Archaic Roman Religion, Volume 2

Archaic Roman Religion #2

by Georges Dumézil

When St. Paul and St. Peter reached Rome they encountered a state-sponsored religion that had been established for centuries. Amid the shrines and temples of Rome, the Romans sought to preserve and strengthen a religion especially suited to the ambitious city. But Roman religion had also proved permeable to many influences, from Greece, Egypt, Persia, and other parts of Italy. What then was truly Roman, and what had Romans done with their borrowings to stamp them with Roman character?

By exhaustive study of texts, inscriptions, and archaeology of Roman sacred places, Dumezil traces the formation of archaic Roman religion from Indo-European sources through the development of the rites and beliefs of the Roman republic. He describes a religion that was not only influenced by the other religions with which it came into contact, but influenced them as well, in mutual efforts to distinguish one nation from another. Even so, certain continuities were sustained in order to achieve a religion that crossed generations and ways of life. The worship of certain gods became the special concerns of certain parts of society, all of which needed attention to assure Rome's success in war, civil administration, and the production of food and goods.

Genres: Religion, History, Anthropology, Nonfiction

321 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Georges Dumézil was a French comparative philologist best known for his analysis of sovereignty and power in Proto-Indo-European religion and society. He is considered one of the major contributors to mythography, in particular for his formulation of the trifunctional hypothesis of social class in ancient societies.

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for both volumes together.

I think this was written for a more academic audience than me, though my interest in the subject, especially as explained using comparative Indo-European linguistics, made it a fascinating read.

Though the text is translated, a lot of the notes aren't, and my limited French, German, and Latin hampered my understanding of parts of the book.

Also, I'm still skeptical of Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis, which divides Indo-European cultures into priests, warriors, and farmers/merchants. The last category seems too often to be a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit the first two.

But overall, this is very interesting stuff.