Religion as an “Embedded” Aspect in Greek and Roman Societies: A Collective Identity through millennium

The embeddedness of religion in ancient Greece and Rome was integral to daily life and as an institutional influence. Ancient Greek and Roman people consulted a vast pantheon of Gods and Goddesses in every aspect of their daily lives, from the success of crops to childbirth and conflict, with civic, social and religious identities often overlapping to form a collective, cultural memory. Travel, conflict, and the ever-expanding Greek and Roman influence across geographic areas integrated even more panthodic deities into their cultures. As the Roman institutional and oligarchical influence increased, the collective embeddedness allowed for seamless transitions among the average citizen and contributed to the construction of new civic identities, formed on the substructure of religiosity, which was critical for the integration of Rome’s mid-republican state formation (Padilla, 2020, p. 132). I argue the collective religiosity of Greco-Roman society allowed for simplification of authoritarian integration in later periods. 

In a collective cultural sense, religion provided a great deal of security for individuals and groups. In explicating how religious activities provided a sense of equilibrium, Grijalvo (2005, p. 277), quotes M. Jameson: “Between the great public festival on or below the Acropolis and the small sacrifice in a simple enclosure in a corner of the countryside, there was a continuum.” Such a continuum provided a sense of security for the collective, and organization of cult and religion was fundamental to the power structures of society, which operated with a consistent set of common practices and rules. 

The Panhellic system of the Athenians in the archaic period, for example, was considered “ancestral” by Greeks, providing foundational stability for citizens who, over time, became increasingly subject to the rule of the elite, to kings and emperors, as civic practices changed (Price, 2010, pp. 4-7). But as regions became subject to the dominance of external rulers, new ideas about the gods and new cults developed, “often using as a template the existing cult of the gods” (Price, 2010, p. 7). Over the centuries, and despite tremendous diversity among the vast pantheons, there was an underlying uniformity vital to the formation of cultural and collective identity. The underlying framework – people’s relationship to the divine — provided a collective sense of civic identity (Rives p. 85). 

A study of recycled monuments at Aphrodisias in the Roman east puts into context how religion spanned time and collective memory to shape identity. The city “carefully selected what was to be preserved in order to shape it’s public memory and identity” (Chaniotis, 2016, p. 89). The ethnographic study examines inscriptions on a fortification wall at the city, which was completed about 360 CE, and uses old material, much of which was inscribed texts honouring members of the city’s elite. An abundance of source material at the city, from the late second century BCE to the seventh century CE, allows for “a study of transformations of identity, their agents, and their historical contexts over the course of a millennium (Chaniotis, 2016, p. 89). 

This ethno-cultural continuity is well reflected in an examination of the evolution of the worship of the goddess Artemis in Arcadia, which, over a span of time from prehistoric to late historic, encompassed a diversity of manifestations from the natural abstractions of a Mother-Mountain-Goddess, to the “Mistress of Animals, the goddess of lakes, the goddess of trees, the goddess of birth and child-care … and the virgin huntress” (Zolotnikova, 2017, p. 8). This paper examines the evolution of Artemis in Attica, but she was also found in other regions, such as in Kyrena, “where the Sacred Law obliged pregnant women to offer sacrifice to Artemis the Bear of her bear priestess before giving birth” (Zolotnikova, 2017, p. 10). The evolution of Artemis over time further reflects the continuity of the collective identity, from her origins (originally to ensure the observance of a set of sacred rules), until the establishment of the Olympian pantheon during the Archaic period (Zolotnikova, 2017, pp. 18-19). Construction of civic identity, the organization of cult and religion, not only reflected the relationship to the divine in daily activities, but also provides an understanding of how that underlying framework was fundamental to the power structures of society (Rives, 2007, p. 85). 

“A key element in the Graeco-Roman tradition was the integration of public cults into the social and political structures of the city, so that they were to some extent simply one facet of civic organization.” (Rives, 2007, p. 85) 

The shaping and re-shaping of collective memory is illustrated through texts, and demonstrates how construction of identity became a predominant concern of religious groups as diversity and conflict began to signify (Chanoitis, 2016, p. 97). Such power structures benefitted from continuity, but inevitably facilitated religious change as the continued success of various gods was linked to the economic and social support of the elites, particularly seen in Hellenistic and Roman Athens (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 277). “The choice of the most popular gods as favourites of some conspicuous members of the elite may not be accidental” (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 278). As example, Grijalvo provides a snapshot of the progression of the cult of Isis in Attica, which began with (333/2 BC) with permission from the famous politician Lykurgos Lykophronos Boutades to bult an Egyptian sanctuary in Piraeus. “By the second century BC, the cult has already become public (IG II 4692) and attracted distinguished citizens” (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 278). Reliefs interpreted as Isiac initiates of middle and high class women, and inscriptions indicate an increasing number of wealthy elite members of the cult. Inscriptions, however, are heterogeneous, and include a variety of different types of offerings “to Isis and/or other Egyptian Gods” (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 278). 

