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This book explores the way in which three ancient historians,
writing in Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the
past. Although previous scholarship has generally portrayed these
writers as somewhat dismissive of traditional Roman religion, it is
argued here that Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus saw themselves as being
very close to the centre of those traditions. The gods are
presented as a potent historical force, and a close reading of the
historians' texts easily bears out this conclusion. Their treatment
of the gods is not limited to portraying the role and power of the
divine in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the
negotiation with the reader concerning what constituted a 'proper'
religious system. Priests and other religious experts function as
an index of the decline (or restoration) of Rome and each writer
formulates a sophisticated position on the practical and social
aspects of Roman religion.
This book explores the way in which three ancient historians,
writing in Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the
past. Although previous scholarship has generally portrayed these
writers as somewhat dismissive of traditional Roman religion, it is
argued here that Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus saw themselves as being
very close to the centre of those traditions. The gods are
presented as a potent historical force, and a close reading of the
historians' texts easily bears out this conclusion. Their treatment
of the gods is not limited to portraying the role and power of the
divine in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the
negotiation with the reader concerning what constituted a 'proper'
religious system. Priests and other religious experts function as
an index of the decline (or restoration) of Rome and each writer
formulates a sophisticated position on the practical and social
aspects of Roman religion.
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R154
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