This thesis examines the cultural and social relationships cultivated by ethnically diverse auxiliary soldiers in the western Roman empire. These soldiers were enrolled in the Roman auxilia, military units that drew primarily on the non-Roman subjects of the empire for their recruits in numbers that equaled the legionaries. I argue that auxiliary soldiers could and did maintain large families, and demonstrate, from epigraphic data collected and presented in my dissertation, how foreign ethnic and religious identities were variously integrated into Roman military culture by both individual auxiliaries and the Roman state. The history of the auxilia in Germany from the time of Augustus and in Britain from the time of Claudius is discussed, with extensive reference to epigraphic material provided in appendices to this work. Analysis of military diplomas from across the Roman empire demonstrates a significant phenomenon of auxiliary family creation that helps to contextualize the diploma data from Germania and Britannia. Research on further epigraphic evidence from Germania and Britannia demonstrates a marked diversity in religious dedications by auxiliary soldiers and further evidence for auxiliary families. From a discussion of the history of the concept of ‘Romanization’ and other theoretical models that can be applied to the study of the auxilia, the continued usefulness of the evolving concept of ‘Romanization’ to our understanding of auxiliary cultural integration is assessed. Auxiliary service is shown to have provided many non-Roman ethnic groups avenues of cultural and legal inclusion that each soldier, surely in his own way, could exploit.

Gaius Julius Caesar remains one of the most studied characters of antiquity. His personality, political career, and military campaigns have garnered numerous scholarly treatments, as have his alleged aspirations to monarchy and divinity. However, comparatively little detailed work has been done to examine his own personal religiosity and even less attention has been paid to his religion in the context of his military conquests. I argue that Caesar has wrongly been deemed irreligious or skeptical and that his conduct while on campaign demonstrates that he was a religious man. Within the Roman system of religion, ritual participation was more important than faith or belief. Caesar pragmatically manipulated the Romans' flexible religious framework to secure military advantage almost entirely within the accepted bounds of religious conduct. If strict observance of ritual was the measure of Roman religiosity, then Caesar exceeded the religious expectations of his rank and office. The evidence reveals that he was an exemplar of Roman religio throughout both the Gallic Wars (58-51BC) and the subsequent Civil Wars (49-45BC).

This research focuses on artefactual assemblages from temples in the south-east and east of England from 50 BCE to 250 CE. In order to evaluate these data, which primarily consists of faunal remains, coins, and items of personal adornment, quantitative methods to perform intra-site and inter-site analyses are utilised. As a result of the analyses conducted, a range of social practices were identified, including those specific to individual temples, and those that were shared to varying degrees across the breadth of the study area. The study also examines how a site’s unique environmental and political conditions characterised the assemblages of each temple. Moreover, it reveals that the pre-Roman Eastern and Southern kingdoms continued to influence the nature of practices on temple sites into the Roman period, and that the impact of Roman conquest was much less persuasive as might be expected from previous research on religion in Roman Britain. The conclusions of this study emphasise the significant future potential of the finds evidence to illuminate studies of religion in the Roman empire, as well as highlighting the diverse nature of religion in early Roman Britain.

At the heart of the Etruscan city of Caere exists the Hypogaeum of Clepsina, an underground ritual chamber which scholars theorize to be a mundus, a liminal space linking the earthly realm with the underworld. It was a place where chthonic rituals were conducted in honour of the infernal gods and the ghosts of the ancestors, and its creation was tied to notions of civic foundation. The hypogaeum was constructed or renovated around 273 BC, at the time when the city of Caere was officially converted into a Roman praefectura. As one of the earliest projects undertaken in the newly established Roman Caere, the hypogaeum likely had a symbolic significance, reinforcing the establishment and stabilization of the territory under Roman control. Consequently, gaining a deeper understanding of the mundus of Caere, especially in terms of the cult worship and rituals that occurred within it, contributes to our knowledge of the role that religion played in Roman expansion in Italy during the Republican period. One of the most remarkable features of the hypogaeum is its painted niche, which is adorned with frescoes of two large palm trees. This thesis will explore the symbolic meaning of the palm trees, since these frescoes provide important clues as to the deity originally worshiped within the ritual chamber. The connection between the palm tree motif and Apollo will be investigated, as the god’s cult was imbued with strong solar, oracular, and chthonic associations in Etruria and Central Italy. He was syncretized with the Italic deity, Soranus, otherwise known as Śuri, a deity who received cult veneration at the important sanctuary of Caere’s port settlement, Pyrgi. Apollo Soranus, or Śuri, was a chthonic deity equated with the ruler of the underworld, and thus was a god altogether fitting to preside over the mundus of Caere. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / The Hypogaeum of Clepsina is an underground ritual chamber in Caere, which scholars theorize to be a mundus, a liminal space where chthonic rituals were enacted in honour of the infernal gods. The mundus was tied to notions of civic foundation, which suggests that the hypogaeum’s construction (or renovation) around the year 273 BC, the time when the city of Caere was officially converted into a Roman praefectura, was a statement of Rome’s re-establishment of Caere. Thus, gaining a deeper understanding of the hypogaeum, especially the cults worshiped within it, contributes to our knowledge of the role that religion played in Roman expansion during the Republican period. The palm tree frescoes decorating the niche of the hypogaeum provide important clues as to the identity of the deity worshiped in the mundus. They are a reference to the god, Apollo Soranus, or Śuri, who was a chthonic deity fitting to preside over the mundus of Caere.