Public prayer and festivals were “central to the piety of Greek cities” (Price, 2010, p. 30), as well as a foundation to collective identity even through there was great variance in their “scale and content depending on their context and on the deity” (Price, 2010, p. 30) with rules determining such contexts and roles reflecting social grouping. A plethora of festivals was a consistent part of worship to an array of panthodic deities present in every size of city and region. In addition to contributing to the establishment of a calendar reflective of the diversity of pantheons, they were also a vital part of individual and group worship, including a vast array of activities from prayer and sacrifice to games and competitions, all of which contributed to civic identity. They also contributed to defining social hierarchies. Elites, such as priests, magistrates, and other wealthy patrons, were responsible for financing aspects of festival and public rituals (Rives, 2007, pp. 113-115). 

“In these ways the pubic cults of a city were intimately bound up with the system of euergetism, the relationships of patronage … The elite used their wealth and influence to benefit the city in exchange for the social prestige and authority that their offices conferred upon them, including the implicit right to regulate the city’s regulations with its gods.” (Rives, 2007, pp. 113-115) 

Events such as festivals and the construction of temples were economic drivers that had considerable political power, and which furthered civic identity in mid-Republican Rome “Communities throughout the Hellenistic world were acutely aware of the civic potency and institutional efficaciousness of public cult acts” (Padilla, 2020, p. 131), and created opportunities for economic transactions such as the caretaking of temples, staging of games, and commissioned performances (Padilla, 2020, p. 134). Padilla argues festival culture, primarily common knowledge and civic patronage, enabled Rome to propagandize its idealization of the Roman state and contributed to a “quasi-voluntary compliance with the demands of the mid-republican state” (Padilla, 2020, p. 139). Festivals became an institution within the mid-republic and enabled religious and political ideologies to coalesce. “Festivals and games continuously performed and re-performed the idealization of the res publica and a utopia of proper religious procedure” (Padilla, 2020, p. 139), all of which further consolidated power into the hands of the elites and began to create competition among religious groups. 

Such a power shift, combined with increased geographical movement, new political realities, and a depressed economy in the Hellenic period, created opportunities for new ways of worship and new social structures. Considerable movement and settlement during the Hellenistic period exposed Greeks to an international community, complete with a new array of deities and a sense of liberation “from the all-encompassing religious traditions of their homelands” (Mikalson, 2010, p. 208). And, many Greeks, soldiers, labourers, and merchants found themselves to be “noncitizens” in their new lands, “largely excluded from the political structure and from the cults of deities who supported and were supported by the political establishment” (Mikalson, 2010, p. 210). Such exclusion from civic and state-sponsored cults often resulted in a need to turn to private associations, and signaled a shift to a more personal type of deity that could satisfy the needs of individuals and families rather than the state as a whole (Mikalson, 2010, p. 211). 

The Hellenistic period also saw more power placed on individual kings, such as the Macedonian Alexander, who was one of the deified rulers of this period. There was significant diversity among Hellenistic ruler cults, which presented a novel development in religion, and led to the hero cults which often deified state benefactors. (Mikalson, 2010, p. 215). This was indicative of the balance of power moving from away from state sponsored cult activity, to religious activities becoming sponsored by wealthy individuals who wanted to see recognition of their contributions. “Humans now replaced gods as the most commonly dedicated statues in sanctuaries” which was also reflected in inscriptions (Mikalson, 2010, p. 216). 

The deification of Alexander was one of the most controversial of the Macedonian kings. “Perhaps at first Alexander sought to be recognized as a god in an effort to maintain the conquered peoples’ unity and loyalty to him” however, his megalomania grew to the point of appearing to believe in his own deification, which had the conflicting effect of achieving not a a social protocol, but resistance. (Worthington, 2012, p. 319). 

Shifts during the Hellenistic period were significant, but not because of a new, more multinational panthodic experience. Rather, the notable shift in ideology was in the spirit of worship and what was introduced: Ruler cults, state to personal religion, and monotheism (Mikalson, 2010, pp. 218 – 221). Also notable in relation to these ideological shifts is that they enabled a shift in collective identity. Collective identity, and how it was manipulated, was integral to the cultivation of the mechanisms necessary for societal change to the instigation of the mid Roman Republic. “Although religion penetrated Roman warfare at every step of preparation and campaigning … it acted separately to bring about results that could not be realized through warfare alone” (Padilla, 2020, p. 4). According to Padilla (p. 4), the Roman Republic utilized social cohesion through regulation of religious procedures to achieve state unity as a formative element of the middle Roman Republic. In “Divine Institutions,” Padilla examines the Republic’s efforts to build religious structure as part of the urban transformation needed for state formation (p. 9). An integral aspect of such collective civic and communal ideological change was a move to utilizing temples and their anniversaries for festival focal points, which integrated religious movements and began to bind the collective into a unity. “In the long term, mid-republican religion evolves into an important and efficacious means for negotiating and securing communal trust … which drove the middle Republic’s social and economic transformation” (Padilla, 2020, pp. 18-21). 

