Augustan reign is precisely the opening up of formerly restricted opportunities to a
much larger segment of the populace (with the obvious exception of governance at
the top). Paradoxical as it may seem, a shift to autocratic government is accom-
panied by an authentic involvement of much wider strata of the population. Everyone,
and not just the city of Rome and the consuls, gets to publish their fastinow, whether
monthly calendars or annual list of functionaries, or in combination. We find them
in towns like Praeneste, for the officials (vicomagistri) of the 265 neighborhoods in
Rome who were freedmen (see the section on increased participation, below), the
slaves of the Tiberian imperial villa at Antium, and many more. Augustan religion
is a perfect reflection of both trends: on the one hand, greater concentration on the
ruler – when Augustus rebuilt temples, for instance, many of their anniversary dates
were changed so as to coincide with important dates for him, such as September 23,
his birthday – and, on the other, much wider participation by far more people in
the life of the state via religion.
Such participation extended to all strata that had traditionally been left out, such
as freedmen, slaves, and provincials, and I will follow up with some specifics below.
But the principal shift is clear: the aristocracy lost its formerly exclusive control in
the area of religion just as it did in other important areas like law, language, public
speaking, and military science. When it came to knowledge of religious practices and
their origins, you now could turn to Varro’s compendium on Human[i.e. Roman]
and Divine Antiquities, which, not by coincidence, was dedicated to the pontifex
maximusJulius Caesar. It is such developments, and not just the loss of the old
order’s political power, that are behind the laments about the “decline” and “decay”
of the republic. Religion continued to serve as a cohesive force in the state. The
reason for this function, however, altered because of the changes I have outlined.
In his famous characterization of Roman religion, Polybius, the Greek Alexis de
Tocqueville of the second century bc, praised it because the aristocracy used “awe
of the gods” to instill fear into the populace and thereby keep it unified (Historiae
6.86). In diametrical contrast, the role of public religion in achieving cohesion and
unity under Augustus was the result of greater inclusiveness and opportunity for
participation. This was all the more important as the Augustan panorama extended
not just to Rome and Italy but to the entire Mediterranean.
A final aspect is that the changes that took place in Augustus’ reign were not
sudden – not for nothing, his motto was “make haste slowly” – but took place over
time. That time includes, as John Scheid (2005a) has recently pointed out, the
Octavianic period of Augustus, that is, the years from 44 to 27 bc. From the begin-
ning, Octavian/Augustus pursued the establishment of divine honors for the ruler
(his slain adoptive father Julius Caesar, for the time being) and the restoration of
some ancient traditions. I want to turn to this second aspect first.
Restoration
Augustan culture was highly visual. Augustus marshaled the media of art and archi-
tecture like no Roman before him (Zanker 1987 [1988]). We can begin with whatContinuity and Change 73