- 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
Roman State Religion in the Mirror of Augustan and Late Republican Apologetics†
Roman State Religion in the Mirror of Augustan and Late Republican Apologetics†
- Chapter:
- (p.296) 13 Roman State Religion in the Mirror of Augustan and Late Republican Apologetics†
- Source:
- Roman Religion
- Author(s):
Christopher Koch
Philip Barnes
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
This chapter secures a hypothesis that in the late Republic and Augustan period, no individual priest of the state religion, coming from the educated class, could carry out his duties with the credulity of an archaic man. Each perceived the discrepancy between the extent of his own spiritual freedom and the world of ideas that he had to reproduce in worship. The state religion for the contemporary Roman was not identical with the entire complex of religious possibilities that could have occupied him. The question regarding the degree of substance or, more accurately, the decay of substance in belief in the maiores system of rituals, constitutes only a partial inquiry into the problematic of late Republican and Augustan religion. This was hardly the most burning question for the average individual if he was not a priest, but it was a serious, pressing concern for the leadership of the state at the beginning of the Principate.
Keywords: priest, state, religion, Roman, maiores, rituals, Principate
Edinburgh Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- 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
