The religio-political change in the reign of Augustus: the disappearance of public prodigies

Název: The religio-political change in the reign of Augustus: the disappearance of public prodigies
Zdrojový dokument: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2012, roč. 17, č. 2, s. [57]-67
Rozsah
[57]-67
  • ISSN
    1803-7402 (print)
    2336-4424 (online)
Type: Článek
Jazyk
Jazyk shrnutí
Licence: Neurčená licence
 

Upozornění: Tyto citace jsou generovány automaticky. Nemusí být zcela správně podle citačních pravidel.

Abstrakt(y)
The article explores the causes which led to the final disappearance of the Roman Republican practice of the expiation of public prodigies (ill-boding divinatory signs) in the beginning of the principate. After a short exposition of the system of Roman expiation of public prodigies, individual theories explaining their disappearance are explored in greater detail. These theories are dismissed as either erroneous or incomplete, e.g. these operating with the general decline of Roman republican religion, philosophical criticism of superstitious religious practices, abuse of prodigies in political controversies or for self-advertisement of important noblemen, loss of their importance after the political unification of Italy, etc. In conclusion, the author of this article formulates an alternative theory explaining the reasons behind their ultimate disappearance: they were so closely connected with the values of Roman political and religious elites and played such an important role in the process of building Roman national identity that they lost their rationale after the establishment of the principate, since from that time these values were invested into and this role played by Roman emperors and their families.
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