The twenty-one studies assembled in this volume focus on the apparatus and practitioners of religions in the western Roman empire, the enclaves, temples, altars and monuments that served the cults of a wide range of divinities through the medium of priests and worshippers. Discussion focuses on the analysis or reconstruction of the centres at which devotees gathered and draws on the full range of available evidence. While literary authorities remain of primary concern, these are for the most part overshadowed by other categories of evidence, in particular archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics and iconography, sources in some cases confirmed by the latest geophysical techniques - electrical resistivity tomography or ground-probing radar. The material is conveniently presented by geographical area, using modern rather than Latin terminology: Rome, Italy, Britain, Gaul, Spain, Hungary, along with a broader section that covers the empire in general. The titles of the various articles speak for themselves but readers may find the preface of interest in so far as it sets out my ideas on the use of ancient evidence and the pitfalls of some of the approaches favoured by modern scholars. Together with the wide range of individual papers the preface makes the book of interest to all students of the Roman empire as well as those specifically concerned with the history of religions.

The papers assembled in this selection of studies range in subject matter from early Judaic magic to an inscribed monument of the Neo-Classical period. The principal emphasis of the collection is nevertheless on religious developments under the High Roman Empire: problems arising from the interpretation of oriental cults imported from the Hellenistic East but primarily the development of imperial cult, the one universal religion of the empire before the coming of Christianity. The essays divide into five categories: Divinity and Power; The Imperial Numen; The Imperial Cult: Review and Discussion; Rituals and Ceremonies; Ainigmata. The titles of the individual articles speak for themselves but readers may also find the preface of interest in so far as it sets out the author's ideas on the controversial nature of the emperor's divinity. While this is a topic deserving of a book in its own right, the preface together with the points raised by individual studies within the overall framework may go some way to repairing this defficiency.

The studies included in this volume supplement the work already published by the author on the imperial cult in the Roman West, focussing on the monuments of two cities in Roman Spain, Augusta Emerita (now Merida) and Tarraco (now Tarragona). The introduction gives the general background and context of the four following studies and argues in favour of proactive initiative from the centre. The core of the book is a study of the provincial forum at Augusta Emerita. It opens with a historiographic survey followed by discussion of the plaza (location, portico, "Arco de Trajano"), then surveys other structures and their general architectonic significance. Discussion of the hexastyle temple at the centre of the precinct considers its date of construction and the influence of the provincial governor, L. Fulcinius Trio, in copying the Aedes Concordiae at Rome. Two long sections assigned to analysis of inscriptions and the significance of the provincial centre of Lusitania complete the study. Discussion of the "Temple of Augustus" in Tarragona, in Chapter 3, begins with a historiography of the temple followed by an account of its discovery by ground-probing radar and electric resistivity tomography. After arguing that the temple was provincial ab initio - rather than first municipal then provincial - discussion moves to present opinion on the successive stages of the construction and design of the temple with a final chapter on the significance of the Temple of Hispania Citerior. Two final studies consider the numismatic evidence for an Ara Providentiae at Augusta Emerita, its counterpart in Rome, and the inferred presence of a templum minus at Augusta Emerita with its enigmatic portrayal of Agrippa at sacrifice fifty years after his death. As for the location of this copy of a Roman prototype, analysis focuses on the evidence for a supposed temple in the forum adiectum of the colonial forum and considers the iconographic recomposition of the monument, arguing against current misconception of central details.

The papers assembled in this selection of studies range in subject matter from early Judaic magic to an inscribed monument of the Neo-Classical period. The principal emphasis of the collection is nevertheless on religious developments under the High Roman Empire: problems arising from the interpretation of oriental cults imported from the Hellenistic East but primarily the development of imperial cult, the one universal religion of the empire before the coming of Christianity. The essays divide into five categories: Divinity and Power; The Imperial Numen; The Imperial Cult: Review and Discussion; Rituals and Ceremonies; Ainigmata. The titles of the individual articles speak for themselves but readers may also find the preface of interest in so far as it sets out the author's ideas on the controversial nature of the emperor's divinity. While this is a topic deserving of a book in its own right, the preface together with the points raised by individual studies within the overall framework may go some way to repairing this defficiency.

The studies included in this volume supplement the work already published by the author on the imperial cult in the Roman West, focussing on the monuments of two cities in Roman Spain, Augusta Emerita (now Merida) and Tarraco (now Tarragona). The introduction gives the general background and context of the four following studies and argues in favour of proactive initiative from the centre. The core of the book is a study of the provincial forum at Augusta Emerita. It opens with a historiographic survey followed by discussion of the plaza (location, portico, "Arco de Trajano"), then surveys other structures and their general architectonic significance. Discussion of the hexastyle temple at the centre of the precinct considers its date of construction and the influence of the provincial governor, L. Fulcinius Trio, in copying the Aedes Concordiae at Rome. Two long sections assigned to analysis of inscriptions and the significance of the provincial centre of Lusitania complete the study. Discussion of the "Temple of Augustus" in Tarragona, in Chapter 3, begins with a historiography of the temple followed by an account of its discovery by ground-probing radar and electric resistivity tomography. After arguing that the temple was provincial ab initio - rather than first municipal then provincial - discussion moves to present opinion on the successive stages of the construction and design of the temple with a final chapter on the significance of the Temple of Hispania Citerior. Two final studies consider the numismatic evidence for an Ara Providentiae at Augusta Emerita, its counterpart in Rome, and the inferred presence of a templum minus at Augusta Emerita with its enigmatic portrayal of Agrippa at sacrifice fifty years after his death. As for the location of this copy of a Roman prototype, analysis focuses on the evidence for a supposed temple in the forum adiectum of the colonial forum and considers the iconographic recomposition of