The offi cial Roman religion was a cluster of beliefs expressed in an elaborate
system of institutions and rituals. The Romans accepted that the safety and
prosperity of their communities depended upon the gods, whose favour was
won and held by the correct performance of the full range of cult practices
inherited from the past. Supervision of the state religion was in the hands of
the political authorities. Priesthoods were held by the same men who held
political offi ce. In Rome, as in other societies, religious institutions and
practices refl ected the power relations within the community and provided
the justifi cation for the existing order.^1
Given that religion was embedded in the political structure of the state,
the transition from oligarchy to monarchy inevitably brought changes in the
framework of the offi cial religion. Religious offi ces, as all others, fell under
the control of the emperor. The life offi ce of high priest ( pontifex maximus ),
won by Julius Caesar with heavy bribery against the senior conservative
aristocrat Lutatius Catulus in 63 BC , was taken over by Augustus in 12 BC
without contest; only his political sensitivity delayed his assumption of the
post until the death of the incumbent. Succeeding emperors were high priests
ex offi cio. The priestly colleges were deprived of their infl uence over political
decision- making and reoriented toward service of the emperor. The main
task of the Arval Brothers, for example, was to intercede with the gods for
the welfare of the emperor and his family. Religious practices with
Republican political associations were phased out. Thus public divination
went into disuse, whether the regular consultation of the gods by senior
magistrates that preceded important decisions or actions, or the interpretation
of unusual natural phenomena by professional diviners. In the past, the
senate had presided over such operations. Under the new regime, the taking
of the auspices, notably by generals, was treated as an imperial prerogative;
while divine wrath, as manifested, for example, in 23–22 BC in the onset of
epidemic disease accompanied by alarming prodigies (Cassius Dio 54.1.1),
was met not with the customary expiatory procedures, but with practical
measures taken on imperial initiative, the revival of ancient cults,
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Religion
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