Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic

This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the intersection between Roman politics, culture and divination in the late Republic. It discusses how the practice of divination changed at a time of great political and social change and explores the evidence for a critical reflection and debate on the limits of divination and prediction in the second and first centuries BC. Divination was a central feature in the workings of the Roman government and this book explores the ways in which it changed under the pressure of factors of socio-political complexity and disruption. It discusses the ways in which the problem of the prediction of the future is constructed in the literature of the period. Finally, it explores the impact that the emergence of the Augustan regime had on the place of divination in Rome and the role that divinatory themes had in shaping the ideology of the new regime.

Author: Federico Santangelo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/09/2013
Pages: 370
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.48lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781107026841

Review Citation(s):
Choice 01/01/2014

About the Author
Santangelo, Federico: - Federico Santangelo is Lecturer in Ancient History at Newcastle University. His previous publications include Sulla, the Elites and the Empire: A Study of Roman Policies in Italy and the Greek East (2007).