Customer Reviews

Archaic Roman Religion

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Dumezil's "Archaic Roman Religion" is a landmark work in the field of ancient religious practice. While some of Dumezil's theories may be considered out-of-date, these volumes are a vast resource of information about religious practices in the Italian peninsula. Dumezil presents a strong case that the Roman state religion evolved from domestic religious practices, combined with some iconographic and conceptual elements borrowed from the neighboring Etruscans. A strong antidote to the popular conception of Roman religion as a "rip-off" of Greek practices, this work clearly explains key features of Roman religious thought. Here the reader may find a wealth of information on the Roman deities, public festivals, private devotions, funeral customs, priesthood, and much more. It is fascinating to read straight through, as well as being an indispensible reference in comparative religion.

In his characteristic style, Dumezil sets out in this work to explore Roman religion as its own centerpiece rather than a mere comparative resource for explaining Vedic or Norse myth. His attention to detail and clear reasoning as well as wide knowledge helps bring archaic Roman religion to light. This is a book worth reading.

It's worth noting that Dumezil was a pioneer in his field, and that pioneers often make some errors. In particular confirmation bias is hard to avoid when you are leading the vanguard.... While I think there are some issues of this sort in this book, they are generally on the sidelines (I'll save a critical review of Dumezil's tripartite framework for another day). The book is a wonderful resource of ancient Roman practice and comparative structures. More than even his "Gods of the Ancient Northmen" this work stands out as a solid reference that will be useful for decades come.

I particularly enjoyed his discussions of the Dawn Goddess and of Janus. I found these to be of great clarity and full of insight.

I'd highly recommend this book.

This is a classic book that continues to be relevant in the study of religion. Dumezil presents a comprehensive look at religion in ancient Rome. This is a great reference book for people who enjoy learning about the subject as well as a fine philosophical study.

If you have a scholarly interest in Roman religions, at some point you need to read this book. You may want to own it, because it is a useful compendium of a lot of dispersed data from the ancient sources. Getting, say, Wissowa's German handbook will cost you a good deal more. Many subsequent scholars have pointed out problems in Dumézil's method, and his claim to be reconstructing "archaic" Roman religion has been particularly contested. His suggestions are nevertheless stimulating. This book can also serve as an introduction to Dumézil's broader research into Proto-Indo-European culture, but his specifically Indo-European thoughts are perhaps more accessible in works like *The Destiny of the Warrior*.