Gli dèi e la città. Immagini del divino a Roma

Alessandra Scali

Abstract:

This article highlights one of the cultural images depicting divinities in Rome: the gods as Roman cives. There are many sources that attest this multifaceted concept, whether they are historical, philosophical, mythical and literary, by authors like Plautus, Varro, Cicero, Livius, Ovidius, and Augustinus. In a more or less explicit manner, these sources depict divinities through typical categories of the public sphere (e.g. social classes), thus building a representation of the divinities-citizens of Rome. The anthropological basis that supports this mental attitude lies in the fact that the Romans tend to have a civic and political perception of what they are concerned with. Their origins, deities, even some abstract concepts often fall into images and schemes that belong to the social and community context.