Through the incorporation of primary source material and prior scholarship this study looks at the Serapeums, Isiac temples and coinage of Hellenistic Alexandria and Imperial Rome. This study seeks to provide, through close analysis and comparison, a more precise picture of the Isaic ideology of the Greco-Roman governing powers of Egypt. I focus on the capital cities of Alexandria and Rome to analyze the message of Isis to their respective inhabitants. Coinage and popular iconography (such as Isis Pelagia) are incorporated into the overall understanding of Isiac uses as coinage serves as a form of ancient propaganda. The amalgamation of this information provides a clearer picture of Isis as a representation of Egyptian favor and divine validation of kingship over Egypt. Overall, the study found that the ideological manifestations of Isis set forward by the Ptolemies used Isis as a tool of cultural fusion and of positive influence on commerce. After the Ptolemies, the Imperial relationship with Isiac ideological function is made by discussing the actions made by Augutus, Domitan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Caracalla. As Isis becomes embraced by the Roman empire we see that the Ptolemaic forms of connection to Isis influenced the methods which Roman emperors then paid homage to her. The study finds that through her connection to Egypt, Isiac devotees, Egyptian commerce, and the divine kingship of Egypt during both the Hellenistic and Imperial periods; Isis became an invaluable ideological tool for the governing powers.

Since her first appearances, Venus has captivated the minds of poets. Her depictions in poetry are tied to each generation’s ideals of sexuality and beauty, and as morals and expectations of female behaviour change, so too do portrayals of the goddess. This thesis examines the shifting portrayals of Venus in poetry during a time of great social upheaval: the age of Augustus. The social and moral discourse of the period influenced the portrayals of Venus as the post-Civil War generation grappled with the newfound peace, a staunchly moralistic emperor who claimed descent from the goddess, and a series of legislations that reshaped the image of an ideal Roman woman. While the age of Augustus is overflowing with Latin poets, this thesis will dedicate itself to three: Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. Within their works, we can see the importance of the goddess’ portrayals and how their evolution can reflect Rome’s social, political, and moral climate. Vergil presents a transformed goddess, a morally upstanding mother who engages in the political and domestic spheres. Horace stands on the precipice of change, his Venus straddling the edges of elegy and epic. He recognizes and responds to a political, Augustan goddess before returning to more traditional elegiac matters. Our final source, Ovid, is seemingly traditional in his portrayals of the goddess. Closer examination of his works, however, reveals how Ovid’s Venus transformed from the traditional goddess of love and sexuality to become an empress in her own right. After the introduction of the lex Julia and Augustus’ portrayals of the goddess, the poets of his age used Venus as an exemplum of moral (or immoral) behaviour, motherhood, and dynastic pursuit.

Tout comme les grottes-sanctuaires, les bois sacrés et d’autres sanctuaires naturels, les lacs sacrés s’intègrent dans les paysages religieux des provinces romaines. Depuis la Renaissance, les sources textuelles faisant référence à la sacralité des lacs ont largement retenu l’attention contribuant à nourrir tout un imaginaire autour de ce thème. Ce travail, fondé sur les sources documentaires existantes, principalement archéologiques et historiques, vise à analyser et définir les rapports entre les lacs et le religieux dans le monde romain en distinguant ce qui relève de la réalité ou du fantasme. Avant tout centrée sur les provinces des Gaules de la fin du IIe s. av. J.-C. au Ve s. ap. J.-C., cette recherche est étendue à l’ensemble du monde romain dans une perspective comparative. Après avoir défini le lac et décrit ses caractéristiques morphologiques, l’analyse et le croisement des données permettent d’approfondir la connaissance des lieux de culte lacustres et des représentations qui s’y rattachent. Ces étendues d’eau, souvent présentes dans des contextes topographiques accidentés, ont été regardées comme sacrées en raison de caractéristiques spécifiques qui étaient considérées comme la marque de la présence du divin (profondeur, couleur, circularité/centralité, îles flottantes, variations de niveau). Ces croyances ont conditionné la fréquentation de ces lacs, ainsi que l’ensemble des aménagements et des pratiques rituelles dont ils ont été le cadre. Réceptacles de nombreux éléments matériels, c’est à partir de ces derniers reliefs que l’archéologue est en mesure d’identifier ces sanctuaires lacustres. / Like cave-sanctuary, holy woods and other natural shrines, sacred lakes were part of the sacred landscapes of the Roman provinces. Since the Renaissance, textual sources referring to the sacrality of lakes have widely attracted attention, fuelling a whole imaginary. This work, based on archaeological and historical sources, aims to analyse and define the relationship between lakes and the religious in the Roman world by distinguishing between reality and fantasy. Mainly centred on the provinces of Gaul between the end of the second century BCE and the fifth century CE, this research extends to the whole Roman world in a comparative perspective. After defining the lake and describing its morphological characteristics, the analysis and cross-analysis of data allow to deepen our knowledge about these lacustrine shrines and the representations attached to them. These bodies of water, often found in uneven terrain, were regarded as sacred due to specific characteristics construed as the sign of a divine presence (depth, colour, circularity/centrality, floating islands, level changing). These beliefs conditioned attendance at the lakes, as well as installations and ritual practices. Such lacustrine shrines left numerous artefacts, that now allow the archaeologist to identify them.

