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Religion in ancient Rome
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== Religion and the military == [[File:ML - Genius Legion.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Genius (mythology)|genius]] of the legion (2nd–3rd century CE)]] Military success was achieved through a combination of personal and collective ''virtus'' (roughly, "manly virtue") and the divine will: lack of ''virtus'', civic or private negligence in ''religio'' and the growth of ''superstitio'' provoked divine wrath and led to military disaster. Military success was the touchstone of a special relationship with the gods, and to Jupiter Capitolinus in particular; triumphal generals were dressed as Jupiter, and laid their victor's laurels at his feet.<ref>Orlin, in Rüpke (ed.), 58.</ref><ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 44, 59–60, 143.</ref> Roman commanders offered vows to be fulfilled after success in battle or siege; and further vows to expiate their failures. [[Marcus Furius Camillus|Camillus]] promised Veii's goddess Juno a temple in Rome as incentive for her desertion ''([[evocatio]])'', conquered the city in her name, brought her cult statue to Rome "with miraculous ease" and dedicated a temple to her on the Aventine Hill.<ref>Cornell, T., in Walbank et al., 299, citing Livy 21.8-9 and 22.3-6. Livy describes this as ''[[wiktionary:evocatio|evocatio]]'' (a "calling forth") initiated by Roman soldiers who snatched the goddess's sacrificial portion during her Veiian rites; the Veiian priest had announced that whoever possessed the sacred entrails would win the coming battle. Preview via googlebooks [https://books.google.com/books?id=3qXuay2SEtIC&dq=evocatio+Livy&pg=PA299]</ref> Roman camps followed a standard pattern for defense and religious ritual; in effect they were Rome in miniature. The commander's headquarters stood at the centre; he took the auspices on a dais in front. A small building behind housed the legionary standards, the divine images used in religious rites and in the Imperial era, the image of the ruling emperor. In one camp, this shrine is even called Capitolium. The most important camp-offering appears to have been the ''suovetaurilia'' performed before a major, set battle. A ram, a boar and a bull were ritually garlanded, led around the outer perimeter of the camp (a ''lustratio exercitus'') and in through a gate, then sacrificed: Trajan's column shows three such events from his Dacian wars. The perimeter procession and sacrifice suggest the entire camp as a divine ''templum''; all within are purified and protected.<ref>Moede, in Rüpke (ed.), 171, & Beard et al., Vol. 1, 326–7.</ref> [[File:010 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel X.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.6|Panel from [[Trajan's Column]] depicting the [[lustrum|lustral]] procession of the ''[[suovetaurilia]]'' victims under military standards]] Each camp had its own religious personnel; standard bearers, priestly officers and their assistants, including a haruspex, and housekeepers of shrines and images. A senior magistrate-commander (sometimes even a consul) headed it, his chain of subordinates ran it and a ferocious system of training and discipline ensured that every citizen-soldier knew his duty. As in Rome, whatever gods he served in his own time seem to have been his own business; legionary forts and ''vici'' included shrines to household gods, personal deities and deities otherwise unknown.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 324–6.</ref> From the earliest Imperial era, citizen legionaries and provincial auxiliaries gave cult to the emperor and his ''familia'' on Imperial accessions, anniversaries and their renewal of annual vows. They celebrated Rome's official festivals ''in absentia'', and had the official triads appropriate to their function – in the Empire, Jupiter, [[Victoria (mythology)|Victoria]] and [[Concordia (mythology)|Concordia]] were typical. By the early Severan era, the military also offered cult to the Imperial ''divi'', the current emperor's ''numen'', ''genius'' and ''domus'' (or ''familia''), and special cult to the Empress as "mother of the camp". The near ubiquitous legionary shrines to [[Mithras]] of the later Imperial era were not part of official cult until Mithras was absorbed into [[Sol Invictus|Solar]] and Stoic [[Monism]] as a focus of military [[Concordia (mythology)|''concordia'']] and Imperial loyalty.<ref>Brent, 268-9.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=r2hBqYtZWNEC&dq=Hadrian+dominus+noster&pg=RA1-PA249 Books.Google.co.uk], Le Bohec, 249: limited preview available via Google Books</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VqM9AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22mother+of+the+camp%22+severus&pg=PA82 Books.Google.co.uk], Dixon, 78: limited preview available from Google Books</ref> [[File:Jupiter dolichenus 3rd century Carnuntum.jpg|thumb|upright|A votive statue of [[Jupiter Dolichenus]] dedicated by a [[centurion]] for the wellbeing of the emperor ([[Carnuntum]], 3rd century)]] The ''[[devotio]]'' was the most extreme offering a Roman general could make, promising to offer his own life in battle along with the enemy as an offering to the underworld gods. Livy offers a detailed account of the ''devotio'' carried out by [[Publius Decius Mus (consul 340 BC)|Decius Mus]]; family tradition maintained that [[Publius Decius Mus (consul 312 BC)|his son]] and [[Publius Decius Mus (consul 279 BC)|grandson]], all bearing the same name, also devoted themselves. Before the battle, Decius is granted a prescient dream that reveals his fate. When he offers sacrifice, the victim's liver appears "damaged where it refers to his own fortunes". Otherwise, the haruspex tells him, the sacrifice is entirely acceptable to the gods. In a [[Novensiles#The invocation of Decius Mus|prayer recorded by Livy]], Decius commits himself and the enemy to the ''dii [[Manes]]'' and [[Terra (mythology)|Tellus]], charges alone and headlong into the enemy ranks, and is killed; his action cleanses the sacrificial offering. Had he failed to die, his sacrificial offering would have been tainted and therefore void, with possibly disastrous consequences.<ref>Livy, 5.21.3., & 8.9.8; Beard et al., Vol 1, 35–36; Hertz, in Rüpke (ed.), 312; Halm, in Rüpke (ed.), 239.</ref> The act of ''devotio'' is a link between military ethics and those of the Roman [[Gladiator#Gladiators and the military|gladiator]]. The efforts of military commanders to channel the divine will were on occasion less successful. In the early days of Rome's war against Carthage, the commander [[Publius Claudius Pulcher (consul 249 BC)]] launched a sea campaign "though the sacred chickens would not eat when he took the auspices". In defiance of the omen, he threw them into the sea, "saying that they might drink, since they would not eat. He was defeated, and on being bidden by the Senate to appoint a dictator, he appointed his messenger Glycias, as if again making a jest of his country's peril." His impiety not only lost the battle but ruined his career.<ref>Rosenberger, in Rüpke (ed.), 3OO, citing Suetonius, Tiberius, 2.2.</ref>
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