ROMAN RELIGION

It would be a truism to say that the subfield of Roman religion is not only vast but also multifaceted, complicated and more often than not problematic. The latter is primarily linked to certain questions – which will also undoubtedly hinder my attempt to delineate the latest trends and developments within this field: which historical period of ‘Roman religion’ does one refer to? What constituted ‘religion’ for the Romans but also for the different peoples who found themselves under the former’s rule? Can one speak of ‘Roman religion’ as a unified, homogeneous and distinct phenomenon effortlessly traceable through the vast textual, archaeological and material corpus? And, moreover, who is the ad hoc specialist when it comes to the study of Roman religion? These are not simple questions, and addressing them would require far more space and a number of collaborating scholars. ¹ Hence, in this survey I will succinctly delineate some of the most interesting and appealing trends in this subfield of Roman history and culture in the last few years, offering thereby a bird’s-eye-view of where scholarship currently stands as well as its prospects and future developments. ²

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Contrary to early studies on Roman religion in the nineteenth and for the most part of the twentieth century, for many years supernatural or superhuman beings – gods, goddesses, heroes – were either downplayed or neglected in scholarly treatises, a choice linked to an interest in rituals, practices and orthopraxy vis-à-vis primarily belief and secondarily an alleged absence of orthodoxy. Recently, however, there seems to be a shift in this previous tendency and a return to the key agents of Roman religion, i.e. the divine beings. Both dedicated monographs to a particular deity ³ and edited volumes that include discussions on a number of such agents ⁴ have appeared at a growing pace. Especially, more recently, C. Bonnet’s ERC Advanced Grant ‘MAP – Mapping Ancient Polytheisms: Cult Epithets as an Interface between Religious Systems and Human Agency’ (2017–2022; see the project’s webpage: https://map-polytheisms.huma-num.fr/?lang=en) further delved into issues related to ancient divinities. Onomastics has indeed gained traction, with a number of thought-provoking publications putting, as it were, the gods and goddesses on the stage again. ⁵ Such studies, one could claim, indicate a renewed interest in the supernatural and superhuman agents of Roman religion that – even implicitly in some instances – seems to slowly embrace a reinstatement of belief’s power, importance and centrality in Roman religion. Belief is a notoriously difficult topic to touch upon and deal with – especially but not only in relation to ancient religions – and criticisms about past circumvention of this concept have recently emerged, while simultaneously offering ways to restore it within the study of Roman religion. ⁶ This is even more so evident in a series of works pertaining to divination in ancient Rome, a practice that was not only widely disseminated throughout Roman history but deeply influenced Roman politics and state affairs. ⁷ Divination is often studied alongside the phenomenon of epiphany, which is yet another concept closely intertwined with the reintroduction of gods, goddesses and other superhuman figures in the study of Roman religion. ⁸

This turn towards the divine agents of Roman religion, their influence in daily as well as political life, and belief within the religious world of the Romans has not taken place without also further discussion of the reaction to such topics, primarily in the form of unbelief, atheism, or scepticism and doubt more broadly. There are at least three key publications that have recently appeared on these issues that warrant our attention: Sceptic and Believer in Ancient Mediterranean Religions, edited by B. Edelmann-Singer, T. Nicklas, J. Spittler and L. Walt (2020); the special issue of Archiv für Religionsgeschichte (23.1 [2021]) ‘The Benefit of Doubt: Between Skepticism and Godlessness, Critique or Indifference in Ancient Mediterranean Religious Traditions’, edited by N. Hartmann and F. Naether, which was based on the similarly titled workshop organised by the editors at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2019; and Belief and Unbelief in the Ancient World, edited by T.O. Gray, E.R. Johnson and M. Vercesi (2025). Although not restricted to Roman religion, all three contain invaluable essays on atheism in ancient Rome, probing us to further consider belief’s centrality and how the ancient Romans and other groups within the Roman world addressed the issue of traditional religion and religiosity.

