The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (54 page)

Germany had been the bane of the early Empire, and Domitian finally brought it under some control. This area remained a wild land of border fortifications, small settlements, and great forests. Garrisons allowed the Rhine to become somewhat Romanized and grew into the cities of Cologne, Mainz, and Strasbourg. But migrations, tribal rebellions, and harsh weather kept
romanitas
isolated, just as happened in Britain.

It's easy to think of the provinces along the upper Rhine and Danube (Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Illyricum, Moesia, Dacia) as wild and hostile outposts of Roman fortifications against the barbarians. Control of these areas protected Italy and secured imperial mobility by allowing for a northern land route linking northern Gaul with the eastern provinces. But Roman traders and businessmen had been plying the regions along these rivers before the Roman legions arrived and set up their standards and camps. By the time the legions and Roman patrol fleet had secured the lands between modern Switzerland and the Black Sea, there was already a thriving border-zone culture of Romans—“Roman” and non-Roman Celts and Goths. You might think of these areas as analogous to the mixture of cultures along the United States's border with Mexico. Borders make for sharp demarcations on a map, but when families, cultures, tribes, and businesses settle in large numbers on both sides, the line is anything but sharp.

The garrison towns of these northern reaches grew into important cities. Rhaeta's capital, Augusta Vindelicorum, grew into Augsburg. In Pannonia, the legionary quarters at Vindobona and Aquincum grew to Vienna and Budapest. This province became heavily Romanized with bustling cities, such as Singidunum, now known as Belgrade. To the south of Pannonia was the large province of Illyricum, from which the Illyrian legions and emperors such as Diocletian brought the Empire back together from chaos.

East from Pannonia toward Constantinople was Moesia. This province was full of Latin colonists and settlers from the time of Claudius, and it was from here that Trajan pushed northward into Dacia (see Chapter 15, “The [Mostly] Good Emperors:

The Flavians to Marcus Aurelius”). This was also the area into which the eastern emperors tried to settle the troublesome Visigoths (see Chapter 18) and from where they revolted. South from Moesia were the provinces of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. These areas remained in relative obscurity and produced soldiers, wine, and livestock from large estates and ranches while the cities declined. Athens, of course, was an exception. It continued to enjoy the patronage of students studying at its schools, travelers, and even emperors until the sixth century.

North from Moesia was Dacia, which was conquered by Trajan between 101 and 106. Dacia's mineral and economic wealth was such that enough cash could be sucked out of the province and into the Empire to fund Trajan's conquests, to cut taxes,
and
to carry out his building program. On the other hand, enough colonists and Latin speakers were sucked into Dacia to establish the Latin roots of Rumanian language. Not only Romans wanted into Dacia, however: This province was the subject of Gothic invasions and attacks by the Huns. By the time of the fall of the western Empire, the east was able to hold onto Dacia, Moesia, and Thrace south through Greece, but it lost the lands west of their eastern borders to the kingdom of the Ostrogoths.

• The Romanization of the Latin provinces had a profound effect upon the geography and urban landscape of Europe.
  
• A broad urban imperial culture developed throughout the Empire. This worked best where Romans could also reproduce their agricultural and cultural ways.
  
• The huge gap in wealth and privilege between the rich and everyone else became progressively worse through the Empire.
  
• The status of Roman citizens, women, and slaves made progress in the Empire, but these gains were offset in the later Empire by economic hard times, the reduction of lower classes to serfs and laborers, the disruptions of invasions, and the Church.
  

Chapter 20
 
(Un)Protected Sects: Religions, Tolerance, and Persecutions

• Roman attitudes toward other religions
  
• Mystery religions
  
• Roman “persecution” of Druids, Jews, and Christians
  

In this chapter, we'll take a look at Roman religious attitudes and practices, official and unofficial, during the course of the Empire. The picture is rather complicated. Romans of the Empire made up a religiously pluralistic society and incorporated beliefs that ranged from the ancient cults of Egypt and Asia to the Teutonic and Celtic tribal gods. This was not particularly a problem as far as Rome was concerned. Romans had, since the time of the kings, begun to incorporate other gods and religious practices into, or on top of, their own native beliefs. As they conquered the peoples of Italy and then the Mediterranean, they brought their gods with them and often came to equate their gods as versions of those worshipped by other people. They never, however, suppressed or tried to convert inhabitants away from their own religions. They did try to eradicate elements that they considered seditious and politically disruptive.

Through conquest, Rome encountered other religions abroad and brought them home. Huge numbers of foreigners came to Italy and Rome (often as slaves), and Romans found themselves confronted with a broad and exotic mix of religions on their own turf. And while the city itself tried, from time to time, to put a lid on religious practices, such as those of Bacchants (followers of Dionysus, or Bacchus, a god of vitality,
wine, and revelry) or the followers of Isis and Cybele (both “great goddess” figures), it never persecuted the followers of other religions for what they believed per se.

 
Veto!
Cult in the language of classicists and historians of religion does
not
indicate a radical group of true believers who follow a quasi-divine authoritarian leader and live an unconventional lifestyle. Cult here refers to the organized system of traditions and ritual practiced by followers of any god or deity.