Why do some religious movements succeed and spread, while others, seemingly equally popular and successful at a certain time, ultimately fail? It is from this starting point that this thesis approaches religious success or failure in the Roman Empire: exploring a new analytical method for understanding religious change: network theory. The thesis forms two parts. Part I sets out the theoretical frameworks. The focus of network theory is on the processes by which innovation spreads: how interconnectedness facilitates change. Although some innovations might be ‘superior’, viewing success or failure as the result of interplay between inherent qualities of a religious movement and the structure of the social environment in which it is embedded means it is possible to reduce value judgements about superiority or inferiority. The discussion then turns to religious change. The key point is that sociologists of religion can explain something of the processes of religious conversion (or ‘recruitment’) and the success or failure of a religious movement through an analysis of social interactions. Finally, I explain how I shall use networks both as a heuristic approach and a practical modelling technique to apply to the epigraphic data, and detail some of the previous application of networks to archaeological test cases. Part II applies these methods to the epigraphic data of three religions. In Chapter Four, I examine the cult Jupiter Dolichenus, arguing that the previous explanations for the success of the cult are untenable, showing from the epigraphy that the cult spread through a strong-tie network of Roman military officials. In Chapter Five, I look at the development of Jewish identity in the Diaspora, showing that, during the second century AD, Diaspora Jews began to actively display their Jewish identity in their epitaphs. I argue that this re-Judaization represents the ‘activation’ of an ethno-cultural network, as a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the crushing of the Bar Kokhba rebellion; the visible remains of the rabbinic reforms. In Chapter Six, I discuss the cult of the ‘Highest God’, Theos Hypsistos, taking Mitchell’s argument further to suggest that the huge increase in the dedications during the second-third centuries is not simply a reflection of the epigraphic habit, but rather, that the cult of Hypsistos was swelled by the Gentile god-fearers, as a result of the changes happening within Judaism itself at this time.

This dissertation provides an intellectual and social history of learned writing on Roman religious culture during the late Republic and early Empire. I examine the ways in which an elite learned literature, for which I propose the name "civil theology", constructed "Roman religion" as a religious system. The first part of the dissertation is an intellectual history of civil theology, especially focused on how these learned texts generated "Roman religion" as an object of knowledge. In order to elucidate how texts can authoritatively construct a religious system, I pursue a comparison between civil theology and the Mishnah, a rabbinic textual compilation. The second part of the dissertation is a social history of civil theology, concentrating on the social contexts of production and reception of the discourse. Firstly, I demonstrate how the discourse was embedded in the social relations of the profoundly competitive late Republican elite. Civil theology was not a socially marginal intellectual activity. Rather, knowledge about Roman religion provided resources for the social self-presentation of the elite. Secondly, I consider how civil theology became implicated in the new imperial socio-political order. Emperors drew on civil-theological knowledge to legitimize "religious reforms" and their personal rule; for the aristocracy, civil theology became entangled with responses to the new situation of autocracy. In a conclusion, I outline the continuing influence of civil theology and its construction of "Roman religion" in the high imperial period and late antiquity and consider how Roman civil theology can complicate the established scholarly approaches to the relationship between books and religion. / The Classics

In Celtic religious studies, it is often difficult to find reliable textual sources if you are working with pre-Christian religion, since all text is written in a Christian context. As a result, Celtic scholars have to look outside of the pre-Christian Celtic context, to search for knowledge elsewhere. For example, one may use texts from Classical writers (such as Caesar) who wrote about Celts they encountered, or look to Christian material (in particular saints’ lives) to search for clues of pagan traditions which may have survived into Christianity. This has resulted in that certain Celtic pagan deities which we do not have a lot of information on, are compared to or even equated with other religious figures from outside of the pagan Celtic context. One such example is the pagan, Irish goddess Brigid, who is frequently equated with the Roman goddess Minerva, and also said to be the predecessor of the Christian Saint Brigid. Some also make comparisons between Minerva and the saint. This thesis aims to make an extensive textual analysis where all of these three characters are compared and discussed. Are they actually ‘the same’, and if not, how similar or different are they? Is the equating valid, or do we need to take another approach within the Celtic field? Using discourse theory and a comparative method, the research eventually shows that some of the characters’ most important traits are lost when we do equate them with each other.