(Insert Institute)
The Roman Empire came into power after a series of territorial acquisitions that ran across the Mediterranean Sea from Europe to the Asian continent. Upon its emergence as an empire, Rome stabilized itself under a number of emperors and was until the rise of Christianity considered among the most powerful forces with which to reckon. The Roman Empire has also been considered to have had major influence on the functioning of the modern world, a feat accomplished through its governance of Europe and in turn, its environs. From religion to governance, Rome’s ideologies were found to manipulate the societal, economical and political structures of many civilizations.
This paper focuses on the religion practiced among the Romans and in turn seeks to establish the beliefs among the people. To do this, there is need to integrate different texts that look into Rome’s Empire and provides insight into the people’s expectation of the state and their rulers. The Roman State in Rome sought to uphold the peoples’ loyalty and its power over them through the promotion of the emperor as a deity.
In “The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture” Garnsey and Staller (2013) give an account of the partial amalgamation of Rome’s Northern Provinces into the cultural setting and political structures that governed the people (9-24). With this in mind, it can be argued that unlike ancient Rome, the emerging empire was in more ways than one disunited. Garnsey and Staller concur with this in the second chapter titled “Government without Bureaucracy” where the empire’s administrative capital and performance are surveyed and sequentially, the importance of the cities and elites of the empire (55). With regard to this assessment carried out by the two scholars, a divide empire would prove crippling to the Romans and their rulers. In addition, though the elite had considerable wealth and power than the commoners, they were still answerable to the emperor’s government therefore marking him the supreme leader of the people.
Religion n Rome is according to Gradel (2002), “defined by action of dialogue -- sacrifice, prayer or other forms of establishing and constructing dialogue -- between humans and what they perceive as ‘another world’, opposed to and different from the everyday sphere in which men function” (p. 5). Rome’s religious practices have been passed down from the time of Ancient Rome (Beard, North & Price, 1998, p. 1). In the first chapter of “Religions of Rome” Beard, North & Price (1998) give a detailed description of the emergence of Rome’s religious conviction including the establishment of spiritual acts, temples, and priesthoods (1-25). Since the people and the government evolved over time, religion suffered the same fate and with time, past beliefs were gradually modified or abandoned all together. Hopkins (1981) attests to this when he compares Roman emperors to Egyptian god-kings and Chinese emperors who were considered deities by their people (197).
As stated before, the Roman Empire was not completely united and over time, the outside provinces, including those in the west sought for ways to reassure the monarch of their loyalty (Hopkins, 1981, p.206). In “Religions of Rome: Volume 1, A History” Beard, North & Price, (1998) concur with this in the evidence they give on the Western Provinces’ celebrations that were hard to class (352). According to them, “Numerous dedications were made in all the Western provinces in the form ‘Saturnus Augustus’, ‘Silvanus Augustus’, or ‘Mars Augustus’” (352).These festivities are the first evidence to emperor worship among the territories. By incorporating the names of Roman gods into those of a reigning emperor, it was hard to determine the sole reason behind the feasting. In addition, with the region’s need to please their ruler, it can be argued that relating said ruler to the known divinities was an act of worship rather than recognition for the same.
In “Imperial Cult in the Latin west ii-1, Volume 1” Fishwick (1987) states that, “Such iconographical traces provide tantalizing glimpses of municipal cult in the Western provinces hence, inferentially, of local civic cult in the Western provinces” (512). Here he writes about the material evidence that exist with regard to the religious and at times cultic practices of the Romans (510). Beard, North & Price (1998) attest to this when they write that, “individual emperors might import cults (or cult images) to Rome, sometimes as a result of conquest” (p. 254). From these facts, it can be argued that as Rome gained more power and territories it faced afore mentioned changes as with different emperors came different integrations into the societal, cultural, and economical structures of the empire (Garnsey & Saller, 2013).
With regard to sacrifices and cultic practices among the Roman citizens, Gradel (2002) tries to differentiate between religious acts performed to deities and the emperors (p. 26). According to him, despite the fact that sacrificial rites among the inhabitants had some boundaries that showed said difference between the deities and men, it was still impossible to see much of a difference between the two sides. This Gradel (2002) attests to by arguing “that 'the man-god divide . . . could also be taken to reflect a distinction in status between the respective beings, rather than a distinction between their respective natures or "species"” (p. 26). In other words, the rituals showed difference in the amount of respect the emperor’s status and that of the gods generated from the people. However, cultic practices were not a direct inclination of the peoples’ awareness of a difference between their ruler and their deities.
With these views in mind, it is safe to say that the Roman Empire’s changes in terms of its religious practices from the times of ancient Rome were an outcome of the domain’s expansion and interactions with the new territories. These interactions were in not in all cases peaceful as Hopkins’ (1981) writes in “Conquerors and Slaves” about the Roman’s conquests and their acquisition of slaves from fallen enemies. The act of slavery not only changed Rome’s economic and political aspects but also the cultural as the slaves introduced their own beliefs to their new masters (Hopkins, 1981, 4). In addition, with freed slaves, their gratitude was so immense that Hopkins (1981) goes further to suggest a form of admiration that rose from said gratitude (118). The slaves, especially those in the West were therefore more than eager to please the emperor and would have gone ahead with any plans to exalt their ruler and in turn, worship said ruler.
The Roman State in Rome sought to uphold the peoples’ loyalty and its power over them through the promotion of the emperor as a deity. This as shown above was done in such subtle ways that the people failed to see the nonexistent difference between their worship of the gods and their mortal ruler. From the evidence to the arguments set forth, it is safe to conclude that Rome’s Western provinces indeed practiced emperor worship though it has been insisted on it being a cult. With regard to the Roman state, it is safe to assume with the western province showing devotion to the emperor, the government was satisfied by the peoples’ loyalty.
Works Cited
Fishwick, Duncan. Imperial Cult in the Latin west ii-1, Volume 1. Boston: BRILL, 1987. Print.
Gradel, Ittai. Emperor Worship and Roman Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Print.
Hopkins, Keith. Conquerors and Slaves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Print.
Beard Mary, North John and Price S. R. F.. Religions of Rome: Volume 1, A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print.
Garnsey Peter and Saller Richard. The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2013. Print.
