require the direct involvement of the pontifex maximus. The ludi saeculares, for instance,
could be carried out without any role for Lepidus, but the flamen Dialiscould not
be appointed by anyone except the pontifex maximus, and Augustus promptly made
that appointment in 11 bc. In the meantime, he engaged in a lot of adroit maneu-
vering and obviously exerted considerable influence and power over religious affairs.
Cynics might argue, therefore, that the office really was not needed, just as the mech-
anisms of the traditional res publicawere not needed because Augustus ultimately
was in charge anyway. This argument, however, misapprehends both Augustan real-
ities and mentalities. The maintenance of the res publicaand the office of pontifex
maximuswas not simply window dressing. Augustus clearly craved that office, but
held himself in check. Once he could legally occupy it with the enthusiastic consent
of the governed – citizens could not mail in their ballots but had to come to Rome
for elections – he promptly engaged in a burst of activity. One of them was the expan-
sion of cultic activities to freedmen and even slaves.Increased Participation for the Non-Elite
Population estimates of Augustan Rome vary, but the consensus is that it was upward
of a million inhabitants. Many, if not most, of these were not Roman citizens but
freedmen and slaves. Roman household slaves could generally expect to be freed before
the end of their lives and, often, much sooner. They would attain the status of
freedmen, while their descendants would become Roman citizens. We should note,
therefore, that there was a constant influx into the Roman gene stream and that
Rome was a vast, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural cosmopolis. Participation in the
political process was restricted to Roman citizens. It made sense, therefore, to involve
the large number of non-citizens in the life of civic society by other means, and for
Augustus that other means was religion.
The best-documented example is his reform of the cult of the Lares at the cross-
roads. Fittingly enough, it demonstrates the intersection of political social, civic, and
religious aspects. The overriding goal was constructively to integrate especially the
lower-class dwellers in each neighborhood into the fabric of civic responsibility and
the Augustan state. Typically, the way this was done was again not by imposition
from above, but by mutual endeavor that built on existing practices and refocused
them.
Neighborhoods (vici), and organizations related to them, had existed in Rome
for centuries. They often were the locus for providing services like food and water
just as they were a locus for political organization at the grassroots level. Cults and
ceremonies pulled the neighborhood together and were centered on the shrines or
altars of the Lares, who were protective deities, at the major crossroads (compita).
Like everything else, the viciand their cults had their ups and downs in the last
century of the republic before Augustus systematized the existing socio-religious
institution in 7 bc, having laid the groundwork, probably starting in 12 bc, with
the orderly division of the city into 14 regions and 265 neighborhoods. It was an
important step: it marked the first time the city was actually known and is another
78 Karl Galinsky