Ethnicity in Roman Religion 471Plautus captures the rich commotion of Rome’s urban life, where social distinction and
status markers seem to count for more than ethnic identity, whether to be asserted
or hidden.
Far from stressing ethnic exclusivity, a number of religious institutions actively—and,
as we will see, contrafactually—produced notions of “ethnic” diversity. In Rome, the
male citizens wore atoga, which, though traditional (cf. Verg.Aen. 1.282; Suetonius,
Claud. 15.3), was not an everyday form of dress, being cumbersome to put on and
hot in summer—Augustus repeatedly tried to persuade Romans to wear it more often
(Suetonius,Aug. 40.5). In the Roman rite, theritus patrius, literally, “the father’s way
of doing ritual,” it was the clearest sign of participating in a ritual for both men and
women to pull up part of thetoga, or in the case of women, thestola, to cover the
head. The head was then said to be “veiled” (caput velatum; e.g., Cicero,ND2.10; Livy
1.18.3; 8. 9. 5; 10. 7. 10; see Pensabene 1980 for the earliest archaeological examples
among the mid-Republican terracotta statuettes dredged up from the Tiber; in general:
Bonfante Warren 1973). The alternative to this act of covering the head was to wear a
leaf crown (cf. Blech 1982), the only head covering permitted by the rules for theritus
graecus, the “Greek rite.” This term did not refer to true Greek sacrificial ritual but to
what the Romans believed to be Greek elements in their cults, for example the cult of
Saturn, and the ritual at the altar of Hercules (Servius,Aen. 3.407; Dion. Hal. 6.1.4;
Macrobius,Sat. 3.6.17; see Scheid 1995). The difference went beyond clothing. In the
ritus graecus, musicians lead processions, and hymns were sung by specialists, thecantores
graeci, “Greek singers.” In contrast, in Roman rituals, the most widespread form of music
was “flute” music played on the double-tibia, a sort of clarinet or oboe rather than a flute,
since it was played with a reed (representations: Fless 1995: 79–84).
A more complex political and ethnical diversity was kept up in the realm of priesthoods.
Of course, the Etruscanharuspicestake pride of place, diviners from prominent Etruscan
families, who were employed on a permanent basis from the late republic onward, and
occasionally much earlier. Based on a supposedly substantial literary tradition of books
of the “Etruscan discipline” (traceable only in fragmentary texts; see Thulin and Regell
1975; Rawson 1978; Briquel 1990; Roncalli 2010; also see Chapter 27, by Nancy de
Grummond, in this volume), they were given prominent roles in dealing with major
prodigies and the interpretation of entrails in large public rituals; during the Empire,
they were regularly attached to military units and appear on their payrolls.
Furthermore, a number of ancient Latin polities were preserved in the form of priest-
hoods. These so-called “Latin priesthoods” comprised priesthoods that were (probably)
filled from Rome by candidates from the equestrian class (cf. Fest. 146.9–12 L). This
applies without reservation to the multifarioussacerdotes Albani,Cabenses,andCaeni-
nenses,andtheLaurentes Lavinates. The communities to which they belonged were
notional, being embodied by the generality of their titular magistracies (Thomas 1990;
for the prosopography, see Rüpke 2008). In contrast to them, thesacerdotes Lanuvini
and thesacerdotes Tusculaniinclude epigraphically attested non-indigenous equestrians
as well as a great variety of non-equestrian local priests; here, real communities seem to
have continued. The dividing line is, however, difficult to draw. TheLaurentes Lavinates
constituted a political and sacral entity conceived in Rome, and their actual existence in
the city can be demonstrated (Castagnoli 1984; cf. Saulnier 1984). In place of a sophisti-
cated structure modeled on the pontifical college and other colleges in the city of Rome,