This book offers a radical new survey of more than a thousand years of religious life at Rome: from the foundation of the city to its rise to world empire and its conversion to Christianity. Religion was central to Roman culture; it was part of the fabric of politics and warfare, imperial power and its opponents, domestic life and philosophical theorizing. This authoritative account sets religion in its full cultural context, whether in the primitive hamlet of the eighth century B.C. or the cosmopolitan, multicultural society of the first centuries of the Christian era.

    The narrative account is structured around a series of broad themes: how to interpret the Romans’ own theories of their religious system and its origins; the relationship of religion and the changing politics of Rome; the religious importance of the layout and monuments of the city itself; changing ideas of religious identity and community; religious invasion -and, ultimately, revolution.

    The companion volume, Religions of Rome 2: A Sourcebook, sets out a wide range of documents (including painting, coins, sculpture and inscriptions) richly illustrating the religious life of the Roman world.