Matthew Dillon, Christopher Matthew eds., Religion & Classical Warfare: The Roman Republic (Pen & Sword, 2020)
In a secular society, religion is usually separated from the State and paid lip service when it comes to military decision making. It is sometimes difficult, therefore, to understand a society where religion permeated every military act. But that was the case in the Roman Republic. Matthew Dillon continues his explorations into the connections between religion and classical warfare in this book with the help of various expert contributors.
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Matthew Dillon opens with an overview of new perspectives on religion and warfare in the Roman Republic. He notes that recent studies of Roman warfare have ignored the role of religion. He then surveys the topics under consideration by his various contributors before reminding readers that religion and Roman military success were inextricably entwined.
John Serrati surveys the middle republic where religion and warfare affected every aspect of Roman society. The gods were consulted before campaigns and when the army was in the field. Even the Roman calendar was orientated around war, which Serrati covers in some detail. Matthew Dillon returns with an essay on Evocatio, the Roman wartime practice of enticing enemy gods over to their side, which had a long history into the Biblical era. Among the unfortunate victims of this was Rome’s arch-enemy, Carthage. Of course, the boot could be on the other foot if Rome’s gods abandoned them, as happened to Mark Antony in 30 BCE. Brandon Olson examines the religious functions of Roman arms and armament. He notes how the Romans in the western empire emulated the Celts in votive offerings with their weapons. He also considers the role of memory and commemoration in Roman thinking. Christopher Matthew scrutinises the cult of the eagle military standard. He points out that the eagle was connected to Jupiter, but also that it was originally one among many animals used in the Republic. It was Marius’ reforms that standardised the eagle throughout the army, and they became the ‘soul’ of the legion and the focus of the legion’s loyalty. The religious aspect of the eagle was explicit in that devotion.
Lora Holland Goldthwaite considers the role of women at the intersection of religion and warfare, a relatively new field of study. They participated in many religious activities associated with the protection of the state during wartime. That goes wider than the customary emphasis on the Vestals, though Goldthwaite allocates them their prominent place in the religious scene in Rome. She also records the actions of women across all levels of society, including slaves, much of which has been uncovered by recent women historians. The Vestals appear again in Paul Erdkamp’s study of live burials and their connection to Rome’s wars. He begins with three live burials of Roman enemies, the meaning of which baffled even Roman historians. This was also the fate of several of the Vestals, though Erdkamp acknowledges the lack of clarity in the sources. He wrestles with those sources to make the connection between the purity of the Vestals and success in war. Kim Beerden ponders divination and finds it to be a curiously neglected act by other historians. Beerden discusses the methods and processes of divination and how important this was in the context of warfare for physical and moral reasons. Jeremy Armstrong looks at triumphal transgressions. He argues that the triumph ‘broke all the rules’ of the Republican system but paradoxically acted as a stabilising force because the event itself was rules-driven. The triumph was thus more than a victory parade, and it had a distinctly religious component. Armstrong considers the evolution of the event and its socio-economic and political meaning.
The Religion & Classical Warfare series of books invariably provides thought-provoking material, and this one on the Roman Republic succeeds admirably at that too. The range and depth of the essays are impressive, and each contributor is obviously in command of their material. All of the essays include useful bibliographies for further reading and research. The conclusion, after having read the book, is that an understanding of Roman religious practices is essential to understanding Roman warfare. Too many historians are, unfortunately, content to set aside that influence. This collection of essays was informative and entertaining, and it should prove useful for lay-readers as well as experts in Roman Republican warfare.
