Continuity and Change in Roman Religion
J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz
Number of quotes: 42
Book ID: 313 Page: 1
Section: 4B
From the second century, or even earlier,{1} the Roman nobility had proclaimed that Roman greatness was a reward sent by the gods for Roman piety. The Romans might be excelled by foreigners in other skills but in religious observance they were surpassed by none.{2} A visitor to the Rome of the late republic would still observe a vast amount of traditional ritual. Apart from numerous festivals, every public act began with a religious ceremony, just as the agenda of every meeting of the senate was headed by religious business.{3}
Quote ID: 7604
Time Periods: 012
Book ID: 313 Page: 3
Section: 4B
While there is thus an abundance of evidence that the Romans were even obsessively convinced of the need to placate the gods, belief in the gods seems to have had little effect on their conduct. The reader of Latin literature feels that fear of divine displeasure was very rarely a motive…….
If it were not for the descriptions of ritual a reader might conclude that the Romans of the late republic lived in as secular a world as our own.
Quote ID: 7605
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 4
Section: 2A
the Greek historian Polybius writing in the middle of the second century B.C. found it necessary to propound an explanation of the extraordinary amount of religious observance that was going on at Rome. "The quality in which the Roman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is, in my opinion, the nature of their religious convictions. I believe that it is the very thing which among other peoples is an object of reproach, I mean superstition, which maintains the cohesion of the Roman state. My opinion is that they have adopted this course for the sake of the common people.". . . .
{1} …the meticulous attention to religious ritual which Polybius observed among members of the Roman ruling class was something that had no parallel among comparable circles in Greece.{2} It was also so ‘unreligious’ that Polybius could explain such behavior only as political trickery.
{1} Pol. vi. 56. 6-11. Ibid. 12, which stresses the social value of beliefs about the underworld seems to be a generalization without specific reference to Rome.
Quote ID: 7606
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 21
Section: 5B
It is likely that religion was used to maintain patrician claims from the beginning.The Romans lacked any sense that religion is sullied if it is exploited for sectional interest, and that the gods must be fair to all sections of society.
Quote ID: 7607
Time Periods: 01234
Book ID: 313 Page: 33
Section: 3A1
Both reading and personal experience made Roman nobles exceptionally clear-sighted about the social function of religion.{2} They were perfectly ready to concede that if religion was not true, it would have to be invented, and even that the state religion of Rome had been deliberately invented for a political purpose.{3}
Quote ID: 7609
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 36/37
Section: 3A1
The state religion is a political artefact exactly like the secular machinery of government, and it came into existence after the state.{1}{1} Augustine, C. D. vi. 3-4. See G. Lieberg, ‘Die “theologia tripertita” ’, A.N.R.W. i. 4. 66-115.
Quote ID: 8174
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 37
Section: 2E5
With the aid of his antiquarian scholarship Varro sought to establish the divinity responsible for every conceivable activity in order to make it once more possible to call on the correct specialist in every situation.{4}{4} Ibid. 22.
…
{2} Augustine, C.D. iv.3.
Quote ID: 8175
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 39/40
Section: 4B
Cicero illustrates what seems to be the central concern of Roman religion: ‘Jupiter is called Best and Greatest not because he makes us just or sober or wise but healthy and rich and prosperous.’{1} Roman gods are called upon to help men in difficulties or to assure their well-being, not to make them morally better.{1} Cic. N.D. iii. 36 (87), cf. ibid. i. 41 (116); Epict. iv. 1. 60-1. R. M. Ogilvie (1969), 17: ‘Roman religion was concerned with success not sin.’
Quote ID: 7610
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 313 Page: 51
Section: 4B
As almost every conceivable act of ordinary life required the co-operation of a competent deity, the scope for supernatural interest in human behavior was unlimited. Of all the deities, none were more generally worshipped than the penates.{3}{3} Not a proper name but a collective description of all gods worshipped in the home. Serv. on Aen. i. 378, cf. K. Latte, R.R. 89.
Quote ID: 8177
Time Periods: 01
Book ID: 313 Page: 198
Section: 2B2
What made the diversion of religious ceremonies non-sacrilegious was the nature of the Roman gods, the fact that they were not jealous. The gods of Rome insisted that they must be offered punctiliously all honours due to them but they did not worry about what honours were paid to other gods or to men.
Quote ID: 7611
Time Periods: 123
Book ID: 313 Page: 198
Section: 4A
Under the empire, Greek philosophy, above all Stoic philosophy, assumed a much greater role in the lives of the upper classes. This was a development of private rather than public religion, but among its causes perhaps the most important was the new form of government. The principate was accepted, but only with reservations. It was very widely agreed that the monarchical system was morally inferior to the republic that it had replaced. Submission to the authority of one man was felt to be inevitably degrading and demoralizing.
