This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the intersection between Roman politics, culture and divination in the late Republic. It discusses how the practice of divination changed at a time of great political and social change and explores the evidence for a critical reflection and debate on the limits of divination and prediction in the second and first centuries BC. Divination was a central feature in the workings of the Roman government and this book explores the ways in which it changed under the pressure of factors of socio-political complexity and disruption. It discusses the ways in which the problem of the prediction of the future is constructed in the literature of the period. Finally, it explores the impact that the emergence of the Augustan regime had on the place of divination in Rome and the role that divinatory themes had in shaping the ideology of the new regime.
Cet article est une discussion de la réorganisation du Sénat conduite par Sylla en 81 av. J.-C. Trois problèmes sont au centre de l’enquête: le nombre des sénateurs nommés par Sylla; le milieu social dont les nouveaux sénateurs provenaient; le rôle des censeurs après l’intervention syllanienne. Les appendices rassemblent et discutent les données dont nous disposons sur les individus qui pourraient avoir été nommés par Sylla et sur leur origine géographique.
This paper revisits the political history of the Roman Republic in the third decade of the first centuryb.c.Its central contention is that the dominant feature of the period was neither a reshuffle of alliances within the ‘Sullan’ senatorial nobility nor the swift demise of Sulla's legacy. Attention should be focused instead on some crucial policy issues which attracted debate and controversy in that period: the powers of the tribunes, the corn supply of Rome, the rôle of the Senate, the revival of the census, and the full inclusion of the Allies into the citizen body. The political strategy of M. Aemilius Lepidus (cos. 78b.c.) and its medium-term repercussions also deserve close scrutiny in this connection.
Las guerras civiles del período tardorrepublicano son un período de profunda agitación política, en el que la cohesión y la viabilidad de la comunidad cívica son severamente cuestionadas. Esto posee significativas ramificaciones religiosas, dado que la relación entre la comunidad y los dioses es desafíada y en ocasiones socavada. No obstante, las afirmaciones relativas a la piedad –el escrúpulo y la observancia religiosa, así como una conexión duradera con los dioses– juegan un papel central en los discursos contemporáneos sobre la guerra civil y sin duda en el funcionamiento de los conflictos militares mismos. Este trabajo traza estas afirmaciones buscando recuperar la centralidad de las preocupaciones religiosas de los sectores en guerra y explorar sus implicaciones políticas e intelectuales.
Traducción de María Emilia Cairo, emiliacairo@conicet.gov.ar
Some of the best recent work on Roman priesthoods under the Republic has engaged with the issue of priestly authority and its role in defining the place of priesthoods vis-à-vis other centres of power, influence and knowledge. The aim of this paper is to make a contribution to this line of enquiry by focussing on the concept of priestly auctoritas, which has seldom received close attention. The working hypothesis is that the study of priestly auctoritas may contribute to a broader understanding of the place of priesthood in Republican Rome, and especially in the Late Republican period, from which most of the evidence derives. The link between religious authority and religious expertise requires special attention.
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