[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The book aims to give space to researchers to engage with a different methodological approach to religion and religious experiences in the Roman world, to allow us to develop a better understanding of the varied and sometimes contradictory nature of religious practices and expressions. To this end, the volume boasts a diverse collection of contributions, predominantly with a focus on the Roman West. The volume emphasises the dramatic changes in the first century BCE to the third century CE, including the challenging of existing hierarchies and changes in traditional religious patterns. These changes are linked to hypermobility and a more interconnected world.
This volume builds upon a trend, developing since the 1980s, in the study of ancient religions, in particular the work on the Lived Religion Approach formulated by Jörge Rüpke through the Lived Ancient Religion Project (LAR).[1] Through this trend, scholars seek to examine the attitudes of ancient individuals and their choices behind their religious practices and to avoid the generalising of ancient religion. This volume’s specific focus is on ‘religious individualism,’ which is novel in that, as is made explicitly clear by Ralph Haeussler in Chapter Two, the concept is not concerned with reflecting upon ‘some kind of global “individualisation” phenomenon’; instead, its focus is specifically on analysing ‘specific, regional scenarios.’ (page 29). To the editors, religious individualism is more than just emphasising the individual person’s social agency and their capacity to make their own choices; it also reflects a period in which many people no longer felt compelled by existing ‘traditions’. Some contributors engage with the definition of the key concept through slightly different lenses. For example, in Chapter Four, which analyses mystery cults, Jaime Alvar Ezquerra follows van der Loo and van Reijen (1993) (English translation Musschenga 2001) in the definition of individualism, which focuses on the individual breaking away from close groups, in contrast to other chapters.
Religious individualism as an idea is well interrogated in the introduction to the volume and Chapter Two, in which modern research and sociological studies are woven into the analysis of the term. This terminology is similar to the idea of personal religion in that it could help scholars navigate beyond the magic versus religion debate or dichotomy, which still plagues the study of objects such as curse tablets.
Chapter Three is of particular interest in this regard. Francisco Marco Simón focuses on the personal choices behind various so-called magical rituals in the Latin West and suggests that the use of these rituals was a means by which individuals could engage with, and hope to mitigate, situations where fear, anxiety, or social unrest were prevalent. The range of case studies which is presented is illuminating and useful. The examples are used to echo the strong focus on individual agency behind the creation of curse tablets and other ritual objects, which is being found more commonly across this field of study. All are in the Gaulish language or bilingual, which reflects that the most complete surviving Gaulish texts are of a so-called magical nature. An inscribed turibulum (incense-burner) from Chartres, dated to the late first or early second century CE, is particularly noteworthy as a piece of evidence for the possibility of continued Druidism.
Chapter Four is a highlight of the volume; it deals well with the tricky issue of conversion to cults. Jaime Alvar Ezquerra posits that we could consider mystery cults as ‘religious options’ which coexisted with, rather than replacing, pre-existing, traditional, religious structures. A point of particular importance is highlighted, in that the use of Christian analogies when understanding mystery cults (the example used is the idea of initiation as being a sacramental act similar to baptism) has led to a false image that they are separate or alternative from the wider religious milieux.
In Chapter Five, Elizabeth Blanning builds upon two previous English-language surveys of the matres (female or mother deities worshipped particularly in northwestern Roman provinces); the first by Francis Haverfield (1892) and the second by Barnard (1985). She draws the readers’ attention to the uncritical acceptance of the notion of the Romanisation of Britain in these previous studies. The focus on the matres allows Blanning to engage with the issues of Roman versus non-Roman. The matres, as Blanning highlights, are not considered part of the classical pantheon and are unattested in surviving literary sources, and they have therefore been labelled ‘Celtic’, despite the fact that the material remains display all the characteristics we would expect of Roman objects. This chapter makes very good use of graphs and figures throughout. Table 5.1, spanning pages 86-87, which draws together epigraphic evidence from shrines and temples and Table 5.2, which compiles groups of finds which suggest the existence of temples or shrines, are extremely interesting and will no doubt prove very useful for students and researchers alike in the information it draws together. The detailed analysis on epithets and dedicants which follows is engaging and helps a reader unfamiliar with this specific body of evidence understand the difficulties in the material and issues with some of the patterns which emerge. Blanning highlights that what are referred to as ‘invented traditions’ repeatedly throughout the chapter, at no point replaced the traditional or official Roman deities and cults but provided a ‘counterpoint’ to them.
For those with little prior knowledge of different pre-Roman deities, Chapter Six provides a useful introduction and incorporates the important scholarship. Of particular interest is the section on Seixomnia Leucitica and Veica Noriceia, which discusses the phenomenon of goddesses with two names characteristic of the area. Marjeta Šašel Kos emphasises issues of changes after the arrival of Celts into eastern Alpine areas and western Pannonia, and these will, sadly, most likely remain unanswerable for us. However, there is an extremely interesting analysis of the pre-Roman populations in this chapter. The discussion of the lack of pre-Celtic and Celtic divinities is particularly compelling. Šašel Kos’ use of the term ‘Romanisation’, which is always presented in quote marks, is particularly interesting as this term is one which has been shunned in recent years by scholars of the growth of the Roman Empire. The use of quotation marks is an important statement in itself, as is highlighted by the process of ‘Romanisation’, Šašel Kos argues, which was ‘ultimately always reciprocal’. (Page 111) This statement is one which should be taken seriously by scholarship in the coming academic work. Can this statement be held to be true beyond the realm of ancient religion? I am not sure that it can.
