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Nov 0 1 2005 L E C T U R E S O N T H E HIS T O R Y O F R O MA N R ELIG ION FR OM NUMA T O A UGUSTUS WILLIAM REGINALD HALLIDAY i B A . B .L tt . , Ra tbbone Profemof of A ncient Hiftory i n tbe Universi ty of Li verpo ol LI VERPOOL UN ER Y RE S ER IV SIT P S OF LIV POOL LTD . LONDON H ER AND ODD STOUGHTON LTD . MCMXXII Made and Printed m Grea t B n tam rm treet i er l a nd a t nd n and Pres t m uuc Co LTD . Victo , p , C . T , 5 3 , S L v oo Lo o co WILLIAM FOWLER Q I 3 I Q Q I a t 86 wo va w a 7 80 ve a w 0 n a r ro { 7 9 , y w ’ ‘ ’ ’ ' A 1 e a k do rm /cw)? l8 ; 9 0 6 x vri xeip Ba ei . PREFACE . T m s little book does not aim at maki ng any original contribution to knowledge . It has been no tes o f t ures written out from the a course l , ‘ - which were actually delivered as pub .ic lectures o ur o f in Institute Archaeology, but were primarily designed for students in the first o r second year of study in the Honours School o f Classics in Liverpool University . Their aim was to sum marise very briefly the character and the historical development of Roman reli gion up to the death of Augustus . It had been intended that the story should be completed by a similar course upon the conflict o f reli gions under the Roman l Empire to be given by my friend and col eague , Mr . H . A . Ormerod . Unforeseen contingencies have caused What I hope may be only a post po nem ent . These circumstances may be allowed to explain the meagre treatment here allotted to the introduction of Oriental cults and to the antecedents of Emperor worship , for these topics belong essentially to this second chapter in the history of Rome . I have very strictly limited my references both 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION So to original authorities and to specialist works . short a survey cannot aim at more than being an introduction to larger works o f a general character in which the further references will be found . I have borrowed freely from all the books mentioned ’ below , and most extensively from Warde Fowler s Reli i ous Ex eri ence tbe R o ma n Peo le g p of p , a book which it is as delightful as it is profitable to read again and again . It is impossible in the effort to be concise to avoid occasional overstatement and sometimes I may have represented as fact what is disputable . to hypothesis I have tried , however , be orthodox rather than original , and I hope that in the main these lectures represent sound doctrine . Tw o excellent small books upon Roman religion no t o ut exist in English , though one if both are ’ . Reli i on o f print . The late Mr . ". B Carter s g of Na m e a nd o ther Essay: covers much the same ’ ground as these lectures Mr . Cyril Bailey s , Tbe R eligi on of A nci ent R ome deals with the f religion o Numa . In addition to the relevant articles in Dictionaries and Encyclopedias mention may also be made o f the introduction to Mr . ’ Bailey s recent edition o f the Third Book o f the ’ Fa rti o f . Tbe Reli i ous L e Ovid Carter s , g if of A nci ent R o me 4 study i n tbe developm ent of PREFACE 9 religi ous consci ousness from the founda ti on of tbe ci ty until tbe dea tb of Gregory tbe Grea t will be n i fou d to provide interesting read ng , though the subj ect o f these lectures forms only a small and relatively unimportant part in h is design . The two great names in this field o f study are Wi sso w a o f Wi sso w a . those and Warde Fowler , R eligi on a nd Kultus der Romer is published as a ’ o f u Ha ndbucb der Kla ssiscben volume Iwan M ller s , ' A t rtu n Di e Reli i o n der R om er l e mszci sse scbaft. g by his pupil Aust is probably the best complete history o f Roman religion upon a slightly smaller scale . Everyth i ng that Warde Fowler has written is distinguished by ripe scholarship , sound j udg ment and graceful presentation . Besides the great work already mentioned his Festi va ls of the R o ma n Republi c surveys in detail the religious events of R o a n d a s Dei t i n the Roman year . With m I e of y tbe la st century of tbe R epubli c should be read the ’ same author s Soci a l Life a t R o me i n tbe Age of R o n Ci cero . The series o f papers collected in ma Essays a nd Interpreta ti ons contain some o f great importance for o ur subj ect . In particular may be mentioned The Latin History o f the word ” " R eli i o o f i g , The origin the Lar Famil aris and The Ca rmen Sa ecula re o f Horace and its ” First Performance . I o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION The best general account of Roman divination remains that contained in the fourth volume of é Lecler Histoi re de la Di vi na ti on da ns Bouch q , ’ ' l A nti ui te a q (Paris , Upon all constitution l questions affecting religion a clear , concise , and learned summary o f the facts may be found in R o ma n Publi c Li e. Greenidge , f If an excuse be needed for adding this summary o fthe subject to the company of larger and better works it may perhaps be found in the fact that , if classical scholarship is temporarily under a cloud , there is nevertheless an increasing number of k l persons , unskilled or little s i led in the classical languages , who are interested in Greek and Roman wh o civilisation . There are also many are interested in comparative religion but lack a a knowledge of the facts . Particularly in Rom n religion these are liable to be led astray by mistaken deductions from poetical mythology . The very modesty o f my scope may perhaps tempt some o f them to make the acquaintance o f the main facts as they are no w known and possibly to pursue farther some of the problems which they raise . W . R. HALLIDAY . T HE RS T R UNIVE I Y , LIVE POOL , une 1 2 2 . j , 9 CONTENTS PAG E PREFACE I INTR ODUCTORY II THE RELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD III T HE RELIGION OF THE FAR M IV THE RELIGION OF T HE STATE Lz m u v T HE RELIGION OF NUMA AND ITS OB"ECTS OF WOR SHIP VI FR OM T HE ETR USCAN MONAR CHY THE SECOND PUNIC WAR VII THE LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUB LIC LEC TURE VIII T HE AUGUSTAN REVIVAL INDEX LECTURE I I NT R ODUCT O RY NE o fthe main difficulties in presenting a picture o f Greek religion lies in the multiplicity o f the Greek states varying in their degree o f civilisation . This particular difli culty does not confront the nt o f Roman religion . His attention is fixed sir le e upon a gg i i ag , the seven hills which guard o f the ford the Tiber , and he is concerned with the religious b eliefs and pragti ces of a Single people , a group of peasant farmers whom circum stance and the force o f their o wn character caused to become the conquerors first of Italy and in the end o f the civilised world . o f o wn . The subj ect , however , has difficulties its All roads lead to Rome , and alike upon Roman character and upon Roman religion foreign influences were increasingly at work . First Greece a conquered her conqueror , and then Orient l cults ' and modes Of thought invaded the capital Ofthe world in overwhelming force . The Orontes said Iuvenal in the first century o f o ur era has ” long been flowing into the Tiber . xs I 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION Change o f circumstance has its reaction upon character and it is a law o f evolution that adapta tion to change is necessary for survival . In itself the history o f the development of these peasant farmers o fCentral Italy into the rulers o fthe world provides an interesting and dramatic spectacle . Hardly less interesting are the changes in national character and belief , which accompanied and were caused by these secular changes , and in as fact it will be found , indeed was to have been s expected , that the tages in the history of the development of Roman religion closely correspond with the phases o f the political history o f Rome . The earliest Stratum o f religious belief and practice contains reminiscences of the prehistoric conditions of life when the pioneers settled in the forests o f the Central Appenines and when civilisation and ordered life were limited to the clearings which surrounded their homesteads , and beyond which lay the forest , unknown and t menacing , the domain Of Silvanus , the wild spiri o f the woods .
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