There are a number of academic projects that focus on Roman religion by and large. Apart from the aforementioned ‘Mapping Ancient Polytheisms’ that was run by C. Bonnet or J. Rüpke’s influential ‘LAR–Lived Ancient Religion’ ERC project (2013–2017; for details, see https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/295555), it is worth mentioning the following: (1) ‘LARNA – Lived Ancient Religion in North Africa’, run by V. Gasparini at the University Carlos III of Madrid and funded by the Autonomous Community of Madrid (2018–2022; https://www.facebook.com/LARNA.Lived.Ancient.Religion.in.North.Africa/), with very interesting outcomes, including the SIRAR (Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Africae Romanae) database (available at https://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2023/06/sirar-sylloge-inscriptionum-religionis.html); ⁹ (2) ‘MARE – Mortuary Archaeology of the Roman East’, a project directed by L. de Jong, hosted at the University of Groningen and funded by the Dutch Research Council (2021–2026), focusing on ‘how local communities envisioned and reformulated their relationships with the dead’ via archaeological and material remains (for an overview see https://www.rug.nl/research/groningen-institute-of-archaeology/research/mare/); ¹⁰ (3) the promising and wide-ranging ‘Anchoring Innovation’ project at Radboud University, financially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (2017–2027; see https://anchoringinnovation.nl), whose domains include topics touching upon a wide array of themes relative to Roman religion; (4) the ‘Deep Mapping Sanctuaries’ sub-project of the larger ‘Connecting the Greeks: Multi-scalar Festival Networks in the Greek and Roman World’, run at the University of Groningen and funded by NWO and the OIKOS Anchoring Innovation Research Initiative (https://connectingthegreeks.com); and (5) the ERC Advanced Grant project ‘Locus Ludi: The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity’, directed by V. Dasen and hosted at Université de Fribourg (2017–2022/2023; see https://locusludi.ch). ¹¹ In all these projects there is an evident material aspect as well, which has become rather popular in recent years in the study of religion in general, and Roman and Greek religion in particular. ¹²

One area that scholars of Roman religion have not yet fully taken advantage of includes the findings, theories and methodological proposals of the cognitive study of religion. With the exception of the AHRC-funded ‘CAARE: Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience’ project, run by E. Eidinow and A.W. Geertz between 2014 and 2016, which resulted in a new book series with Cambridge University Press under the title Ancient Religion and Cognition, the cognitive study of religion has not yet fully penetrated research related to the Roman religious world. ¹³ The only volume in this series – which currently contains two published and one forthcoming title – exclusively engaging with Roman religion is Senses, Cognition, and Ritual Experience in the Roman World, edited by B. Misic and A. Graham (2024), which includes excellent essays tackling a number of different aspects of Roman religion and cognition. ¹⁴ J.L. Mackey’s Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (2022) is undeniably the most important publication on the topic to date, along with some older publications, such as L.H. Martin’s The Mind of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras (2015) and O. Panagiotidou and R. Beck’s The Roman Mithras Cult: A Cognitive Approach (2017). ¹⁵ Finally, the Journal of Cognitive Historiography (published by Equinox and currently in its ninth volume) has put into print a number of articles related to Roman religion and the cognitive study of religion, although it is not dedicated to ancient Rome but to cognitive historiography both diachronically and synchronically. ¹⁶

Articles, review essays and book reviews on Roman religion are published in a plethora of academic journals, mostly however appearing in periodicals that have a specific disciplinary mandate. I would like here thus to point towards two key venues that bring together not only Classicists but also historians, religious studies scholars as well as other academics from diverse disciplines to further discuss the religious world and realities of the ancient Romans. First and foremost, one should consult Religion in the Roman Empire (RRE), published now open-access by Mohr Siebeck and edited by J. Rüpke, which is already in its eleventh volume. Next is ARYS. Antigüedad: Religiones y Sociedades, also published open-access by the University Carlos III of Madrid and edited by J. Alvar Ezquerra, with materials published in various languages. Finally, a special issue of the Journal of Religious History on ‘The Role of Historians in the Study of Religions’ (46.4, 2022), edited by M. Brandt, which contains nine contributions that bring together ancient historians, Classicists and religious studies scholars on how ancient religions, including Roman religion, can be studied and analysed from an inter- and transdisciplinary perspective is a helping starting point for those interested in more theoretical and methodological aspects. ¹⁷