Quote ID: 7612
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 313 Page: 224
Section: 3B
But the murder of Alexander Severus in A.D. 235 ended the dynasty and deprived the empire of the great stabilizing factor of dynastic loyalty, with the result that, as in A.D. 69 and in A.D. 192, various armies felt free to proclaim their own commander emperor. The empire now entered a dark age which lasted about fifty years.
Quote ID: 7613
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 313 Page: 261
Section: 4A
… in contrast to earlier apologists, Lactantius is indifferent to the charges that were made against the Christians. By and large he passes them over with contempt, and concentrates on proving the truth and even the ‘Romanism’ of Christianity.
Quote ID: 7614
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 262
Section: 2B2,4B
From beginning to end of his treatise, Lactantius supports Christian teaching with references to the Roman classics which it had been, and probably still was, his professional duty to teach to the young.{3} Cicero is quoted again and again.{4} Essential arguments are supported with quotations from Virgil or Seneca.….
In contrast, biblical citations are conspicuous only in one of the seven books:…
Quote ID: 7615
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 313 Page: 263
Section: 2B
The essence of Christianity as presented by Lactantius, is monotheism, worship of the one supreme God. The argument for Christian monotheism was aided by the fact that from the earliest times a kind of monotheism had coexisted with the worship of innumerable deities.
Quote ID: 7616
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 264
Section: 3C1,2B1
The divinity of Jesus had to be reconciled with monotheism, but this was not difficult to do convincingly. After all, philosophers had managed to reconcile the infinite variety of gods of traditional religion with a monotheist picture of the world. Certainly Lactantius {*} insists on the divinity of the Son. ‘He who worships the Father only does not worship him at all, since he does not worship the Son. But he who receives the Son and bears his name, he together with the Son worships the Father also, since the Son is the ambassador and messenger and priest of the Father.’{1}. . . .
Nevertheless, the claim made for Jesus was basically a familiar one. Seen in this way, he could take his place naturally in the long line of moral philosophers whose memory was held in high honour by educated Greeks and Romans. In fact this ‘theology’ would have been more acceptable to a pagan than to a well-informed Christian. Moreover, Lactantius’ God consists of two persons not three. There is no mention of the Holy Ghost.
John’s note: * Lactantius c. 250 – c. 325
{1} Div. Inst. iv. 29.
PJ: Three in one.
Quote ID: 7617
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 313 Page: 265
Section: 2B
It is evident that (as preached by Lactantius) Christian worship would appeal to an educated, philosophically-minded Roman.
Quote ID: 7618
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 265
Section: 4A
Naturally Lactantius made the most of this. He points out that Christianity combines two activities which were traditionally separate, philosophy and worship.
Quote ID: 8176
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 267/268
Section: 4A
In the same way, Lactantius quotes oracles of Apollo{8} and the Oracles of Hystaspes{9} when it serves his purpose. Lactantius was the first Christian apologist to do this. His action is understandable in an age when there were many fringe Christians, and when the persecutors had exploited oracles against the Christians. But citation of pagan oracles implies that they possess genuine inspiration. This Lactantius can afford to do because of the traditional Christian identification of pagan gods with evil spirits.….
Quote ID: 7619
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 269
Section: 4B
Nevertheless, polytheism, apart from the ‘sentimental’ value of traditional cults, had two very powerful arguments in its favour, that divination seemed to work, and that the belief in gods was universal. The Christians, since the first Apology of Justin and probably before that, refuted these two arguments by asserting that both phenomena were the work of demons who, for their own purposes, had tricked mankind into honouring them as gods.
Quote ID: 7620
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 313 Page: 272
Section: 3A2A
The worship of Jupiter and injustice entered the world together.{4} Justice can only be restored if people return to the worship of God, i.e. become Christians.{5} The argument turns into an effective reply to the persecution: the atrocities committed on behalf of the gods in the course of the persecution are proof that justice is incompatible with the worship of pagan gods.{6}{4} Ibid. 5-6
{5} Ibid. 8.
{6} Ibid. 9.
Quote ID: 7621
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 313 Page: 277
Section: 3C
After he had defeated Maxentius with the aid, as he believed, of the Christian God, Constantine behaved like a Christian. He gave the Church not only toleration and restitution, but rich subsidies and privileges.{3} But he did not publicly declare himself a Christian, or provide any official definition of his religious position.
Quote ID: 7622
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 282
Section: 3C
The surprising thing is that Sol continued to be prominent on Constantine’s coins for six or seven years after his conversion in 312.{2} The god even appeared, occasionally, on coins issued after the war against Licinius,{3} which Constantine had waged as the Christian leader of a kind of holy war.{4}
Quote ID: 7623
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 283
Section: 2C
fringe-ChristiansJohn’s note – author’s term
Quote ID: 7624
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 313 Page: 288
Section: 3C
Since Constantine’s conversion had been a private act, not involving the Roman state, it did not automatically make Christian symbols the appropriate religious emblems for public monuments.. . . .
