Survivals of Roman Religion
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S URVIVALS OF ROMAN RELIGIO N B Y O DO L G R N J. AING O O E S A E R I C R L I E S N C . P Q U R PUB SH , N E W Y O K R . 1 9 6 3 h 6 l n ub is e d 19 3 b Co o r u ar Pub isher s I . P l y p e Sq e , c u r th A nu w r 59 F o ve e , Ne Yo k 3 , Y. r r f n l 63 - 02 0 Lib a y o Co gre ss Cata o g Card NO . 1 8 P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A NI E R I C A MAURICE HUTTON P RI N CI PA L E M E RITU S O F U N IV E R SITY CO L' LE G E I N TH E U NIV E R SITY O F TO RONTO F O R FIFTY Y E A RS T H E MAI N STAY O F C LA S SICA L S T U DI E S I N CA N ADA en o ne e o n fi a su a ts a the it Wh r ligi n lly ppl n no r, n takes o ve fr om its e ece o u ch o f ge erally r pr d ss r s . ” its u sages as seem harm less or praisewo rthy . E E F unner: and L GG , or er — o Chr istianit 1 . 8 8 . f y , 4 5 PREFACE N THIS treatment of survivals the term ” Roman religion has been used with its current comprehensiveness and s o includes all the cults , of whatever provenance , that is found a following in Rome . It not of course a logical designation but it has the merit of be Ro ing a convenient one . Strictly speaking , man religion would mean that animism which prevailed before the period of the Tarquin r dynasty when G eek influence , streaming into Rome from E truria on the north and Magna Gr aecia m on the south , transfor ed the whole system through t he introduction of imitative temples and borrowed statue types . Nor did the process of transformation and accretion cease with the introduction of gods and forms of ritual from other parts of Italy and from Greece . As early as the Hannibalic war the Romans showed interest in the worship of Cy [ vii ] S URV IVAL S O F R O M A N R EL I G I O N M a bele , the Great other of the Gods , a Phrygi n - nature goddess , and established her cult on the Palatine Hill . Later other Oriental divinities r were int oduced , and although many of them failed to obtain recognition by the state they formed an important part of the religious com plex in Rome and Italy . Still another element in the situation was the cult of the deified em er or s deification p which , initiated by the of Julius Caesar , flourished till the time of Maxen tius . Of the nature of these religions and of the his tory of their development in Rome no attempt has been made to give a detailed or systematic account in this essay . Only those cults or phases of cults h ave been mentioned of which there seem to be survivals , and in the case of thos e mentioned only enough has been said to clarify the background of the survival It is only with survivals , that is with the debt of later civilization to the religious beliefs and practices of the Romans , that the book is con cerned . viii ] P RE F A C E The order of presentation is only r oughl; in i nou chronological . The survivals of d ge cults are given first , and these are followed b: a discussion Of the traces that remain of 1111 ! foreign gods worshipped in Rome and of em er or - t p worship . Then various relics of ancien n religious belief , ritual or practice have bee f described , and at the end a brief account o material remains has been added . The precarious character of any study in survivals for the subject is even more peril ous than the search for traces of influence in literary genetics — has been kept in mind throughout , and the plan has been to designate nothing as a survival till after careful scrutiny . The intemperate tone of some of the writings ’ on the subject — for example Trede s books h n m inf r whic , though co taining uch valuable o mation , are marred by exaggeration and hos tility to the Church has been sufficient warn ing of the danger Of hasty conclusions . And in cases where it has been difficult to distinguish between survivals and parallels — and these [ ix l S U RVIVA L S O F R O M A N RE L IG IO N — l are numerous the availab e data , often oh viousl y inadequate , have been given and the de i n c sio left to the reader . B afflin al g as the study of surviv s Often is , it i s none the less interesting , and the number and importance of the remains become more and th more impressive as one p ursues e quest . For the investigation of the subject , by showing that so many old beliefs and forms of ritual , instead of p erishing , have been drawn into the of fabric modern religion , brings home more vividly than any other kind of inquiry the con viction Of the continuity of religious experience . CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE TH E DEPA RTME N TAL IDEA O F DEIT Y A N D I T s S U R VIVA L I N T H E VE N E R ATIO N O F SAI N T S S O F TH E F GOD AMILY . R N - W R S SE PE T O HIP . GOD S o r MA RRIA GE GOD S O F FLOC KS A N D HE R D S GOD S O F AG RIC U LT U R E AN CI EN T RIVE R- S PI RIT S A N D ‘ V V S MEDIAE AL DE IL . PHALLICI SM TH E WO RSHIP O F T H E S R S O F TH PI IT E DEAD . DIA N A A N D TH E VI R GI N MA RY MIN E RV A A N D TH E ’ TEACHE R S PAY DAY TH E G ODDE S S FO R T U NA A N D GOOD O R B A D LU C K R U S A N D T H XIII . HE C LE E OFFE RI N G o r TITHE S [ xi ] S U RV IVAL S O F R O M A N REL I GI O N CH APT E R PAGE S R A N D o LLU x XIV . CA TO P A N D S OME ROMA N SAI N T S AE S C U LAPI U S A N D I N CU RATIO N S N —N U N A N XVI . PO EIDO EPT E D SAI N T NICHO LA S TH E MA N - G O D TH E MOTHE R O F TH E GO DS A N D TH E B APTI SM O F B LOOD TH E N ' XIX. EGYPTIA DEITIE S S S R S A N D H R I I , SE API , A PO C RATE S (HO R U S) ADO N I s A N D TH E C RA DLE O F JE S U S MI T H RA s R S N G . P A O D O F XXI , E I LIGHT OTHE R SU N - G OD S P RAYE R A N D ADO R ATIO N SAC RIFICE CE R EMO N IAL P R OCE S SIO N S A N D DA N CE S DIVI N A TIO N SAC R ED EDIFICE S : THEI R F R O R N A N A N D O M, IE T TIO CO N S EC R ATIO N R L U S S XXVIII . E IGIO USAG E COMMO N TO PA GA N S A N D CHRI S TIA N S x11 PAGE ' X H E ID A E E E N XXI . T E O R G E RATI OrN 2 2 2 XXX . CO N C E PTIO N S o r TH E AFT E R LIFE 2 3C XXXI MAT ERI AL R EM AI N S 2 3 6 ‘ ’ B I B LIIIOGR/AP H Y 2 53 X‘l l ‘ l SURVIVALS OF ROMAN RELIGION TH E F I . DEPARTMENTAL IDEA O DEITY AND ITS SURVIVAL IN THE VE NE RATION OF SAINTS I TH E LD R N N N . O OMA PA DEMO ISM H E E ARLIE ST Roman religion of which we have any record was a sys tem of pandemonism . There was a spirit - a demon it was often called in e every object , very act , every process and sometimes in every stage of a process . There is no better example of this than the succession of spirits that watched over each period of a ’ man s life from birth to death .