Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.09.

42
James B. Rives, Religion in the Roman Empire. Blackwell Ancient Religions, 2.
Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Pp. 237. ISBN 1-4051-0656-5. $34.95.

Reviewed by Benedetta Bessi, John Cabot University (bbessi@johncabot.edu)

Word count: 2032 words

Table of Contents
After the inaugural volume dedicated to Greek Religion,1 the series Blackwell Ancient
Religions welcomes Religion in the Roman Empire by James B. Rives (henceforth R.), author and
co-editor of several volumes on religion in the Roman world.2 In line with the scope of the series,
which aims at offering modern readers introductions to religion in the ancient world, this book
presents itself as an agile and stimulating overview of religious phenomenology in the Roman
empire, accessible also to those with little or no previous exposure to Classical Studies.
In order to clarify the scope and the method of his work, in the "Introduction" R. begins with a
comment on the terms contained in the book title, offering first a basic chronological and
geographical definition of the Roman Empire. Religion used in the singular in opposition to the
more common plural best connotes the author's original approach. According to R., the variety of
religious phenomena within the Roman Empire is in fact better understood if treated as the
multifaceted expressions of a single sensibility rather than by creating artificial divisions not
corresponding to the ancient mentality. Considering the lack of sacred scriptures, religion in the
Greco-Roman world has to be studied through other types of evidence (literature, inscriptions) and
the last part of the introduction is dedicated to presenting such sources, illustrating their nature as
well as their limits.
Chapter One, "Identifying Religion in the Greco-Roman World", opens with a discussion of the
vocabulary in use in the Greek and Roman world to express religious practices and belief. Offering
a brief survey of the linguistic uses of both cultures, the author draws attention to the lack in the
Greco-Roman world of a specific term exactly corresponding to "religion" in the modern sense of
the word. This lack betrays an approach to this important sphere of human activity very far removed
from the one made popular by the advent of monotheistic religions. Once the impossibility of an
exact linguistic superimposition has been verified, R.'s attempt to offer a definition of religion in the
Greco-Roman world continues by analysing the varied conceptions of the divine, the way these
related to and interacted with divinities (cult, myth, art, philosophy) and finally what role important
issues such as authority, belief and morality played in directing people's attitude and beliefs.
Chapter Two, "Regional Religious Traditions of the Empire", contains a quick survey of the
religious practices in the various areas of the Roman Empire (Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt,
North Africa, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Italy). For each of them the author first briefly
presents the historical events which led them into the Romans' sphere of influence and then
describes the peculiarities of local divinities and their cult. A summarizing paragraph reflects on the
dynamic tensions between uniformity and diversity, particularization and generalization, continuity
and change which were so important in shaping the religious phenomenon in the Greco-Roman
world.
Chapter Three, "The Presence of the Gods", explores the way ancient people experienced the
divine, concentrating on three specific aspects. The first paragraph is dedicated to exploring the
trend of identifying the divine in the natural world to the extent that certain places were considered
either as divinities or as dwellings of a deity. A second feature common to the Greco-Roman

tradition is the acknowledgement of superhuman power in direct relation with the gods' deeds and
the benefits they were able to grant to their followers. Tightly intertwined with the latter is the
manifestation of the gods in people's everyday lives, and the third paragraph offers an overview of
the modalities of these encounters as reflected in literary texts and inscriptions.
A partial corrective to the emphasis on the personal encounter with the divine of the previous
chapter, Chapter Four, "Religion and Community", aptly serves as a reminder of the social and
political dimension of the religious experience in the Greco-Roman world. Largely building on
passages from Aristotle's Politics, R. identifies the city, the household and voluntary associations as
aggregating poles for the performance of cultic activity as well as for the shaping of religious
identity.
In spite of the important role played by cult and belief on a local level, religion greatly contributed
to promoting integration and a sense of belonging among citizens of the Roman Empire. Chapter
Five, "Religion and Empire", concentrates on four different phenomena that served this purpose, the
first of which was the exchange of ideas and beliefs favoured by travels and pilgrimages to consult
oracles, attend religious festivals and visit famous sanctuaries and temples. A similar and probably
even more pervasive effect was obtained through the relocation and the immigration of people such
as slaves, traders, and soldiers from one region of the empire to the other. Identification processes
such as the interpretatio romana and syncretism, (the latter, in the view of the author, is reserved
only to processes involving more complex philosophical and religious elaborations) are considered
some of the most effective strategies used to create a certain degree of religious unity in the
variegated panorama of the Roman empire. A similar role is then acknowledged for the imperial cult
in all its nuanced and locally differentiated manifestations.
Chapter Six, "Religious Options", explores all those religious alternatives, including esoteric
wisdom, miracle working and mystery cults, which distanced themselves from mainstream practices
and belief. Rather than offering a list of these options, the author chooses to articulate his analysis
from two perspectives, namely the attractions they exerted on their followers and the advantages
they offered.
Chapter Seven, "Roman Religious Policy", deals with the issue of Roman authority and examines
the extent to which it intervened and influenced religious matters both by condemning improper
behaviour such as atheism and superstition and by imposing specific obligations on the other. After
some general considerations, three specific study cases including magic, Judaic tradition and
Christianity are scrutinized.
The "Epilogue: Religious Change in the Roman Empire", offers a partial counterbalance to the lack
of a diachronic approach in the rest of the book. It underlines the importance of keeping
development and evolution in mind when considering religion in the Roman Empire, offering brief
considerations on the development of phenomena such as the imperial cult, the spread of the socalled mystery religions and Christianity.
A list of further reading, mostly restricted to bibliography written in or translated into English, is
offered at the end of each chapter. A stimulating tool is represented by the six boxes of text which
allow a close encounter with primary sources of literary and epigraphic nature. The need to limit
both the size and the cost of the book notwithstanding, a slight increase in their number would have
significantly expanded the didactic possibilities of this text. The volume is aptly complemented by
two practical glossaries offering essential information on the major deities and the authors and texts
cited in the text, as well as by bibliographical references and a general index. Four maps inserted at
the beginning of the volume, illustrating the Roman Empire in the second century CE, Greece and
Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and Western Europe, offer a useful if basic cartographic
support which enables a fast identification of areas and centres mentioned in the text. Eleven black
and white pictures illustrate selected objects and monuments among those dealt with in the various
chapters.

