QUESTIONS

• Read Shelton’s "Religion and Philosophy" on pp. 360-61. Give two reasons why the religion of the Roman Empire has been labeled "the state religion" by scholars. Briefly summarize the important differences between the Roman state religion and modern Christianity. Note how the state religion was an expansion of rites performed by individual families in early Rome.

• Read Shelton’s "The Gods of the State Religion" on p. 361-62. What foreign influences were assimilated into Roman religion? Read Shelton’s "Deities of the Environment" on pp. 362-63. What is ‘animism’? Give one example of animism in Roman religion. Note that the development of the household spirit called a Lar is a good example of the expansion of family rites to the state level. Selections 354 - 358 all provide good examples of the animism of Roman religion. Take particular note of the legalism of Roman prayers (see footnote #25 on p. 364) and the Roman view of religious transgression (see footnote #27 on p. 364).

• Read Shelton’s "The Greek Influence" on pp. 367-68. Explain the difference between the deities of early Roman religion and the Greek gods. Briefly describe how the Romans assimilated the Greek gods into their religious system. Explain how the Romans merged an early woodland spirit named Diana with the anthropomorphic Greek goddess Artemis. Briefly list the different functions of Diana (359).

• What was the occasion of the Roman importation of the Greek god Aesculapius (360)? What was the usual Roman practice with gods of a defeated enemy (361)? Syncretism ("the combination of different forms of belief or practice," Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary) is a common phenomenon in religion. Briefly explain the syncretism evident in the inscriptions from Roman Britain (362). List the local country divinities to whom Martial shows special devotion (363).

• Read carefully Shelton’s "Ritual" on pp. 371-72. What was the main purpose of Roman religion? What does pax deorum mean? Since profession of faith was not important in Roman religion, what was required of a worshipper? How did a worshipper fulfill this requirement? Why was no deviation allowed in ritual? Read carefully the definitions of the Latin words pietas and cultus. Briefly explain the difference between the meanings of these two Latin words and the English words ‘piety’ and ‘cult’. Explain relative unimportance of morality in ancient Roman religion. What was the main concern of Roman religion?

• Read Shelton’s "Formalism" on p. 373. Name the four different forms of rituals in Roman religion. Note the requirements for effective prayer outlined by Pliny the Elder (364). What is the most important consideration in making a proper prayer (364)? In a public ceremony, who says the prayer (see footnotes #92 and 93 on p. 373)? What is the purpose of the flutist? Read Shelton’s "Conservatism" on pp. 373-74). How is the prayer of the Arval Brethren an example of religious conservatism? Why does Cato the Elder recommend beginning the prayer and sacrifice before the harvest with an offering to Janus (366; see footnote #102 on p. 375)?

• Read Shelton’s "Vow" on p. 376. Explain the difference between a prayer and a vow. What vow does the consul Manius Acilius make in preparation for war against King Antiochus (see footnote #116 on p. 376)?

• Read Shelton’s "Divination: Augury and Auspicium" on p. 377. What is divination? How did the gods reveal their will to man? What is augury (auspicium)? What role did Augurs have? Give an example of this role. Note that augury was as much a political, as well as a religious matter. Give two examples of how practical matters could influence augury (368-69). Read Shelton’s "Divination: Extispicium" on p. 378. What is extispicium? What is a haruspex? What does the haruspex report to the consul Decius after the sacrifice (370)? Read Shelton’s "The Sibylline Books" on p. 379. What are the Sibylline Books? When are they consulted (371)?

• Read Shelton’s "Festivals" on p. 380. What was the purpose of a festival? Why was it important not be neglected? Note that festivals were generally celebrated on both a private and public level. Who publicly performed the appropriate rites? How were private citizens involved in these rites? What is a lustratio? How was this purification ceremony performed (372)? What was done if something was wrong with the internal organs of the sacrificial victims (372; see footnote #142 on p. 381)? Read Shelton’s "Ambarvalia" on p. 381. What does ‘Ambarvalia’ mean (see footnote #143 on p. 381)? How was the suovetaurilia (see footnote #140 on p. 380) performed in the country? in urban areas? In Tibullus’s account of the Ambarvalia, what activity is forbidden to women during this festival (373)? Who is excluded from the ceremony and why (373; see footnotes #147-148 on p. 382)?

• State briefly the purpose of the Robigalia (374). What is a flamen (see footnote #152)? On what does Tibullus urge Robigus to exercise his destructive power (374, p. 383)? Read Shelton’s "Lupercalia" on p. 383. What is the Lupercalia? In what form did the Lupercalia survive in Christianity (see footnote #161 on p. 383 for other survivals of ancient Roman festivals)? What does ‘February’ mean (375)? Briefly describe what part the Luperci play in this festival. Read Shelton’s "Saturnalia" on pp. 384-85. What kind of festival was the Saturnalia (see also 376)? How was the master-slave relationship inverted on this holiday? What Saturnalian customs does Martial note (377)?

