- Title Pages
- Acknowledgments
- Note to the Reader
- Abbreviations
- [UNTITLED]
- Introduction: Religion, Law and Knowledge in Classical Rome
- Introduction to Part I: Historiography and Method
- 1 On Comparison<sup>†</sup>
- 2 Polis-<i>Religion and its Alternatives in the Roman Provinces</i><sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part II: Religious Institutions and Religious Authority
- 3 From Republic to Principate:<sup>†</sup> Priesthood, Religion and Ideology*
- 4 <i>A Feature of Roman Religion</i><sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part II: Ritual and Myth
- 5 <i>The</i> Ludi Saeculares <i>and the</i> Carmen Saeculare<sup>†</sup>
- 6 Cults, Myths, and Politics at the Beginning of the Empire<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part IV: Theology
- 7 The Theological Efforts of the Roman Upper Classes in the First Century BC<sup>†</sup>
- 8 Hierarchy and Structure in Roman Polytheism: Roman Methods of Conceiving Action<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part V: Roman and Alien
- 9 Religious Toleration in Republican Rome<sup>†</sup>
- 10 A Religion for the Empire<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part VI: Space and Time
- 11 Loca Sancta<sup>†</sup>
- 12 A Complex of Times: No More Sheep on Romulus’ Birthday<sup>†</sup><sup>1</sup>
- Introduction to Part VII: Continuity and Change, from Republic to Empire
- 13 Roman State Religion in the Mirror of Augustan and Late Republican Apologetics<sup>†</sup>
- 14 The Historical Development of Roman Religion: An Overview<sup>†</sup>
- Chronology
- Biographical Dictionary
- Glossary
- Guide to Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
A Complex of Times: No More Sheep on Romulus’ Birthday†1
A Complex of Times: No More Sheep on Romulus’ Birthday†1
- Chapter:
- (p.273) 12 A Complex of Times: No More Sheep on Romulus’ Birthday†1
- Source:
- Roman Religion
- Author(s):
Mary Beard
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
This chapter argues that one of the functions of Rome's calendar of rites – the sequence of religious festivals as they occurred throughout the year – was to define and delineate Roman power, Roman history and Roman identity; and that it did this by evoking events from different chronological periods of the Roman past and arranging them in a meaningful sequence of time; but not a sequence defined by linear, narrative, history. The chapter concerns itself principally with the practice of Roman ritual during the late Republic and early Empire; and its argument depends on taking seriously the discussions of the various festivals preserved in the writings of contemporary Romans and Greeks – men who practised or observed the rituals. All the chosen texts refer to the festival of the Parilia, which took place each year on the twenty-first of April.
Keywords: Rome, calendar, rites, religious festivals, ritual, power, Roman identity, history, Greeks, Parilia
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgments
- Note to the Reader
- Abbreviations
- [UNTITLED]
- Introduction: Religion, Law and Knowledge in Classical Rome
- Introduction to Part I: Historiography and Method
- 1 On Comparison<sup>†</sup>
- 2 Polis-<i>Religion and its Alternatives in the Roman Provinces</i><sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part II: Religious Institutions and Religious Authority
- 3 From Republic to Principate:<sup>†</sup> Priesthood, Religion and Ideology*
- 4 <i>A Feature of Roman Religion</i><sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part II: Ritual and Myth
- 5 <i>The</i> Ludi Saeculares <i>and the</i> Carmen Saeculare<sup>†</sup>
- 6 Cults, Myths, and Politics at the Beginning of the Empire<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part IV: Theology
- 7 The Theological Efforts of the Roman Upper Classes in the First Century BC<sup>†</sup>
- 8 Hierarchy and Structure in Roman Polytheism: Roman Methods of Conceiving Action<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part V: Roman and Alien
- 9 Religious Toleration in Republican Rome<sup>†</sup>
- 10 A Religion for the Empire<sup>†</sup>
- Introduction to Part VI: Space and Time
- 11 Loca Sancta<sup>†</sup>
- 12 A Complex of Times: No More Sheep on Romulus’ Birthday<sup>†</sup><sup>1</sup>
- Introduction to Part VII: Continuity and Change, from Republic to Empire
- 13 Roman State Religion in the Mirror of Augustan and Late Republican Apologetics<sup>†</sup>
- 14 The Historical Development of Roman Religion: An Overview<sup>†</sup>
- Chronology
- Biographical Dictionary
- Glossary
- Guide to Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