If R.'s decision to emphasize the unity and the homogeneity of the religious phenomenology in the
Roman world (symbolized by his preference for the singular religion vs. the plural religions) is
innovative and potentially fruitful, it also contains some risks. Whereas the book title leads the
reader to expect a treatment of Roman religion in the imperial period,3 the author's decision to
favour a synchronic rather than a diachronic approach and his too often recurring identification of
the imperial Roman religious practices and belief with main stream Greco-Roman tradition lead to a
considerable historical and chronological flattening.
In Chapter Two the regional traditions of the Empire and their toleration and support by imperial
authorities are explained by calling into question the "Greco-Roman elite" who "considered it
normal for every people to have their own deities and religious tradition" (54).
The tendency to recognize the presence of the gods in natural phenomena is illustrated by quoting
and treating on the same level passages of Hesiod, Seneca and Apuleius, leading only to the correct
but also banal conclusion that "water was also very important in the Greco-Roman tradition, as
indicated by the high profile of springs and rivers in both myth and cult" or that caves and rocks
played an important role in various regions of the Mediterranean (91).
In Chapter Four, the tight connections existing between religion and the civic community are
sketched out through examples mostly derived from the Greek world, such as the cult of Artemis in
Ephesus or Athena's worship in Athens (115-117), while the relationships within the household,
another important seat of religious activity, is outlined on the basis of Aristotle's witness (117). The
interference of political authorities in regulating domestic cult is illustrated by appealing to Aristotle
and Cicero, but neither author, in spite of their value in other respects, qualifies as a witness for
Roman imperial practice (121). This tendency to flatten the discussion historically to the level of the
Greco-Roman tradition is frequent also in the remaining chapters, with a partial exception
represented by the more focused Chapter Five.
In conclusion: this text provides a dense and stimulating overview of Roman religion (considered as
part of the larger phenomenon of Greco-Roman religion) directed to a non-specialist audience
primarily interested in identifying its main peculiarities and the way it compares and contrasts with
other religions closer to modern sensibility. More disappointing is its inability to offer a detailed and
nuanced discussion of the subtle dynamics of change and adaptations influencing religious
phenomena once these latter come in contact with the new socio-political order imposed by the
creation of the empire and with the cultural values spread by the Romanization process in Italy and
in the provinces.
The book is clearly written and appears free of typos and misprints. However, there are some formal
oddities which disturb the reader and raise some questions. One of them is the excessive use of the
verb "to discuss" and the related term "discussion". Even leaving out the introduction, whose
programmatic character may justify such abuse (5-6 with discuss/discussion used five times in less
than two pages and then again 8, 11), there are many other examples of these two terms clustering
through the rest of the text (see 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 twice, 22, 23 twice, 31, 77, 79, 81, 89, 107, 153).
In addition to creating an unpleasant stylistic feature in its total neglect of variatio, this odd
repetition also ends up having some repercussions for the content of the book. One has in fact the
impression that such frequent use of the term, so common in teaching practice (where "to discuss"
and "discussion" often appear in syllabi and class lectures to mask the simple coverage of a topic by
suggesting a more dynamic approach), prevents the treatment of an issue from reaching a
satisfactory depth while confining it to a mere declaration of intentions.
Another puzzling characteristic is the inconsistent use of notes: whereas from a quick glance at the
text layout, one could easily infer that R. has legitimately chosen to avoid the use of notes,
condensing the bibliographical information in the list of further readings at the end of each chapter,
a more careful examination of the book reveals that sparse bibliographical notes are occasionally
inserted without a scientific criterion (one single note appearing only on p. 69, 129, 134, 139).

In spite of all this, thanks to the clarity of its language, the utility of its didactic subsidies, the ability
to identify and explain the multiform religious attitudes within the Roman Empire by making use of
a variety of evidence, this book, alone or preferably supported by one or more complementary
texts,4 qualifies itself as a good text book for a course on Roman religion, while it will also offer a
stimulating reading for the general educated public interested in getting exposure to the subject.
Notes:
1. Jon D. Mikalson, Ancient Greek Religion. Oxford: Blackwell Ancient Religions, 1. 2005,
see Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.04.03. Forthcoming in the same series, based on the
information contained in the publisher's website, are Sarah Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination and
Derek Collins, Magic in the Ancient Greek World.
2. Such as Religion and Authority in Roman Carthage from Augustus to Constantine. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1995, see BMCR 95.12.23 and Jonathan Edmondson, Steve Mason, James
Rives, Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, see
BMCR 2006.10.45.
3. A treatment of the republican period is to be expected in C. Donough, Religion of the Roman
Republic, announced in the series list of publications found on R's volume but not mentioned on the
publisher's website among the forthcoming volumes.
4. Such as M. Beard, J. North and S. Price, Religions of Rome (2 vols.). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998; J. Scheid, An Introduction to Roman Religion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 2003; Clifford Ando (ed.), Roman Religion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2003.