Editing Religion in ancient Rome (section)

=== Later Republic to Principate ===
[[File:Hercules Nessus MAN Napoli Inv9001.jpg|thumb|left|A fresco from Pompeii depicting [[Hercules]], [[Hyllus]], [[Deianira]], and the centaur [[Nessus (mythology)|Nessus]] from [[Greek mythology|Greco]]-[[Roman mythology]], 30–45 AD]]

The introduction of new or equivalent deities coincided with Rome's most significant aggressive and defensive military forays. Livy attributed the disasters of the early part of Rome's [[second Punic War]] to a growth of superstitious cults, errors in augury and the neglect of Rome's traditional gods, whose anger was expressed directly through Rome's defeat at [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]] (216 BC). The Sibylline books were consulted. They recommended a general vowing of the ''[[ver sacrum]]''<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Ver_Sacrum.html ''Ver Sacrum''], ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', page 1189, London, 1875.</ref> and in the following year, the living burial of two Greeks and two [[Gauls]]; not the first nor the last sacrifice of its kind, according to Livy.

In 206 BC, during the Punic crisis, the Sibylline books recommended the introduction of a cult to the [[Magna Mater]] (Great Mother) from [[Pessinus]], supposedly an ancestral goddess of Romans and Trojans. She was installed on the [[Palatine hill|Palatine]] in 191 BC.

Deities with troublesome followers were taken over, not banned. An unofficial, popular mystery cult to [[Dionysus|Bacchus]] was officially taken over, restricted and supervised as potentially subversive in 186 BC.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/romrelig2.html#Livy2 ''Dionysius and the Bacchanalia, 186 B.C.''] from Livy: ''History of Rome''.</ref>

[[File:Wall painting - Ares and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 23) - Napoli MAN 9249 - 03.jpg|thumb|[[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] caresses Venus enthroned. Wall-painting in Pompeii, c. 20 BC – 50s AD]]

The priesthoods of most Roman deities with clearly Greek origins used an invented version of Greek costume and ritual, which Romans called "Greek rites." The spread of Greek literature, mythology and philosophy offered Roman poets and antiquarians a model for the interpretation of Rome's festivals and rituals, and the embellishment of its mythology. [[Ennius]] translated the work of Graeco-Sicilian [[Euhemerus]], who explained the genesis of the gods as [[apotheosis|deified]] mortals. In the last century of the Republic, [[Epicureanism|Epicurean]] and particularly [[Stoicism|Stoic]] interpretations were a preoccupation of the literate elite, most of whom held – or had held – high office and traditional Roman priesthoods; notably, [[Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur|Scaevola]] and the polymath [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]. For Varro – well versed in Euhemerus' theory – popular religious observance was based on a necessary fiction; what the people believed was not itself the truth, but their observance led them to as much higher truth as their limited capacity could deal with. Whereas in popular belief deities held power over mortal lives, the skeptic might say that mortal devotion had made gods of mortals, and these same gods were only sustained by devotion and cult.

Just as Rome itself claimed the favour of the gods, so did some individual Romans. In the mid-to-late Republican era, and probably much earlier, many of Rome's leading clans acknowledged a divine or semi-divine ancestor and laid personal claim to their favour and cult, along with a share of their divinity. Most notably in the very late Republic, the [[Julii]] claimed [[Venus (mythology)#Epithets|Venus Genetrix]] as an ancestor; this would be one of many foundations for the Imperial cult. The claim was further elaborated and justified in Vergil's poetic, Imperial vision of the past.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

[[File:Affreschi romani - nettuno anfitrine - pompei.JPG|thumb|left|Fresco of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] and [[Salacia]], Pompeii]]

In the late Republic, the so-called [[Marian reforms]] supposedly did the following: lowered an existing property bar on conscription, increased the efficiency of Rome's armies, and made them available as instruments of political ambition and factional conflict.<ref>Orlin, in Rüpke, (ed.), 65</ref> The consequent civil wars led to changes at every level of Roman society. Augustus' [[principate]] established peace and subtly transformed Rome's religious life – or, in the new ideology of Empire, restored it (see [[#Imperial cult|below]]).

[[Sissel Undheim]] has argued that, with their ''Religions of Rome'' volumes, [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], John North, and [[Simon Price (classicist)|Simon Price]] dismantled the well-established narrative of the decline of religious in the late Republic, opening the way for more innovative and dynamic perspectives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Undheim |first=Sissel |date=2015 |title=Review of Religion in Republican Rome: Rationalization and Ritual Change. (Empire and After), Jörg Rüpke |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24644883 |journal=Numen |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=481–483 |doi=10.1163/15685276-12341385 |jstor=24644883 |issn=0029-5973|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Towards the end of the Republic, religious and political offices became more closely intertwined; the office of ''[[pontifex maximus]]'' became a ''de facto'' consular prerogative.<ref name="Brent, 21-25" /> Augustus was personally vested with an extraordinary breadth of political, military and priestly powers; at first temporarily, then for his lifetime. He acquired or was granted an unprecedented number of Rome's major priesthoods, including that of ''pontifex maximus''; as he invented none, he could claim them as traditional honours. His reforms were represented as adaptive, restorative and regulatory, rather than innovative; most notably his elevation (and membership) of the ancient [[Arval Brethren|Arvales]], his timely promotion of the plebeian Compitalia shortly before his election and his patronage of the [[Vestal Virgins|Vestals]] as a visible restoration of Roman morality.<ref>Galinsky, in Rüpke (ed.), 76. See also [[Res Gestae]].</ref> Augustus obtained the ''pax deorum'', maintained it for the rest of his reign and adopted a successor to ensure its continuation. This remained a primary religious and social duty of emperors.