• Read Shelton’s "Officers of the State Religion" on p. 386. What was unusual about the secular and religious aspects of a Roman citizen’s life from the modern point of view? How were priests chosen? Name the five different groups of Roman religious officials. What was the function of the Pontifex Maximus? Summarize briefly the function of the pontifices (378; see footnote #182 on p. 386).

• Read Shelton’s "Vestal Virgins" on p. 387. Who was Vesta? Vesta was one of those gods who was worshipped on both a private and public level. How was Vesta represented? What was the responsibility of the Vestal Virgins? In what sense were the Vestal Virgins more independent than the ordinary Roman woman (379)? How long did the Vestals Virgins have to remain unmarried (380)? Why did most Vestal Virgins remain in the service of Vesta until their deaths (380)? What is the punishment for a Vestal Virgin who has lost her virginity (380)? What is the surest sign that a Vestal Virgin has lost her virginity (380)?

• Read Shelton’s "Deification" on p. 389. How were rulers viewed in the eastern part of the Mediterranean world? What did the Romans object to in this belief? What divinity did the Romans encourage western provinces to worship? How did the Romans accommodate this belief to their view of their emperors? Note that the next two selections refer to a period of Tiberius’s rule as emperor after the death of Augustus. For whom does Tiberius believe it is suitable for the town of Gythium to decree "honors, suitable for the gods" (381)?

• What precedent had Augustus set with regard to emperor worship in Pergamum in the province of Asia (382)? Why did Tiberius follow Augustus’s example in Asia (382)? How does Tiberius answer the request of a delegation from Farther Spain to erect a shrine to himself and his mother (382)? What was Tiberius’s policy about permitting statues and busts of himself to be set up (383)?

• Read Shelton’s "Neglect of the State Cult" on p. 391. Summarize briefly what events led many Romans to believe that Rome was being punished for neglecting the gods. According to Horace, why had the Romans been able to acquire an empire (384)? What calamities does Horace attribute to neglect of the gods (384)? What contrast does Horace make between the parents of soldiers who suffered these modern disasters and those earlier parents of soldiers who defeated Pyrrhus, Antiochus, and Hannibal (384)?

• Read Shelton’s "Resistance to Intolerance" on pp. 392-93. What was the great accomplishment of Augustus. What was emperor Gratian attempting to do when he removed the altar of Victory from the Senate house in 382 AD ? In his letter to emperor Valentinian II after Gratian’s death, Symmachus requests that the altar be restored (385). According to Symmachus, what is the best proof of the existence of the gods (385, p.393)? Why does Symmachus believe that it is important to preserve the old state religion (385, p.393)? Why does Symmachus recommend religious toleration (385, p.394)?

• Read Shelton’s "Religions from the East" on pp. 394-95. Summarize the typical characteristics of the eastern (see footnote #225 on p. 394) religions that began to take root in Rome in the late republican and early imperial periods. What was the only eastern religion that demanded rejection of all other religions (see footnote #229 on p. 394)? Describe briefly the difference between the demands of the Roman state cult and those of eastern religions. What elements did eastern religions possess that the Roman state cult did not?

• Read Shelton’s "Turning to Other Religions" on p. 395. Why were Romans attracted to eastern cults as early as the third century BC? What effect did Hannibal’s successes in Italy have the state religion at Rome (386)?

• Read Shelton’s "Bacchus" on p. 396. What kind of god was Bacchus? What special benefits did he have to offer? Why was a belief in the immortality of mankind connected with his worship? What role did wine play in his cult? Why were many Romans dismayed by this cult? What did the Roman upper classes find alarming about the worship of Bacchus? Read Shelton’s "Suppression of the Bacchanalia" on pp. 396-97. Note that the fears that many Romans had about the Bacchanalia were similar to those felt later by opponents of Christianity. What rumors of evil acts spread quickly about the worshippers of Bacchus (387, p. 397-98)?

• What public and private concerns did the senators have about the worship of Bacchus (387, p. 398)? What dangers posed by the worship of Bacchus do the consuls point out to people (387, p. 398)? What punishments were meted out to people convicted being involved in the Bacchanalia (387, p. 399)? How were women punished differently from men (387, p. 399)? Under what conditions was the worship of Bacchus allowed (387, p. 399)? Why does the decree of the Senate concurring the worship of Bacchus forbid the establishment of a common fund (388, p. 400; see footnote #248 on p. 400)? What crime did one disobeyed this decree commit and what was the penalty (388, p. 401; see footnote #250 on p. 401)?