 
When in Rome
Charismatic
(from the Greek
charis
, “grace, “charm,” or “gift”) here refers to religious practices whose key element is participants' experience of spiritual or physical abilities (speaking in tongues, for example) that are understood to be manifestations of the god.

Ecstatic
(Greek for “being stood outside of one's self”) refers to the experience of emotions or sensations so strong that they overwhelm and drive out one's normal faculties and self-possession.

Why, then, are the Romans popularly known for religious persecutions? Well, it would be better to say that they are known for
a
religious persecution—the persecution of the Christians. Only two other religious groups—Druids and Jews—received some of the similar treatment. Still, it's important to have an idea of how these persecutions took place and the attitudes behind them. It helps explain why, despite persecution, Christianity conquered the Empire, Druids are no more, and why the temple in Jerusalem still isn't rebuilt.

Roman attitudes toward religion aren't easy to describe, particularly over such a long period of time. The Romans were an extremely religious and superstitious people, but this worked itself out in different ways depending upon whether you talk about the private family or the public sphere.

As members of a family, the Romans had family gods (Lares and Penates, for example). Practices of family religion survived in the home and were handed down from generation to generation. Especially in the countryside, where family traditions and its ties to an agrarian life remained strong, these cults persisted into the Middle Ages, where they became synthesized with Christian practice. They remain a part of European peasant culture even today.

The official Roman state gods represented Rome as a whole, and their patronage and protection of the state was taken very seriously. Over the course of the Republic, the nobility's manipulation of religious ritual and tradition helped to fuel a growing cynicism
among Romans about state practice. Nevertheless, the Romans were
as Romans
religiously conservative and suspicious of foreign cults—especially
charismatic
and
ecstatic
cults. The Roman senate allowed only the
Magna Mater
(“Great Mother”) Cybele (begrudgingly) and Julius Caesar into the official pantheon during the Republic.

The Romans also took seriously the recognition of their state gods by other people as a sign of acknowledgement and respect for Roman power and authority. These kinds of gestures toward political and religious symbols pack a lot of punch. Remember the anger and outrage kindled in the United States when images of foreigners burning the U.S. flag in other countries first flashed across the TV screen? Mutual recognition of Roman and “barbarian” gods was made easier by the tendency to see each other's gods in terms of one's own and to allow a tolerant
syncretism
of rituals and beliefs.

 
When in Rome
Syncretism
(Greek for “blended together”) is the blending of different beliefs and customs into a synthesis that accommodates elements of each.

In the course of the Empire, the figure of the emperor became a symbol of Rome itself and an object of veneration. Many Romans throughout the Empire kept an image of the emperor in their house and venerated it as a part of their household devotions. (A similar image of FDR graced the dining room of many of our ancestors who experienced the Dust Bowl and the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression.) The Illyrian emperors Aurelian and Diocletian made themselves into figures who combined Rome and the divine. Nevertheless, even these emperors never claimed that participation in state rites had to preclude other beliefs or practices. What was mandatory was a recognition and acknowledgement of the state's primary authority and legitimacy as represented in the state cult.

This is where Jews (who were exempted) and Christians (who were not) were unable to comply. Christians' personal religious practices contradicted state practice in a manner that could not be solved without one party giving way. Neither was very good at that.

As individuals, however, Romans who had the time and ability were relatively free to pursue their own religious thought and practice as long as it didn't conflict with either their family or state obligations. Many of them were attracted to
mystery religions
and religious philosophies that gave the individual a personal relationship with divinity and some personal assurance (usually through direct charismatic experience) of a place in the cosmos and in the afterlife.

 
When in Rome
Mystery religions
contain secret forms of religious practice and doctrine, which are revealed only to initiated members and usually involve beliefs about the afterlife. Initiates generally must undergo trials and oaths of secrecy before being allowed the revelations that admit them into the circle of believers.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
In Ephesus, St. Paul ran into trouble with the
collegia
of artisans for the great Ephesian temple of Diana (Acts 19). They incited a riot against him that was fueled as much by economic as religious fervor. A local official calmed the crowd, and Paul and his companions headed for Greece.

The Empire was a large, multicultural, and in many ways identity-less place. In an age in which the individual seemed powerless, small, and subject to arbitrary circumstance, people looked for a personal experience upon which to pin their hopes or into which to escape. Great numbers of people turned to astrology, divination, and other magical practices to establish (if only by foreknowing) personal control over their lives. People who promised such control were also popular: Miracle workers, preachers, and soothsayers developed enormous followings of devotees, and some were worshipped after their death. The early Empire was an age of gurus and star power.

In the course of the Empire, popular religions tended to succeed where they gave the individual a personal sense of place with the divine
and
a community of believers to which he or she could belong and find care. Local clubs and associations, or
collegia,
were popular throughout the Empire. Sometimes, these collegia were religiously based; others were defined by trade or ethnicity (but still under a patron deity). Funeral clubs, which were organized to help pay the costs of burial, were popular as social groups with the lower classes.
Collegia
sometimes became powerful elements in fostering local tensions, rebellions, and local persecutions.