The Gods of Ancient Rome: Religion in Everyday Life from Archaic to Imperial Times

by Robert Turcan (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0415929745

ISBN-10: 0415929741

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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

About the Author

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).

Product details

Publisher : Routledge (March 21, 2001)
Language : English
Paperback : 200 pages
ISBN-10 : 0415929741
ISBN-13 : 978-0415929745
Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
Dimensions : 5.98 x 0.46 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #948 in Media Studies (Books)
- #1,502 in Ancient History (Books)
- #2,181 in Ancient Roman History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
7 ratings

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Carol H. Johnson

highly researched, fun to explore, brings part of ancient Rome to life.

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

well written and very well researched book. It probably is most useful as a reference, but there are narrative threads. I've been annotating my copy, which will help me better understand the early religions and their practices and their architectural remains when I am in Rome for a couple of months this winter.

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Ingela

Academic, trustworthy

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2009

Verified Purchase

This book is dry and scholarly at times and yet I still enjoyed it because the subject matter is interesting and I trusted the information contained therein. This is one of those books I know I will be happy to have on my shelf as a solid reference text. I think one of the problems with the book is that is does not discuss each God (not even the major ones) in detail, nor the practices associated with a specific God (except re the mystery cults). It is very much an overview of Pagan practices in ancient Rome and the broad way in which the author deals with the subject probably accounts for the occaisional dryness of the text. It is probably directed more at academic types who wish to improve their understanding of the daily life and mentality ancient Romans (which is a noble subject in itself) more than really looking at the spiritual aspect of Pagan deities and practice.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Personable and Efficient

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2012

Verified Purchase

Amaranth Books did an excellent job of keeping in contact with me, and responded to my order quicker than anyone I have ever bought from. The book arrived exactly as it was described and they even included a personalized message thanking me for ordering. I originally chose to order this book from Amaranth on a whim, but now I will always look to see if they have my book before I look anywhere else.

One person found this helpful

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Jill Malter

A short but surprisingly detailed view of Roman Polytheism

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2005

The Roman Pagans were a deeply religious people. Turcan's book shows us a great deal about how they worshipped and what rituals they observed. And this book gives even a secular reader a chance to make some sense of it.

Unlike the monotheist god, Roman Goddesses and Gods are perfections of actual attributes. Romans hailed the Gods and Goddesses casually. But their rituals were often serious and complex, for they had to instill a sense of the importance of a vow to be worthy of a particular Goddess or God. And Turcan's book shows us some of these rituals in detail.

As Turcan mentions, when the Romans stopped worshipping the Gods and Goddesses, the Roman Empire quickly fell apart. I think the Christian religion that replaced the Pantheon with a nailed corpse gave Romans little reason to defend their Empire. The new religion was too nihilistic and atheistic. Turcan does not appear to agree with me about this, but he does cite Zosimus who did hold Constantine's failure to celebrate the Secular Games in 314 AD to be responsible for the ruin of the Empire. Turcan also explains that by celebrating the Secular Games, the Romans were in effect "taking out a new 'lease' with the gods."

This is a scholarly and interesting work. I recommend it to Pagans and non-Pagans alike.

19 people found this helpful

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WSV

Not for the Average Reader

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2003

I recently used this book as part of a Summer-session university course on the Archaeology of Religion. Although it contains a healthy amount of information about little known facts concerning Roman religion, it is not for the average reader. Originally written in French, the translation is somewhat poor and confusing.
The majority of the class was at a loss due to the complexity of the book. Even my somewhat rudimentary knowledge of Roman religion was barely adequate to follow the writings. The book lacks adequate chapter breaks resulting in the reader being forced to read the entirety in order not to lose his place.
It says a lot when the professor privately told me that it was a poor choice for a textbook.

18 people found this helpful

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