While the Christian standard, the Labarum, appeared on coins in 327, this was exceptional. Constantine evidently never came to hold the view that the coins, monuments, or ceremonies of the Roman state were appropriate media for displaying his adherence to Christianity.{6}
Quote ID: 7625
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 289
Section: 3C
A similar sighting of heavenly armies is found in Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s war against Licinius in 323-4.{5} But the heavenly armies of 312 are said to have been led, not by an angel or a martyr, but by Constantine’s deified father. This detail is not orthodox Christianity.John’s note: but no reference
Quote ID: 7626
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 292
Section: 3C
Constantine certainly did not realize the full significance of his change of religious allegiance. The fact is, the Church could never be simply the religious department of the respublica, as the old religion had been. The Church had its own officers, the clergy, who were absolutely distinct from the officers of the state.{5}{5} They came to be drawn from the same social class: see A. H. M. Jones (1964), 920-9; but they formed part of a separate and parallel organization. The possibility of state-church conflict was always a possibility; it had been literally unthinkable in the pagan state.
Quote ID: 7627
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 293
Section: 2E2,3A4,3C
In the event, the most revolutionary aspects of Christianity proved to be Christian asceticism{1} and religious intolerance.{2} Each made a large contribution to the transformation of Graeco-Roman civilization into something else.{3}
Quote ID: 7628
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 296
Section: 3A4,3C
The great expansion of Christianity owed little or nothing to force. Imperial patronage and the prestige of the imperial example were sufficient.{5} But there was one field which imperial coercive power was at least intermittently employed by Constantine. This was the suppression of discord within the Christian Church itself.
Quote ID: 7629
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 298/299
Section: 1A,3C,3A1
Constantine, in various ways, some more successful than others, tried to Christianize the Roman empire. At the same time Christianity, as a result of being the religion of the emperor, was being Romanized and the Church became something like an image of the empire. As more members of the ruling classes were converted the social status of bishops and that of secular dignitaries began to converge.{1} The ecclesiastical administration based on city, province,{2} and patriarchate{3} began to mirror the imperial administration based on cities, provinces, and dioceses.
Quote ID: 7630
Time Periods: 14
Book ID: 313 Page: 299
Section: 3C
In the East, the situation was rather different. Constantinople, the capital had never had Roman state cults and so Christianity as the religion of the emperor was in a sense the state religion already.{9}
Quote ID: 7631
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 300
Section: 2B
…the speeches written after 321, including the speech addressed to Julian the Apostate,{4} are written in terms of a neutral monotheism which would be acceptable to Christians and pagans alike.
Quote ID: 7632
Time Periods: 234
Book ID: 313 Page: 301
Section: 2C
Gratian soon after repudiated the title of pontifex maximus…
Quote ID: 7633
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 301
Section: 2B
The last panegyric in the collection was addressed in 389 by the Gallic orator Pacatus to the pious Christian emperor Theodosius. The orator too appears to have been a Christian. He relates that in worship (divinis rebus operantes) ‘we’ turn towards the rising sun.….
…the speech gives expression to the same neutral monotheism as its predecessors.
Quote ID: 7634
Time Periods: 234
Book ID: 313 Page: 302
Section: 2B
…Constantine himself had been a monotheist before he became a Christian.{5}{5} Euseb. V. C. i. 27.
Quote ID: 7635
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 303
Section: 3D
These were the circumstances in which Gratian and Theodosius ended the Constantinian compromise. Not content with being Christians who happened to be emperors, they insisted on being Christian emperors.{5}
Quote ID: 7636
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 303
Section: 3A3A
The function of the secular festival speech was increasingly performed by a bishop’s sermon. The sermons preached by Ambrose on the respective deaths of the emperors Theodosius and Valentinian II{6} are examples of the new type of religious court-celebration.
Quote ID: 7637
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 304
Section: 2A
…the calamities that broke over the western empire in the first decade of the fifth century did not discredit the new public religion.{3} On the contrary, the Romans of Rome united around their Church.{4} As the military situation steadily worsened, new church buildings{5} added their testimony to that of Constantinian structures, proclaiming – as in the time of Polybius or of Cicero – that no people surpassed the Romans in religious observance.
Quote ID: 7638
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 313 Page: 305
Section: 3C
…it was the conversion of Constantine which inaugurated the period of most rapid advance.. . . .
It was only from this time that it began to win significant numbers of converts among the peasantry and the nobility.
Quote ID: 7639
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 305
Section: 3C
…the conversion of Constantine had not been an expression of private religion. It had been the outcome of political concern. Constantine was converted because he required effective supernatural support, first to defeat his rivals, and then to safeguard the empire he had won.{5}
Quote ID: 7640
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 313 Page: 305
Section: 3B
What gave Christianity the chance to become more than a very important sect was the crisis of the third century.{6}
Quote ID: 7641
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 313 Page: 308
Section: 3A3
When the political framework of the empire collapsed, the Church continued to provide a sense of community, while its bishops offered authoritative moral instruction and encouragement.{1} This was just what the shaken citizens of the overrun provinces needed.
Quote ID: 7642
Time Periods: 3
End of quotes