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20-I Religion as a Key Factor for Resilience: From Rome to Constantinople 09:00 - 10:40 Wednesday, 1st September, 2021 Giorgio Ferri In the course of Rome’s long history, religion has always been a powerful tool of resilience against natural disasters and military defeats. As Jörg Rüpke argued recently (Urban Time and Rome’s Resilience: Steeling Oneself against Disaster in Religious Practices, "Numen" 67, 2020, 1-28), an essential document of such resilience through religion was the calendar (fasti). The downfalls and misfortunes, which the city was able to endure and to survive, could put its very existence at stake, such as the Gallic sack or the defeats in the Second Punic War, or could temporarily open a crisis, that would be regarded first of all as a religious one. In any case, the immediate re-establishment and the careful preservation of the “pact” with the gods (the pax deorum) was a strong support during a crisis (no matter its causes) and the first pillar upon which to start rebuilding right afterwards. The resilience of Roman religion can be also observed beyond the sack of 410 AD and the fall of the Western Empire, and even beyond the shift to Christianity and the move/doubling of some rituals to Constantinople. This panel intends to explore the resilient function of religion in Rome and to investigate how such resilience could in its turn affect Roman religion, also by delving into some case studies from Rome to Constantinople, from the founding of the former to the fall of the latter. 09:00 - 09:20 66 The Lupercalia from Prehistory to Late Antiquity: A Case Study in the Resilience of Roman Religion Kresimir Vukovic Ludwigs Maximillians Universität, München, Germany Abstract The Lupercalia is arguably Rome's most famous and most enduring festival. Its roots can be traced to the prehistoric period while a most significant historical instance used the festival as a stage for Caesar's refusal of the royal diadem in 44BC (North 2008, Vuković, forthcoming). After civil wars, Augustus restored the festival and celebrations continued throughout the imperial period as the Lupercalia adapted to new circumstances such as the rise of the equestrian elite and gladiatorial games. The last testimony of the festival in Rome is given by pope Gelasius in a letter against its performance in the 490s AD, over a century after Theodosius’ prohibition of pagan sacrifice. At this point the Lupercalia lost many of its old rituals but continued in the form of a rowdy carnivalesque festivity that openly challenged authority and the new high priest of Rome (McLynn 2008). Finally, the Lupercalia was transferred to new Rome—Constantinople—where it became a celebration of spring in the hippodrome (Graf 2015). Tracing the countless transformations of the multifaceted Lupercalia this talk will present one of the most resilient festivals of Roman religion and give a glimpse of my book in progress, The Wolves of Rome. Works cited: Graf, F. Roman Festivals in the Greek East: From the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era. Cambridge University Press, 2015. McLynn, N. "Crying wolf: the pope and the Lupercalia." The Journal of Roman Studies 98 (2008): 161-175. North, J.A. "Caesar at the Lupercalia." The Journal of Roman Studies 98 (2008): 144-160. Vuković, K. (forthcoming): “The Festival of the Lupercalia as a Vehicle of Cultural Memory in the Roman Republic.” In M.T. Dinter, C. Guérin (eds.) Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). 09:20 - 09:40 176 The Prodigious Ways of Resilience: Dreams and Prophecy in Cicero’s De divinatione Andrei-Tudor MAN Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France Abstract Cicero’s theological trilogy (De natura deorum, De divinatione, De fato) was written in the midst of perhaps the most troubled times of the author’s life. Out of the three dialogues, the one addressing divination was composed during the height of those disturbed moments. The Civil War and the defeat of Pompey, his exclusion from Roman active politics, Caesar’s death - all of them leave traces in Cicero’s dialogue. It was often emphasized that Cicero had the capacity to abstract himself from the historical context and to dedicate himself completely to writing, including De divinatione. Nonetheless, for all we know, an analysis from the point of view of resilience of the passages that mention the troubles of that time in De divinatione has never been advanced, the present paper assuming this task. Certain signs indicate that the composition of the dialogue is divided into two moments, separated by Caesar’s death. Cicero’s references to the historical events are also deployed in the text in different ways and seeking a different end, depending on the compositional moment they are part of. While, after Caesar’s death, Cicero openly affirms his former persecuted condition, the same end is attained before the Ides of March through examples of dreams or confirmed prophecy. The second instrument of resilience may seem peculiar, given the nature of the dialogue. Thus, while he seeks to confront the irrational belief in divination as a case of superstition, the author uses examples of true intuitive divination, coming out of his own experience, in order to reassert his political role in the Republic. Three passages of the first book are of interest for our paper, all exemplifying cases of intuitive divination: the dream of Quintus Cicero (I, 58), that announces the return from exile of his brother Marcus, the dream of Marcus Cicero (I, 59), announcing his own return from exile, and a case of true prophecy during the battle of Dyrrachium (I, 68-69). We consequently postulate that resilience is a common end for several passages that refer to Cicero’s historical context. To pursue this task, we primarily examine the instruments of these acts of resilience, which would bring us to the final and essential question of the paper, which regards the role of religion as an instrument for resilience in Cicero’s De divinatione. 09:40 - 10:00 23 Cicero’s De signis: Creating Religious Responses to Foreign Divine Statues in Rome Claudia Beltrão Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Abstract This paper will address the fourth part of the second speech of Cicero’s Orationes in Verrem (De signis), in which the invective against Verres is supplemented by accounts of his appropriations or robberies of divine statues from Sicilian cities. The general desolation and the abandonment of the fields are presented as outcomes of the impiety and greed of a vicious Roman provincial governor. Cicero addresses varied responses of mourning or resistance of distinct Sicilian populations to their religious losses. This paper will focus only on the cases of Diana, Hercules, and Ceres (Verr. 2.4.72-82, 93-96, 105-115). These passages are crucial to Cicero’s argument, creating an emotional impact on his Roman audience by connecting the Sicilian divine statues with gods and goddesses who have saved Rome in dangerous times. Cicero connects the misfortunes of the Sicilians to moments when these deities were fundamental to the safety of Rome, in powerful associations in which Roman religious feelings and resilience are at the heart of the narrative. 10:00 - 10:20 71 Vespasian, the Restorer of Ma´at at Rome David Gordillo Salguero University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain Abstract The Flavian Dynasty maintained a close and unprecedented relationship with Isis and Serapis. This link with the Egyptian deities arose during the stay of Vespasian in Alexandria in the year 69-70. The first Flavian emperor promoted the public cult of Isis and Serapis, that was inscribed in the official calendar at least since 71. That year the first public sanctuary of these deities in Rome, the Iseum Campense, was inaugurated, from where the Ceremony of Triumph started a few months later. At this time, the doors of the Temple of Janus were closed and Vespasian announced the construction of the Templum and Forum Pacis. At the Iseum Campense, extensively renovated by Domitian, the goddess was venerated as Isis Sothis. In Egyptian Theology, Sothis was the star that announced the annual rise of the Nile. The overflow of the Nile was the symbol of the cyclic regeneration of life and the imposition of order and harmony in the face of chaos. This cosmic order was expressed by a concept, also an abstract deity associated with Isis: “Ma´at”. The political interpretations of this symbolic construction were evident in a context of political crisis. In this communication, I explore how these theological ideas from Pharaonic/Ptolemaic theocracy were integrated into the political discourse of restoration of pax deorum and concordia ordinum in Rome by the Flavian propaganda..
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