Chapter Seven grapples with the difficulties of focusing on religious practices in locales across central and eastern Gaul in areas of life such as civic religion, in an attempt to follow the ideas of Greek polis religion. Isabelle Fauduet starts the introduction boldly by illustrating that when we focus on the actual evidence, it seems religious activities were overwhelmingly personal. Fauduet seems to start from perspectives similar to the work of Julia Kindt (despite Kindt’s focus on Greek material), and it would have been useful to signpost readers to this work (see bibliography) for the theory of personal religion and the nuances of the argument when applied to the Roman or Gaulish material.
The latter chapters of the volume are, for the most part, interesting and present novel material to the reader. There are, however, several cases where the chapters could have engaged more directly with the theme of the volume to add to an increased overall sense of cohesiveness.
In Chapter 11, Fernando Alonso Burgos deals with the issues of comparing evidence from northwest Hispania with Britannia and Gaul without taking into account their specific pre-Roman history. This presents an important point for the continued study of these areas. Considering the ritual actions which already exist in a certain location is an important step in understanding those which developed in the Roman period; not all religious practices across the Roman Empire were Roman, introduced by the Romans, and unchanged by religious innovation. Being aware of what comes before allows for a better understanding of the mixing of new and preexisting ideas. In previous scholarship, these ideas have at times been neglected or overlooked when focusing on individual religious practices in these regions. The ideas of indigenous emulation, the phenomenon where those people who already lived in a location which came under Roman control (or occupation) began to adopt aspects of Roman life, whether deliberately in order, for example, to suggest a belonging to the Roman elite, or through coercion, are well presented and argued.
Chapters 12 (Jesús Alberto Arenas-Esteban) and 13 (Günther Schörner) both deal with buildings and space. The former takes as a special case study the site of Cuevas de Soria in central Spain and presents an enjoyable discussion of naming practices and formulae. There is a focus on the role of architecture in the shaping of social identities, and the idea of architecture as a foundational basis for social representation is well worked through, with issues of linguistics and religion woven in throughout. Schörner focuses on house cults. The analysis is strengthened by the use of the concept of the ‘archaeology of invisibility’. The application of the methodological approach called ‘Space Syntax Analysis’ is very interesting and certainly furthers the discussion of who has access to, or used, different spaces within the Casa dei Vettii.
The book overall is well edited and draws together a varied collection of papers. The book is not divided into parts, something which might have helped the reader navigate the diversity of contributions. The pieces are well illustrated with maps, images, and tables and are pitched at a good level for such a diverse volume; there is enough introductory explanation and signposting to helpful further bibliography, to ensure those without specific knowledge of the exact region and topic can still engage with the arguments put forth, whilst also illustrating the novel approach to the material the focus on religious individualism allows.
Given the diversity of topics covered, it is unsurprising that some fit the overall theme of the volume better than others. Those whose engagement with religious individualism is looser are still making important contributions to their respective fields and will no doubt expose readers to source materials they are less well acquainted with.
Bibliography
Albrecht, J. et al. (2018) ‘Religion in the making: the Lived Ancient Religion approach’, Religion, 48(4), pp. 568–593.
Kindt, J. (2012) Rethinking Greek Religion. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Kindt, J. 2015. ‘Personal Religion: A Productive Category for the Study of Ancient Greek Religion?’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 135, pp. 35–50.
Musschenga, A. W. (2001) ‘The Many Faces of Individualism,’ in A. van Harskamp and A. W. Musschenga (eds) The Many Faces of Individualism. Leuven, Peeters. 3-23.
van der Loo, H. and van Reijen, W. (1993) Paradoxen van modernisering: een sociaal-wetenschappelijke benadering. Bussum, Coutinho.
Authors and Titles
- Introduction: the dynamics of religious individualisation (Ralph Haeussler, Anthony King, Francisco Marco Simón and Günther Schörner)
- Religious individualisation: a bottom-up approach to religious developments in the Roman world (Ralph Haeussler)
- Discrepant behaviour: on magical activities in the Latin West (Francisco Marco Simón)
- Individual religious choice: the case of the ‘mystery’ cults (Jaime Alvar Ezquerra)
- Sons and mothers: the matres, the military and religious choice in Roman Britain (Elizabeth Blanning)
- Pre-Roman deities along the north-eastern Adriatic: continuity, transformation, identification (Marjeta Šašel Kos)
- Private devotions at temples in Central and Eastern Gaul (Isabelle Fauduet)
- Tradition, diversity and improvisation in Romano-British cremation burials in south-east England (Jake Weekes)
- Individual choices in burial ritual and cult activity in and around the Iron Age and Romano-British town of Baldock, Hertfordshire, UK (Gilbert R. Burleigh)
- Religious individualisation in extremis: human remains from Romano-Celtic temples in Britain and Gaul (Anthony King)
- Indigenous arae and stelae: symbolic landscapes and individualisation in north-west Roman Hispania (Fernando Alonso Burgos)
- Indigenism and identity shaping: the case of the Irrico group in Central Spain (Jesús Alberto Arenas-Esteban)
- The religious construction of ‘household’ in Roman Italy: the case of the Casa dei Vettii (Günther Schörner)
- Types of Interpretatio and their users in the Keltiké: explicationes and translationes identificationes and adaptationes (Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel)
- Religious individualisation in an entangled world: how to pick and mix favourite deities in the Roman Keltiké (Ralph Haeussler)
Notes
[1] See Albrecht, J. et al. (2018) ‘Religion in the making: the Lived Ancient Religion approach’, Religion, 48(4), pp. 568–593. doi: 10.1080/0048721X.2018.1450305.