The reception of Livy

Religious material in Livy

Our reception of Livy has tended to be determined by our requirements. As a source of historical information, he has been considered disappointing when judged by modern standards and methods. Though there are undoubtedly problems recovering historical facts from our author, recent, more ‘literary’ studies have brought more favourable results that show Roman identity to have been a key factor in shaping the Ab Vrbe Condita (AVC). The following discussion belongs firmly in this latter category.

Livy is of course familiar to students of religion: without him our knowledge of Republican religion would be infinitely poorer. The historian is generally treated as a store of material that can be taken, by and large, as it comes: little discussion of Livy's specifically religious methodology is thought to be necessary. But there is also a tradition of scholarship examining Livy's ‘belief’ as an object of study in itself. For this school, religion has been a puzzling and contradictory phenomenon, and no clear consensus has been reached: the most recent – and probably the fullest – attempt to examine the material is the work of Levene in his Religion in Livy which therefore merits some attention. Levene makes central to his argument the issue that had previously confounded most attempts to understand the presentation of the religious material – namely that the author appears to contradict himself at various points on religious matters: Levene endeavours to retain this tension rather than favour one side to the detriment of the other.