was now the center of such communal activity (Livy 1.45; Beard et al. 1998: 2.15 –17).
A similar action may be represented by the construction of a temple to Castor and
Pollux at Rome early in the fifth century. Castor and Pollux had been worshiped at
Lavinium (we have a dedication naming them; Beard et al. 1998: 2.21), but they
were also said to have announced at Rome the victory over the Latins at the battle
of Lake Regillus (Cic. Tusculanae1.28; Dion. H. 6.13; Val. Max. 1.8.1c; Plut.
Coriolanus3.4). The temple may be a visible sign of Roman claims, not dissimilar
from the act of evocatio, by which the deity of a defeated town was “evoked” into
victorious Rome (see e.g. Livy 5.21 in relation to Juno at Veii). Whilst much of
this activity represents the centralization of some Latin festivals at Rome, or at least
the construction of rival variants, this takes place against the background of more
federal and dispersed religious authority.
There was a theory current in antiquity that the earliest Roman deities were not
anthropomorphic. Varro is quoted by the later St. Augustine for this view, and also
for the account of the many deities of natural events or phenomena who were wor-
shiped at Rome (Aug. Civ.4.31 with Beard et al. 1998: 2.2–3; Aug. Civ.4.16 –24).
A good example is Robigo, the goddess of grain mildew, who was appeased by an
elaborate ceremony involving the sacrifice of young dogs (C. Smith 1996b). At the
same time, the Romans developed a pantheon not dissimilar to the Greek one, and
whilst it is indubitably the case that the Romans imported substantial amounts of
myth, and made their gods both look Greek and in some instances sound Greek
(Apollo is a good example), there must also have been a process of syncretism. The
words for god and goddess are from the earliest strata of Latin, and one does not
need to follow Dumézil’s more elaborate theories to recognize the deep antiquity
of the worship of Jupiter and Juno, for instance. This is important, because it is
clear that there are important deities who were worshiped across Latium, and who
represented core values of the community, and Juno is one. The cult of Juno Sospita
in particular seems to have been connected with the defense and reproduction of
the citizen body.
Equally there are striking examples of the import of eastern myths and deities
who then operate across central Italy. Unsurprisingly, it is at port sites that this phe-
nomenon is most marked. Study of the port sites of Pyrgi, Gravisca in Etruria, and
S. Omobono in the Forum Boarium at Rome has revealed a dense complex of asso-
ciations in the sixth century (Coarelli 1988). Hercules has substantial similarities to
the Phoenician deity Melqart, and there are traces of his cult in coastal Etruria. These
incarnations are connected with the Etruscan deity Uni, who characteristically has
spheres of interest in sex and reproduction. The sanctuary at S. Omobono, near the
Ara Maxima which was said to have been dedicated by Hercules, was a center for
the worship of Fortuna, also a deity of fertility and fortune. At S. Omobono, a statue
has been found of Hercules and Athena (or Minerva in Latin). It is interesting that
this divine pair is the one referred to by Pisistratos during one of his attempts to
gain tyranny at Athens (Hdt. 1.60); Servius Tullius, a Roman king who is described
by Roman historians in much the same way as one of the good tyrants of Greece,
prior to the bad tyrant Tarquinius Superbus, is said to have founded the cult of Fortuna,
The Religion of Archaic Rome 37