| My thesis is an investigation of the interrelationship between Roman religion and politics in the first century B.C. The Roman state religion, the cumulative body of officially recognized deities and ritual practices, was, like political and social institutions, firmly in the hands of the governing nobility. Roman aristocrats performed the sacrifices, interpreted the will of the gods, and exercised an overall supervision of the religious life of the community. I examine epigraphical and literary material of the first century to reconstruct the religious attitudes, opinions, preferences, and prejudices of this influential ruling elite.;The method I chose is to examine this evidence, not in terms of modern preconceptions, but rather in terms of its contemporary significance to Roman politics and society. Unlike purely political studies of the late Republic, however, I discuss the importance of deeply ingrained or traditional religious conceptions in ethical and political decisions. This thesis challenges most modern assessments which are characterized by generalizations about a moribund religion with meaningless practices long abandoned by an educated ruling class who knew better.;I argue that most Roman aristocrats, whether through their connections with the state cults as magistrates, priests, members of a particular gens, or as individuals, held a deeply-felt interest in and lively concern for the religious traditions of the community. These traditional patterns of belief provided internal cohesion to the Roman state religion and account for its survival past and era of revolution.;I relied primarily on the contemporary literary sources, such as Varro, Lucretius, Catullus, Lucan, and above all upon the treatises, speeches, and private letters of Cicero. Much information is provided by later writers, especially Vergil, Horace, and Livy, and the anecdotal collection of Valerius Maximus. In addition, Greek writers, such as Dio Cassius and Plutarch, who wrote about the Romans, and early Christian writers, especially St. Augustine and Lactantius, tell us much about Roman religious practice and belief. Where possible, epigraphical material is brought in to supplement the literary sources. |
