1st Edition
The Gods of Ancient Rome Religion in Everyday Life from Archaic to Imperial Times
First published in 2001. This is a vivid account of what their gods meant to the Romans from archaic times to late antiquity, and an exploration of the rites and rituals connected to them. After an extensive introduction into the nature of classical religion, the book is divided into three pain main parts: religions of the family and land; religions of the city; and religions of the empire. The book ends with the rise and impact Christianity. Using archaeological and epigraphic evidence, and drawling extensively on a wide range of relevant literary material, this book is ideally suited for undergraduate courses in the history of Rome and its religions. Its urbane style and lightly worn scholarship will broaden its appeal to the large number of non-academic readers with a serious interest in the classical world.
Biography
Robert Turcan is Professor of Roman History at the Sorbonne. He has published widely on Roman antiquity, mainly on aspects of religion. His books include Cults of the Roman Empire (1996) and Mithras et le Mithriacisme (1991).
"The style adopted by Turcan is accessible and readable. His work covers an immense amount of ground in a very small space. At times his abundance of examples is breathtaking. The reader is given a very real sense of the profusion of rites and rituals that accompanied everyday life in private and in public in the Roman world." -- Alex Nice, University of the Witwatersrand
