Transgression in Roman Religion

This dissertation examines how the Romans viewed and dealt with religious transgression. The first chapter lays out a justification for the study and offers a methodology of how to determine a transgression in Roman sources. The second chapter concerns the most blatant types of transgressions -- assaulting the gods and the breaking of treaties. Livy's account of Pleminius' theft of the temple of Proserpina and Polybius' description of the treaties between Rome and Carthage receive special attention. The third chapter explores ritual transgression. Examples are culled from many sources, but the focus is on Cicero's confrontation with Clodius over his house. There is something about public debate that lends itself to determining views of transgression.;Chapter four looks at the connection between morality and religious transgression. Traditionally morality has been left out of the discussion of Roman religion, because there was a fear of Christianizing the Romans. This is an important point to consider, but it is possible to go too far. This work argues that there is a substantial emphasis on the importance of morality within Roman religion. Chapter five focuses on the importance of interpretation. In other words, what was and was not a transgression was not always clear to the Romans. Within this context, interpretation grew in importance. Finally, this work concludes with a comparison between Roman religion and Christianity in the area of morality to demonstrate that the Christian emphasis on immorality as a sin was not a new invention of the early church.