Literature and Religion at Rome
Cultures, Contexts, and Beliefs

A sophisticated and important short study of Roman religion.

Denis Feeney (Author)

9780521559218, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 January 1998

176 pages
20.3 x 12.7 x 1 cm, 0.2 kg

'Like the other volumes in the series, Hinds' Allusion and Intertext and Feeney's Literature and Religion at Rome are well written and well edited brief introductions to a significant area of scholarly research in Latin literature, designed simultaneously to incorporate and explain recent scholarship in the field and to serve as a protreptic to others.' Phoenix

Recent reevaluations of Roman religion by ancient historians have stressed the vitality and creativity of the Romans' religious system throughout its long history of continual adaptation to new challenges. Capitalising on these insights, Denis Feeney argues that Roman literature was not an artificial or parasitic irrelevance in this context, but an important element of the dynamic religious culture, with its own status as another form of religious knowledge. Since Roman culture, both literary and religious, was so thoroughly Hellenised, the book also makes a case for a reconsideration of the traditional antitheses between Greek and Roman literature and religion, arguing against Hellenocentric prejudices and in favour of a more creative model of cultural interaction.

Preface
Introduction
1. Belief
2. Myth
3. Divinity
4. Ritual
5. Epilogue: knowledge
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]