• Read Shelton’s "Bringing the Goddess to Rome" on p. 401. Why did the Roman government give the cult of Cybele (Magna Mater, ‘Great Mother’) a place in the state religion alongside native Roman gods? What object symbolized the goddess? Why do you think that the goddess was housed in the temple of Victory (389, p. 402)? How was her festival celebrated (389, p. 402; see footnote #258 on p. 402)? Read Shelton’s "A Religious Procession" on p. 402-03. What did Roman officials find shocking about the cult of Cybele? According to Lucretius, how was the Great Mother (Cybele) portrayed by the ancient Greek poets (390)? Why were her attendants Phrygians (390)? Briefly describe the rites of Cybele (390)?

• Read Shelton’s "Worship of the Goddess" on pp. 403-04. Where did the worship of Isis originate? What kind of goddess was Isis? What did her cult have in common with the cult of Bacchus? When did her worship reach Rome? Why did Octavian attempt to suppers her cult? How successful was he in this suppression? Note the initiation of Lucius and the similarities to Christian rites in the cult of Isis: purification by water, fast from food and wine, initiation, ordination to the priesthood, etc. (391, p. 407). Notice also the resemblance of Isis to the Virgin Mary, pointed out by Shelton on p. 404. Describe briefly the Isis myth as related by Minucius Felix (392). What does Minucius criticize about the Isis cult (392)?

• Read Shelton’s "Tolerance" on p. 409. How was Judaism different from most other eastern religions? How did the Jews escape the suspicions that were aroused by the worshippers of Bacchus? Summarize briefly Augustus’s policy with regard to the Jews (393). What was Tiberius’s policy with regard to Egyptian and Jewish religions (394)? What order did Claudius give in a letter to the Alexandrians? to the Alexandrian Jews (395)?

• Read Shelton’s "The Promises of Christianity" on p. 411. Although the original Christians were Jewish, how did they eventually differ from their fellow Jews (note that Christians were regarded as Jews; see 397)? List the similarities between Christianity and other eastern religions. In each of the selections from the New Testament identify an image that Christianity had in common with other eastern religions such as the cults of Bacchus, Cybele, and Isis (396; see pp. 394-408).

• Read Shelton’s "An Early Instance of Persecution" on pp. 412-13. Why did early Christians incur the same suspicions as the cults of Bacchus, Cybele, and Isis? Why did the Christians offend many polytheists? Why did many people blame the Christians for the great fire of 64 AD? What punishment did Christians suffer because of the fire (398)? What was the reaction of the Roman crowd to this punishment (398)?

• Read Shelton’s "Imperial Advice about Dealing with Christians" on p. 414. What was belonging to a secret society considered a crime (see footnote #296 on p. 414)? Why were some Christians charged with treason? What abuse was Pliny the Younger concerned about in the province of Bithynia? What was the Roman attitude toward provincial administration? Explain briefly why Shelton says that "the Christian "question" had no solution. How did Pliny treat those provincials who refused to give up their Christianity (399, p. 415)? Roman citizens who did the same thing (399, p. 415)? What actions did a person have to perform to avoid being punished as a Christian (399, p. 415)? Why outsiders believe that Christians were cannibals (399; see footnote 304 on p. 415)?

• What improvement in the situation does Pliny see (399, p. 416)? Why is Trajan suspicious of anonymous pamphlets accusing people of being Christians (399, p. 416; see p. 415)? What criticism does Tertullian make of Trajan’s policy towards the Christians (400)? Note the accusations against the Christians collected by Minucius Felix, acting as a devil’s advocate (401). Why are the opponents of Christianity bothered by Christian secrecy (401, p. 418)? How does Tertullian defend Christians’ refusal to worship the Roman gods (402, p. 418)? Christian loyalty to the emperor (402, p. 419)? Why does Tertullian have to defend the existence of a Christian treasury (402, p. 420; see footnote #321 on p. 420)? Christian communal dinners (see the last two sentences of 402)?

• What happened to persecuted Christians in Gaul before the arrival of the governor (403, p. 421). Note that not all Christians had the courage to become martyrs (see footnote #328 on p. 421) for their faith (403). Why did the emperor Galerius order persecutions against the Christians stopped and that they be encouraged to build churches and observe their rites (404)? Read Shelton’s "Christian Intolerance" on p. 422. What new policy did Constantine establish toward the Christians? How did Christians act once they had gained power (405)? Read Shelton’s "A Roman Virtue" on pp. 422-23. What Roman virtue do many scholars see as the source of Rome’s greatness? Note that the Christian writer Minucius Felix connects the Roman aquisition of an empire with their tolerance of foreign religions (406).

• Read Shelton’s "Magic and Superstition" on p. 423-24. Differentiate among superstition, magic, and ritual. Give one of the Roman superstitions enumerated by Pliny the Elder (407). Note the magic incantation recommended by Cato the Elder to remedy a dislocation (408). Give two sources of potency for objects which can influence events (409). Give an example of homoepathic magic (410). Read Shelton’s "Curse Tablets" on p. 426. What procedure was involved in creating a curse tablet. What does the curse tablet in selection 411 hope to accomplish?

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