On Roman Religion: Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome

Jörg Rüpke

Published by Cornell University Press 2016

On Roman Religion

Lived Religion and the Individual in Ancient Rome

Jörg Rüpke

Volume 67 in the series Cornell Studies in Classical Philology

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501706264

Overview
Contents

About this book

Provocative reading for anyone interested in Roman culture in the late Republic and early Empire.― Religious Studies Review

Was religious practice in ancient Rome cultic and hostile to individual expression? Or was there, rather, considerable latitude for individual initiative and creativity? Jörg Rüpke, one of the world’s leading authorities on Roman religion, demonstrates in his new book that it was a lived religion with individual appropriations evident at the heart of such rituals as praying, dedicating, making vows, and reading. On Roman Religion definitively dismantles previous approaches that depicted religious practice as uniform and static. Juxtaposing very different, strategic, and even subversive forms of individuality with traditions, their normative claims, and their institutional protections, Rüpke highlights the dynamic character of Rome’s religious institutions and traditions.

In Rüpke’s view, lived ancient religion is as much about variations or even outright deviance as it is about attempts and failures to establish or change rules and roles and to communicate them via priesthoods, practices related to images or classified as magic, and literary practices. Rüpke analyzes observations of religious experience by contemporary authors including Propertius, Ovid, and the author of the "Shepherd of Hermas." These authors, in very different ways, reflect on individual appropriation of religion among their contemporaries, and they offer these reflections to their readership or audiences. Rüpke also concentrates on the ways in which literary texts and inscriptions informed the practice of rituals.

Author / Editor information

Jörg Rüpke is Permanent Fellow in Religious Studies at the Max Weber Center, University of Erfurt. He is the author of many books, including From Jupiter to Christ: On the History of Religion in the Roman Imperial Period, Religion: Antiquity and Modern Legacy, and Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change.

Reviews

Eric Rebillard, Cornell University, author of Christians and Their Many Identities in Late Antiquity, North Africa, 200-450 CE:

The perspective adopted on Roman religion by Jorg Rupke in this book is radically new and puts the period in a long-awaited conversation with other eras. His work allows historians to better understand the transformations of religious practices in the first three centuries of the common era and beyond.Rupke must be commended for his all-encompassing approach to the material from Latin poetry to inscribed ex-votos, from prosopographical data to religious literature.

Harriet Flower, Princeton University, author of Roman Republics:

Jörg Rüpke's On Roman Religion is a fascinating and timely new take on traditional Roman religion as it was experienced by its original practitioners in antiquity. Vivid, original, and easy to read, this book directly addresses the role of the individual within the sacred landscape of Roman gods and the rituals invoking them. It offers new readings of several key texts, notably by Propertius and Ovid, at the same time as applying insights from sociology and ethnology to produce a richly nuanced approach to how religion was shaped by the experiences of everyday people. This new study of religious experience, shaped by individual needs and choices within specific cultural contexts, provides an exciting and fresh perspective on traditional Roman religion.

Provocative reading for anyone interested in Roman culture in the late Republic and early Empire.

A lucid, thought-provoking, and highly persuasive attempt to access 'lived ancient religion.'... The book as a whole is enormously fertile, and really is essential reading for anyone interested in 'Roman religion.'

Drawing on the contemporary methodology of 'lived religion,' Rüpke examines a variety of texts, practices, and religious artifacts to discover how Romans individualized their religion. He persuasively demonstrates that religious individuality can be seen in domestic cults, public sanctuaries, and personal visionary experiences.... This is a groundbreaking study by a leading historian of Roman religion. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Individual Appropriation of Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
2. Individual Decision and Social Order Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
3. Appropriating Images—Embodying Gods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
4. Testing the Limits of Ritual Choices Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
5. Reconstructing Religious Experience Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
6. Dynamics of Individual Appropriation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
7. Religious Communication Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
8. Instructing Literary Practice in The Shepherd of Hermas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Index of Passages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 210
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 10
- Images: 10
- Other: 10 b&w halftones
Keywords: state religion; ancient history; religion of the romans; religion in the ancient Roman; Religious Studies; religious experiences

eBook

Published: October 19, 2016
ISBN: 9781501706264