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The Religion of Ancient Rome

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The Religion of Ancient Rome ANC I ENT A ND MOD ERN N O F AN CIE NT RO M E R E LIG IONS : ANCIENT AND MODERN . ANI MISM. W O uth r The S o a on U o tor Cr e ti . By ED ARD CL D , A of y f T SM PAN HEI . S SO CT O utho r The R eli io n o the JAME ALLAN N PI N , A of g f 721 067 56. T THE RELIGIONS OF AN CIEN CHINA . B P e I S D P e hi s in the U n ve t y rof ssor G LE , LL . rof ssor of C ne e i rsi y C b d e of am ri g . O THE RELIGI N OF ANCIENT GREECE. A SO Le t e at N e n am C lle e Camb d e By JANE H RRI N . c ur r w h o g , ri g , t u k i i Author of P r olegome na o St dy of Gr ee R el g on . M ISLA . ‘ SY AMBE R Au M A la H M H C te . s u t ED , . of . igh o r n0 ud at e in e n al A t o The S ir it ( l r lam and The J ic ur B g , u h r of p f E thics M D T S SM AGIC AN FE I HI . B Dr O . R . S Le t e o n E t n l at Cam y . A. C . HADD N , F c ur r h o ogy b d U n v e t ri ge i rsi y. O T T THE RELIGION F ANCIEN EGYP . P e s W M T . S S . By rof s or . FLINDER PE RIE , F R THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. TH OPH U S PrNcmr s late o the t Mu eum . By E IL G . , f Bri ish s SM 2 v o ls . BU DDHI . P o D S D o The Ro al e HYS VI . late Se eta By rof ss r R A D , LL . cr ry f y A at c et si ic So i y. U M HIND IS . Dr . TT D t o O ntal P nted . the e a tm en e By . L D BARNE , of p r f ri ri M M k and SS. t u eum Boo s , Bri ish s . SC I V IO AND NA IAN RELIG N . W h x n l h . G o nt Ed t t e O r d E is By ILLIAM A CRAI IE, J i i or of fi g na Dictio ry. C T I EL IC RELIG ON . B P e ANWYL P o e Wel at U n ve t C lle e y rof ssor , r f ssor of sh i rsi y o g , Aberystwyt h . T THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCI EN BRITAIN AND IRELAND. B H L S S U R Aut The M tholo o the B r itish y C AR E Q I E , hor of y gy f I sland: M JU DAIS . B S B H S Le t e in Talmud L te atu e in y I RAEL A RA AM , c ur r ic i r r Camb d e U n ve t A t o ewish Li e in the Middle A es. ri g i rsi y, u hor f J f g M S STO . G T B W . C . HIN O. y . G A N , M X C U THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT E I O AND PER . s SP M . Lw C A. By EN E, THE RELIGION OF THE HEBREWS . By Pr ofessor YASTROW. THE RE LIGION OF A N C IE N T R O M E By C Y R IL BA ILE Y M A . , W N D U OR OF B LLIOL COL LE GE OX F ORD PI LLO A T T A , CHICAG O THE O PE N CO U RT PU BLISHING C O M PAN Y E dinb h T P nte to His Ma e t urg . ri rs 's y I WISH to express my warm thanks to W. W Mr . arde Fowler for his kindness in reading my proofs, and for many valu s able hints and suggestion . B O O G ALLI L C LLE E , n 2 5 h J a . t , 1907. C O N T E N T S CR AP . I T O U CT O —SOUR S A N D SCOP I . N R D I N CE E ‘ ’ I I THE AN TE OE DE N TS OF RO R L G O . MAN E I I N I II MA F A TU S OF TH E R G ON OF NU A . IN E RE ELI I M Iv E A Y H STO Y OF RO - THE AG CU TU . RL I R ME RI L RAL COMMUNITY v WO SH P OF TH E HOU S H O . R I E LD VI WO SH P OF TH E F DS . R I IEL IV R HIP F THE ST V I I . O S O AT E V AUGU S AND AUSPIcEs III . RIE — I x R L G O AN D MO TY O C US ON . E I I N RALI C N L I THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME C H A P T E R I INTRODUCTION—SOURCES AND SCOPE THE conditions o f o u r knowledge o f the native religion o fearly Rome may perhaps be best illus r ated a t by a parallel from Roman arch eology . The the visitor to the Roman Forum at present day, if he wishes to reconstruct in imagination the Forum o f ‘ the early Republic , must not merely think ’ o f away many strata later buildings , but , we are m f told, ust picture to himself a totally dif erent orientation of the whole : the upper layer o f fo r remains , which he sees before him , is his purpose in most cases not merely useless, but positively misleading . In the same way, if we Wish to form a picture o f the genuine Roman d religion, we cannot find it imme iately in classical literature ; we must banish from o ur minds all that is due to the contact with the East and E i Of gypt , and even w th the other races Italy, A I THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ROME so t and we must imagine, to speak , a otally different mental orientation before the great x o f G G influ reek literature and reek thought , which gave an entirely new turn to Roman ideas r in general , and in particular revolutionised e ligio n by the introduction of anthropomorphic notions and sensuous representations . But in this difficult search we are not left without indications to guide us . In the writings of the o f savants the late Republic and of the Empire, biassed tho u h and in the Augustan poets , g they G are in their interpretations by reek tendencies , there is embodied a great wealth Of ancient n custom and ritual, which becomes significa t o t when we have once g the clue to its meaning . More direct evidence is afforded by a large body all Of inscriptions and monuments , and above by the surviving Calendars o f the Roman festival n o f year, which give us the true outli e the cere monial Observances of the early religion . It is no t within the scope o f this sketch t o as enter , except by way of occ ional illustration , into the process of interpretation by which the patient work Of scholars has disentangled the form and spirit o f the native religion from the ' n mass o f foreign accretions . I i tend rather to a assume the process, and de l, as far as it is 2 INTRODUCTION possible in so controversial a subj ect, with results upon which authorities are generally agreed . Neither will any attempt be made to follo w the development which the early religion underwent in later periods, when foreign elements were added and foreign ideas altered and remoulded W the o ld tradition . e must confine ourselves to a single epoch , in which the native Roman spirit worked out unaided the ideas inherited from - o f half civilised ancestors , and formed that body was a belief and ritual, which always , at le st o f Officially, the kernel Roman religion , and constituted what the Romans themselves staunch believers in their o wn traditional history ‘ ’ - t o o f loved describe as the Religion Numa . We di must scover, as far as we can , how far its in herited notions ran parallel with those Of other primitive religions , but more especially we must try to note what is characteristically Roman alike in custom and ritual and in the motives and spirit which prompted them . C H A P T E R I I THE ‘ ANTE CEDENTS OF ROMAN RELIGION IN every early religion there will o f course be x found , apart from e ternal influence, traces of o wn o f its internal development, stages by which it must have advanced from a mass o fvague and primitive belief and custom to the organised li n worship of a civi sed commu ity .
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