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Volume 1 offers a radical new survey of more than a thousand years of religious life in Rome, from the foundation of the city to its rise to world empire and its conversion to Christianity. It sets religion in its full cultural context, between the primitive hamlet of the eighth century BC and the cosmopolitan, multicultural society of the first centuries of the Christian era. Volume 2 reveals the extraordinary diversity of ancient Roman religion. A comprehensive sourcebook, it presents a wide range of documents illustrating religious life in the Roman world - from the foundations of the city in the eighth century BC to the Christian capital more than a thousand years later. Each document is given a full introduction, explanatory notes and bibliography, and acts as a starting point for further discussion. Through paintings, sculptures, coins and inscriptions, as well as literary texts in translation, the book explores the major themes and problems of Roman religion, such as sacrifice, the religious calendar, divination, ritual, and priesthood. Starting from the archaeological traces of the earliest cults of the city, it finishes with a series of texts in which Roman authors themselves reflect on the nature of their own religion, its history, even its funny side. Judaism and Christianity are given full coverage, as important elements in the religious world of the Roman empire.… (more)
User reviews
The book Beard, North, and Price wrote instead is a survey of religion's influence on Rome and the Romans from the beginning through the end of the 5th century A.D. Roman political power was always inextricably linked with Roman religious power; the same men wielded both. As the political system changed, the religious system changed although the outward rites stayed the same.
To give a sample of the book's flavor is nearly impossible, but it follows, for instance, the changes in what is religio and what is superstitio through the ages. Christianity was superstitio, that is not following the practices of the state (the other meaning would be excessive devotion to the gods). They also consider the meaning of "magic," which was forbidden as being dangerous to the emperor and his family (by that time) or as seeking to cast a love spell or maybe to raise the dead.
The presentation is clear. In this case "telling what you're going to tell them" at the beginning of each chapter is very helpful. The writing is clear but demands concentration. This is not a volume for a casual dilettante; for a determined dilettante it is just the thing!