3 - The dynamics of senatorial religion in Rome and Italy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
Summary
As the symbolic capital of the empire, the city of Rome has always been the center of attention. It was from here that power emanated, here where the stakes were the highest and representations the most charged. Under the empire this role of Rome as traditional center, of both religion and political representation, continued with diffuse lines of more or less intense influence. There was, on the one hand, attention focused on the capital, which, however, did not exert a concentrically weakening affect around itself but rather compiled a complex hierarchy in which certain provincial capitals could fare better than many Italian municipalities. On the other hand, we can also observe the growth of another, converse dynamic in which the person of the emperor himself came to represent the symbolic center of the empire, which was, however, now movable: as the emperor traveled around his realm, he moved the center of power with him and drew the focus of attention to the various places he visited. The purpose of this second part of the monograph is to analyze the “geography” of senatorial religion in light of these two distinct dynamics: the enduring importance of the city of Rome and the new symbolic weight of the emperor.
In a detailed survey of evidence for senatorial religion from Rome, Italy, and the provinces, these chapters study primarily epigraphic evidence and archaeological remains.
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- Information
- The Religion of Senators in the Roman EmpirePower and the Beyond, pp. 93 - 121Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010