CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Inscriptions as Sources of
Knowledge for Religions and
Cults in the Roman World of
Imperial Times
Rudolf Haensch
On the one hand, one can say that without inscriptions, we would know nothing
about the more than eighty matresand matronae(e.g. Eck 2004: 495) and the
ritual of the Arvales (Scheid 1998b). On the other hand, one can point to the few
aspects of ancient cults of which we are informed by means of inscriptions: they
provide us with a large number of names, certain indications where these gods were
venerated and by whom. But if we take a closer look even these facts reveal their
problems. We often do not know whether a Roman name was simply given to an
originally indigenous god. It is almost every time open to doubt how typical these
persons were who venerated the gods in question. Even if we know thousands of
persons who dedicated altars, we know that they were a small minority of an elevated
social status in comparison not only with the whole population of the Roman empire,
but also with the adherents of a certain god. The fact that the inscriptions normally
tell us nothing about rituals and myths is even more problematic.
But before discussing the advantages and problems of inscriptions as sources for
religions in the Roman empire, a few preliminary remarks are necessary. Discussion
about the importance of inscriptions for religion and cults in the Roman empire requires
that all inscriptions referring to religion and cults during the late republican and im-
perial periods have to be taken into consideration, not only those referring to cults
which originated in Rome. In the Roman empire of imperial times – the period from
which most of our inscriptions date – there were numerous contacts between the
cults on the local level, on the regional level, and of empire-wide importance, result-
ing in numerous processes of exchange of various degrees. We have to deal not only