation: Romulus 753-509 BCE: Rome kingdom 509-27 BCE: Republic: battle between plebeians and patricians; Rome more powerful: expansion in Italy 340-338: Italian War 264-129 BC: three Punic Wars against Carthage Subjugation of Hellenistic world (from about 200 onwards): 168: Battle of Pydna: victory over Macedonia 148: Provincia Macedonia 146: Corinth destroyed 133-29: Rome conquers Pergamum (Asia Minor): provincia Asia 91-89: Social War of Italian cities against Rome: they all get Roman citizenship 88-79: Sulla restoration and dictator 60: first triumvirate: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar 58-50: Gallic conquest by Caesar 49-46: civil war, Caesar becomes dictator 44: Caesar killed 43: second triumvirate: Lepidus, Octavian and Mark Antony: O. wins: battle of Actium 31, battle of Actium; death of Cleopatra in 30 27 BCE (or 31): end of Republic, begin of Roman Empire, with Augustus as Emperor; Empire until Rhine/Danube Julio-Claudian emperors (27 BCE-68 CE): Claudius conquers Britain Flavian Emperors (69-96): Vespasian, Domitian Nerva and successors (96-138): Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian; Trajan conquers Dacia (Roumania) and Mesopotamia (briefly) Antonines (138-192): Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius: height of Empire 192-284: military emperors, third-century ‘crisis’ 284-305: Diocletian 306-337: Constantine the Great: Christian Empire 284-602: Late Antiquity 476: fall of Rome; East continues Terms Greek religion hieros, hagnos, hosios, hagios eusebeia asebeia latreia/threskeia sebesthai theous/ta nomizomena/nomizein tous theous etc. Roman religion sacer pietas impietas cultus religio Religio ‘obligation with respect to the divine’ a. negative: ‘prohibition’, e.g. it is the religio that non-initiates do not participate in the mysteries of Eleusis (Livy) b. positive: ‘prescribed ritual/customary practice’ From second century CE on: religio comes to mean ‘worship of a particular deity’ (personal relation with god and commitment of way of life prominent) Apuleius, Golden Ass 11.26: ‘I was a constant worshipper, a stranger to the temple, but at home in the religio’ Appropriated by Christians: ‘the true religio of the true God’ (Tertullian, Apology 24.2) From this time on religio comes closer to our ‘religion’ Words for gods: - Theos/thea, deus/dea, plural theoi/theai, di - Abstract ‘divine’: theos, deus - Other abstract words: a. daimon/daemon: less specific than theos/deus, hence variety of entities between human – divine sphere, ‘spirits’, ‘souls’; in Christian times, it would get a negative meaning through contrast with Theos/Deus b. Heros/heros: more restricted sphere, tombs (Greek); in Roman world more stretched out: Herakles/Hercules became god, human benefactors could become heroes c. Numen: vague (is there but exact identity unclear) ‘divine power’, ‘divine will’ d. genius: guardian spirit of individual, gradually wider scope: genius loci e. Distinctively Roman: spirits of the dead as quasi-divine beings: di manes Dis manibus sacrum Approaches to the divine - - Varro (1st cent. BCE), three approaches (theologiai = ways to think about the divine): the civil: civic/official/public religion the mythical: Roman myth and mythography the physical: philosophy 1. The Civil Rives discusses here cult = religious rituals and practices employed in worship NB: Bremmer discusses this under ‘ritual’ (what is this and what is difference between the two?) - Prayers: invocation – attention - request - Sacrifice (see offering scene on next slide: what is difference with Greek religion?) - Vows - Divination: interpretation of divine communications Arch of Marcus Aurelius, Rome Initiation/purification (NB: Bremmer lists this under elaborate rituals) 2. Myth Placing too much emphasis on myths: Not central to Graeco-Roman religions: - No canon - Marginal to cult (see discussion myth – ritual in Bremmer: myth only rarely touches on ritual) Too little emphasis on myths Other idea is that myths had lost all religious significance by Roman times: - Shift from oral tradition to elite literature and art; mythographies; however, not restricted to elite: masses retained access, e.g. through art, cultic practices etc. - Criticism on myths; yet never entirely dismissed; and others gave deeper meaning to myths (e.g. allegory) - Ergo: kept religious meaning and significance The gods Kronos: Chronus/Saturnus Persephone: Proserpina Hades: Pluto Demeter: Ceres Poseidon: Neptunus/Neptune Hestia: Vesta Zeus: Jupiter Hera: Juno Apollo: Apollo Artemis: Diana Hermes: Mercurius/Mercury Dionysos: Bacchus/Dionysus Athena: Minerva Ares: Mars Aphrodite: Venus Hephaistos: Vulcanus Greek vs. Roman myth Relation Greek-Roman myth, idea of Roman slavishly taking over Greek