Rome's Religious History

Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods

Datos Bibliográficos

ID19904333
AutoresJason Davies (0000-0002-1694-5370, University College London, autor de correspondencia), Jason P Davies (0000-0002-7213-2147)
Año2005
Fecha de publicación2005-01-01
Open AccessNo
TipoBOOK
RevistaRome's Religious History (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511552472
OpenAlexW4237252752
ISBN9780511552472
Open LibraryOL34444400M
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6

This book explores the way in which three ancient historians, writing in Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the past. Although previous scholarship has generally portrayed these writers as somewhat dismissive of traditional Roman religion, it is argued here that Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus saw themselves as being very close to the centre of those traditions. The gods are presented as a potent historical force, and a close reading of the historians' texts easily bears out this conclusion. Their treatment of the gods is not limited to portraying the role and power of the divine in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the negotiation with the reader concerning what constituted a 'proper' religious system. Priests and other religious experts function as an index of the decline (or restoration) of Rome and each writer formulates a sophisticated position on the practical and social aspects of Roman religion

Art · Index (typography) · Linguistics · Literature · Negotiation · Political science · Power (physics) · Reading (process) · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Philosophy · Ammianus marcellinus · Tacitus, cornelius