The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions (SAMR; see https://www.samreligions.org) is perhaps the most diverse scholarly association dealing with the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, with Roman religion occupying a central place within its activities. Since its inception, SAMR has organised a number of interesting conferences, with ‘Sailing with the Gods: Religion and Maritime Mobility in the Ancient World’ (Malta, 2022), ‘Remodeling the Motel of the Mysteries’ (Denver, CO, annual SBL/AAR conference 2022), ‘Godscapes: Ritual, Belief and the Natural World in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond’ (University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2023) and ‘The Connected Past: Religious Networks in Antiquity’ (University of British Columbia, Canada, 2024) bringing together a diverse group of scholars from various disciplines. Similar work is done within the section ‘Greco-Roman Religions’ of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL; see https://greco-roman-religions.org), with panels dedicated to Roman religion (e.g. ‘Goddess Worship in Antiquity’ and ‘New Work in Greco-Roman Religions’ at the 2024 San Diego AAR/SBL meeting, as well as ‘New Developments in Greco-Roman Religions’ at the 2025 Boston AAR/SBL meeting). These sessions, conferences and meetings often result in important publications. More importantly, they bring together scholars from disciplines that typically do not work alongside each other when it comes to the study of Roman religion, thereby opening up the interdisciplinary window that is so much needed within this diverse field.

Such an interdisciplinary attempt was also taken up by the now quite extended and constantly being updated Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by J. Barton. A number of articles deal with Roman religion, although most of them primarily focus on introductory topics. Hence, one can find entries on ‘The Religious History of the Roman Empire’ (J. North), ‘Greek and Roman Priests and Religious Personnel’ (R. Garland), ‘Religion and Gender in Ancient Rome’ (M. DiLuzio), ‘Gods in Ancient Greece and Rome’ (M. Dillon), ‘Sacred Space in Greece and Rome’ (M. Scott), ‘Art and Religion in Ancient Greece and Rome’ (R. Osborne and C. Vout), ‘Festivals in Ancient Greece and Rome’ (F. Graf), ‘Lived Ancient Religions’ (J. Rüpke) and ‘Approaches to Ancient Religions’ (I. Czachesz). ¹⁸ With the exception of Czachesz’s article, however, the Encyclopedia still needs to bring an interdisciplinary breeze to the study of Roman religion, and that would necessarily entail assigning topics to non-Classicists or historians of antiquity. Far more interesting and interdisciplinary, I would argue, as well as visually appealing, is the ongoing and constantly growing ‘DRH–The Database of Religious History’ (see https://religiondatabase.org/landing), in which scholars from numerous disciplines have collaborated to create and constantly update a database with remarkable visual, textual and statistical details. Therein, scholars can find entries on as well as connections to the ancient Roman world, the broader Mediterranean basin, North Africa and the Middle East, making it therefore an interesting venue and point of reference. ¹⁹

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Despite the common and often, in my view, one-sided (viz. Classics) take on Roman religion due to primarily disciplinary anxieties and a lingering disciplinary protectionism in many (if not most) publications on the topic, ²⁰ one can increasingly encounter new projects, workshops, conferences as well as shorter or longer research outputs that either involve a more theoretical and methodological outlook or strive for interdisciplinary approaches that seek to advance the study of Roman religion beyond certain long-standing traditions. Without arguing or implying that traditional approaches and methods lack value or fail to provide important outcomes, I am personally intrigued by scholarly attempts that are willing to take risks and re-examine the religious ideas, beliefs, practices and peculiarities of Roman religion. A number of such new trends have been mentioned here. Precisely where the study of Roman religion is heading remains to be seen. But the blend of traditional and innovative proposals seems to be multiplying, thereby bringing about an exciting and enticing development from which scholars of Roman religion can only gain and, hopefully, to which they can contribute in the near future.