CHAPTER SIX
Continuity and Change:
Religion in the Augustan
Semi-Century
Karl Galinsky
It is clear from the preceding chapters that religion was an integral part of the fabric
and the workings of the Roman state. As can be expected, therefore, it continued
in that role in Augustus’ reign (31 bc–ad14) and became even more multi-faceted,
befitting the character of the age. As such, it is a paradigm, in many ways, of the
special characteristics of that vital period and must be approached from the same
perspectives as other Augustan phenomena. That means, first and foremost, that the
dichotomies which are often applied to them do not work. To give one prominent
example: Augustus’ res publicawas not republicanormonarchic; rather, it was both.
Similarly, in Augustan culture in general, we are looking at bothtradition and
innovation and at bothcontinuity andchange. In the area of religion in particular,
the posited dichotomies would not hold up anyway because change was part of the
tradition of Roman religion (North 1976). In fact, operative terminology from the
religious sphere is helpful for understanding the much-debated meaning of Augustus’
“restored” republic (res publica restituta). Romans would see the term “restitution”
used routinely in inscriptions on restored temples; such restorations occurred all the
time because of frequent fires and the like. We know from archaeology that such
rebuilding hardly ever involved an exact replica of the old structure. Instead, a new
and changed, even if not radically changed, edifice would be erected on the old foun-
dation – precisely the image Augustus uses in one of his best-known quotations,
namely that he “left the city, which he found made of bricks, as one of marble”
(Suet. Augustus 28). The phrase follows his statement that he built his “new state”
on a secure foundation (fundamenta) – architecture is both reality and metaphor.
Both the metaphor and the reality – another famous claim by Augustus was that
he rebuilt 82 temples in the city of Rome besides constructing several others (Res
Gestae19 –21) – fittingly apply to the development of religion in the Augustan reign.