myths, but this is untrue. Not one to one relationship: - Other emphasis in pantheon: e.g. Juno and Jupiter more, Minerva less important; Hercules worshipped as deity - Romans usually put legendary men/heroes in well defined geographical and historical context: stories about early Rome (Romulus and Rhemus), Aeneas (Aeneid) Ergo: there existed a ‘Roman mythology’! Moreover, Roman pantheon was much more than just these gods: - New gods: Silvanus (Pan), specific Italian gods (Bellona, Mater Matuta), eastern gods (Magna Mater, Isis etc.) - Abstractions become highly popular, in particular since Hellenistic period (Tyche/Fortuna, Helios/Sol, or even Tiber) - New additions to the pantheon were also the Roman emperors, who nonetheless retained separate status (divus) In conclusion, after approaches 1-2 to the divine: Roman religion was much like Greek religion (‘Graeco-Roman tradition’): religion in the Roman Empire, however, has to be seen after developments in Hellenistic period (e.g. more emphasis on private experience of religion, ruler cult, abstract deities such as Fortuna), which were fostered in a specific Roman context (stories about early Rome, Italian deities etc.). 2b Art Much the same as myth (intertwined) * Again, too much emphasis on divine images: idolatry (= idol worship), as if worship of statues was central to GreekRoman religion • Jewish-Christian concept: only worship of one God > concept is applied by early Christians to Graeco-Roman traditions • Greek terms for statue:agalma, andrias, aphidruma, bretas, eidôlon, eikôn, hedos, hidruma, kolossos, and xoanon Latin: effigies, imago, signum, simulacrum and statua Jewish works, I BCE and later, Christian works first half II CE onwards > eidôlon; term is used for all Graeco-Roman statues (though non-Christians used the term only rarely for divine statues) • Placing too little value on divine images: as if they are only pure decoration 3. Philosophy Different schools of thought (Academics, Stoics, Epicureans), but all strived to define the divine. Generic ideas: - morally good and perfect - source of blessings and virtues - Removed, yet linked to daily life by intermediate levels of being Philosophy was not ‘armchair science’ but way of life > comes closer to our concept of ‘religion’; clear ideas about morals and behaviour, ‘missionary’ aspect (e.g. influence of Cicero’s Hortensius on Augustine, pp. 40-1 textbook) However, despite criticism on all 3 other approaches to divine, philosophers never wanted to replace them and remained restricted to the elite! (e.g. example of Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, p. 40 textbook) Conclusion - - 4 independent approaches to the divine that overlapped in various ways: Myth and art: similar subjects, though also different Cult separate, but myth and art also played a (limited) role Philosophy: most radically different from other 3, but still did not reject them; either integrating or accepting them Authority Diversity of approaches explains why there was no priestly class and also why there existed a diversity of religious authorities in charge of different areas Rise of the polis: religious authorities are: a. Magistrates (civic priests) b. Priests Focus on proper cult acts, not on their interpretation, hence correcting someone’s religious behaviour was not part of the job (unless it affected the well-being of the community): they were facilitators of the holy Other misconception: Emperor not head of religion (pontifex maximus), only president of highest religious institution (pontifices) but had no wider authority than Rome Measures concerning religion derive from his authority as emperor Belief Belief: specific (modern) Christian connotation: contains series of key doctrines that characterize essence > problematic term for Antiquity Without this association, however, the term can be useful if we mean: ‘accepting something in the religious sphere as true even without proof’ Rives, p. 48: ‘What distinguishes the GraecoRoman tradition from Christianity is thus the absence not of religious beliefs, but of pressures to define and scrutinize those beliefs’ A. religious significance should be seen primarily in terms of social and cultural factors, not belief B. no central doctrine C. no mechanism to enforce ‘beliefs’: no orthodoxy (‘right belief’), but orthopraxy (‘right action’) Ergo: individuals believed what they liked without interference; the only thing that was expected was that you did your religious duties Morality Modern notion of religion strongly associates with morality, but in Antiquity there were no fixed set of rules Widespread belief in gods’ concern with moral behaviour, but never systematised or imposed Ergo: not central to Graeco-Roman religion as it is now