“Religious practice in mid-republican Rome promoted greater cohesion and trust through shared and repeated ritual practices, and that this cohesion underpinned both the rise of new collaborative cultural institutions and the authoritative coercion-wielding apparatus of the Roman state.” (Padilla, 2020, pp. 21) 

Religious re-structuring and a culturally encompassing conception of Roman Imperialism, and facilitation of religious ceremony by elite socio-economic maintenance, contributed to the continuity of religious forms. “(In Roman Athens) the increasing religious power of the elite is one of the factors which contributed to create a new framework of meaning” (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 255), with religious continuity supporting power of the Athenian elites. “Both Rome and local elites were interested in fostering continuity of religious forms (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 255), but some changes were present in the civic authority of Roman Athens, including “increasing oligarchization of religious power” (Grijalvo, 2005, p. 255). 

Despite the increasing power of the elites, maintaining the ancestral customs, the status quo, was in their interests and in the interests of the Roman emperors. Grijalvo writes: 

“Not only the elites were interested in maintaining the agrees set of symbolic structures across the Empire, as a way of keeping the social order and avoiding problems … Emperors benefitted immensely from their control of Athens … Roman aims went hand in hand with those of the provincial elites, and consolidated that strong and complex network that succeeded in keeping the Roman Empire alive for so long.” (Grijalvo, 2005, pp. 260-261).

The complex network of aristocratic elites, and the historical consolidation of their power was seen the ability, or inability, of many emprerors to influence conversion to Christianity. A variety of considerations were at play for those Emperors, including aristocrats’ political interests, honour, status concerns and patronage ties. “Such interdependence in social and political life placed limits upon what emperors could do to influence the conversion of aristocrats.” (Salzman, 2004, p. 188). 

Interest and activity related to Christian conversion varied among emperors, but even those actively seeking to convert their aristocrats recognized a need to maintain support through continuing traditional values, such as Constantius II, who visited pagan temples and filled priesthoods when he visited Rome in 357. “To win honour voluntarily, emperors had to live by the norms of the aristocratic status culture. Paganism had long been a component of the elite culture and was intimately linked to notions of prestige.” (Salzman, 2004, pp. 189-190). 

Aristocrats and Emperors alike saw the benefit of utilizing the collective security of maintaining the status quo among citizens. In the fourth century, Christianity was gradually incorporated into traditional rituals and public ceremony, which now expressed gratitude to the Christian God. Emperors took on more symbolic Christian roles and “made themselves and their religious choice paradigmatic for aristocrats” which indirectly influence conversion (Salzman, 2004, p. 197). 

Throughout the history of religion in Greco-Roman antiquity, and despite constant change and flux over time and within communities, a constant theme underlying the power and privilege of religious institutions was how collective identity influenced theocratic choices in individuals and groups. While that collective identity, and maintenance of the status quo and traditional values, influenced elite and aristocratic political movements, it was also the underpinning means of Christian conversion and the eventual end to paganism for the Roman Empire.

References 

Chaniotis, A. (2016). Memory, Commemoration & Identity in an Ancient City: The Case of Aphrodisias. Daedalus, 145(2), 88-100. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24711580 

Grijalvo, E. M. (2005). Elites and Religious Change in Roman Athens. Numen: International Review for the History of Religions, 52(2), 255–282. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568527054024713 

Mikalson, J. D. (2010). Ancient Greek religion (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/4408669 

Padilla Peralta, D. (2020). Divine institutions : religions and community in the Middle Roman Republic. Princeton University Press. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/9300302 

Price, S. R. F. (1999). Religions of the ancient Greeks. Cambridge University Press. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/2373290 

Rives, J. B. (2007). Religion in the Roman Empire. Blackwell Pub. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/3758939 

Salzman, M. R. (2002). The making of a Christian aristocracy : social and religious change in the western Roman Empire. Harvard University Press. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/2631700 

Worthington, I. (2012). Alexander the Great : a reader (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://library.macewan.ca/full-record/cat00565a/5505035 

Olga Albert Zolotnikova. (2017). Becoming Classical Artemis: A Glimpse at the Evolution of the Goddess as Traced in Ancient Arcadia. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 6(5), 08-20. https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v6i4.1157 12