Conclusion
The network of divine patronage and deified imperial power, the city and the empire:
the forms of religion which gradually fell into place as communities became muni-
cipalized and Roman citizenship spread reflected the permanent need to live with
the times, when autonomous cities were completely integrated into the empire. The
people of the provinces progressively emerged from submission to become conquerors,
sharing this with the local gods. Of course, the great homeland, Rome, did not sub-
stitute itself for the local one as Roman citizenship became more widespread;
however, the fact of gradually belonging to both homelands clearly led individuals
as well as communities to share in Rome’s destiny. This is how the cults of the cities
came to be directly associated with cults which served to support the sovereign in
his task of governing. The religious language constructed around this was not merely
one of convenience; on the contrary, it enabled a collective and regular definition
of the framework in which one lived, putting men in phase with the times – that of
a pacified and civilized Empire. This established order, which depended as much on
divine benevolence as on imperial victories, would be increasingly challenged by the
troubles of the third century and the end of the pax Romana. As imperial power
was gradually challenged by its inability to guarantee the security of the empire, the
institutionalized piety that required that sacrifices be made to the gods on behalf of
the emperor inevitably lost touch with reality.
FURTHER READINGThe numerous recent works concerning the integration of the provinces in the empire (e.g.
Le Roux 1998; Sartre 1997) have rendered the classifications adopted by Toutain (1907–20)
obsolete, and allow an analysis of the cults of the empire in the second century from the point
of view of municipalization and the relations established between the autonomous cities and
the central Roman power (Scheid 1991; Beard et al. 1998; Van Andringa 2002). In this
religious language, which made it possible to transcribe institutionalized forms of power within
and without the city, the divine honor given to the emperor and to the imperial family played
an essential and unifying role (Fishwick 1987–2004; Price 1984; Moralee 2004). Numerous
regional studies also attest the variety of religious situations encountered in the cities in the
second century (Alcock 1993; Belayche 2001; Derks 1998; Frankfurter 1998a; Henig 1984;
Le Roux 1995; Spickermann 2003; Tranoy 1981; Van Andringa 2000, 2002; Willems and
Clarysse 2000; etc.).
(trans. Tamar Nelson)
Religions and the Integration of Cities 95