Religion in the Roman Empire by James B. Rives

PHOENIX Religion in the Roman Empire. By James B. Rives. Maiden, MA: Blackwell. 2007. Pp. x, 237, 11 illustrations, 4 maps. Merely conceptualizing a scholarly introduction to "religion" in the Roman empire poses quite a challenge to anyone familiar with recent work on the complexity of the subject. Wisely, this new introduction by James Rives, part of Blackwell's new series on ancient religions, undertakes this task as an experiment, less a "definitive account," but rather "a possible framework for thinking about" religion in the Roman empire which acknowledges the rich variety of evidence (2). The framework Rives suggests is based on the commonalities of religion across the heterogeneous mix in this era, a unity which he locates in a normatively understood idea of religion in the "social and conceptual world" of the empire (6). Chapter One, "Identifying 'Religion' in the Graeco-Roman World," begins to outline how different the religious was in a culture that did not have a commonly understood category of "a religion," with the associated coherence of religious practices and beliefs. While discussing in detail the variety of conceptions of the divine, as well as the multiple approaches or levels through which it could be addressed, Rives endorses a singular notion of religion in which context is key in the choice of any particular religious form. Including an admirable range of evidence, from inscriptions, through texts of various kinds, to visual remains, he goes on to discuss what he sees as the three key differences between this Roman imperial and modern, Western concepts of religion: first, the absence of belief in a singular doctrinal system in Rome; secondly, their vague association of any morality with religion; and, finally, the multiple and varied sources of religious authority. Of these, the last, "authority," may appear problematic, especially given that Rives tries to reconcile the republican tradition of civic religion with the notion of a religious marketplace in the empire, but he succeeds in delivering an excellent survey of the complexities involved in any such singular model of religious authority for this period. To approach religious diversity, Chapter Two, "Regional Religious Traditions of the Empire," turns to a geographically organized overview of the empire. From classical Greek polis religion to the local cults in Asia Minor, from the aniconic cults in ancient Syria to what came to be seen by the Romans as the particularly "Egyptian" and "African" gods, and "Celtic" and "Thracian" divinities, the survey offers the insight that an ancient traveler might have had of the local religious flavors on a journey around the empire. Rives is good at pointing out the veiy diversity of religious traditions even within Italy, and how such local elements may have been important in shaping Roman priestly colleges and divinatory practices. The chapter's concluding remarks, suggesting a dynamic tension between particularization and generalization, and between continuity and change, are especially well formulated (86-87). Chapter Three, "The Presence of the Gods," offers a detailed discussion of Rives's notion of Rome as a "world full of gods": gods in nature, gods at times of need, and gods in their myriad manifestations. A particular strength of this chapter is the way in which Rives juxtaposes "pagan" and Christian experiences of the divine, offering an important contextualization of early Christianity. This juxtaposition continues in Chapter Four, "Religion and Community," in which Rives addresses the communal experience of religion. Here, as the apostle Paul addresses the citizens of Ephesus, we see not only religious traditions and practices stirred up, but also civic pride, as well as the economic BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 201 interests of the city's craftsmen who live on selling cult paraphernalia. The same multiple, religious, social, and economic connections are observed in the organization of sacred space and in religious experience in general across various levels of community (the city, households, as well as voluntary associations, following a framework of Aristotle). With Chapter Five, "Religion and Empire," Rives moves to the less obvious connections among the various social and geographical divides that he has discussed earlier. The mobility of worshippers and of gods is neatly connected, and so are the multiple social and religious factors that might go into...

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