Religions of Rome: Volume 1: A History

Mary Beard as coauthor convinced me that this would be good and I was not disappointed. Sound scholarship, provocative ideas, and readable prose

This book is detailed enough to make it a good read. Well, of course, there is another volume. The book begins with Early Rome and ends with the Christian emperors, in terms of the Religion of Rome, that is.

As with most of Mary Beard's work, the classics professional will always learn something, but the educated lay person will find entire new worlds opened. She avoids the excessive, unnecessary jargon so often found in books in this field. I would read anything she writes. If you aren't sure, look up some of the many videos she has made. The internet is full!

A solid text dealing with the religions of ancient Rome. Beginning with the early cults during the period of monarchy, then republic and empire; Beard, North and Price take an easy to follow and informative route that seeks to examine the religions and cults of Rome and its citizens. With iconographies included, the reader is able to see how the many districts within the empire both adored and loathed the religious institutions of the empire. From the earliest cult imports to pagan giants which were ultimately strangled by emperors dedicated to Christian belief, Religions of Rome is a worthwhile purchase.

The perfect match to the source book this book is also a winner, exploring the diversity and intricacies of Roman religion.

Volume 2 is more interesting. This volume is overwhelmed with footnotes.

good read

The material is great. It’s erudite, accessible, and well-written. The Kindle version, however, would make a sloppy OCR scan beam with pride. Apostrophes are missing or randomly replaced with hyphens, open quote marks are invariably missing the close quotes, making it impossible to determine which words are being demarcated, and footnotes are abruptly cut off in the middle of sentences. Seriously, Amazon, for what you’re charging for this, you should be ASHAMED.

I am using the book for a university course.

Well-presented overview of Roman religion by leading experts in the field; structured broadly chronologically. Focus is on the organisation and role of religion in Roman society, in particular its relationship with the political world. Less emphasis is on the underlying mythologies, many of which of course borrow heavily on their Greek progenitors. Overall a very good starting point for the subject.

Uma excelente obra clássica para o estudo da religião em Roma. Mereceria uma tradução portuguesa

exactly as shown

It’s a weighty tome, but this has been an excellent and nuanced resource charting the religious developments of Rome, the Republic and the Empire. Fascinating and definitely worth the time. As an aside, there’s some illuminating illustrations of Christian distinction contained in here, too.