Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control proposes a new way of understanding augury, a form of Roman state divination designed to consult the god Jupiter. Previous scholarly studies of augury have tended to focus either upon its legal-constitutional aspects (especially its place in defining, structuring, and circumscribing the precise constitutional powers of magistrates), or upon its role in maintaining and perpetuating Roman social and political structures (primarily as a tool of the elite). This volume makes a new and original contribution to the study of Roman religion, theology, politics, and cultural history by challenging the prevailing view that official divination was organized to produce only the results its users wanted, and focusing instead upon what it can tell us about how the Romans understood their relationship with their gods. Rather than supposing that augury, like other forms of Roman public divination, told Romans what they wanted to hear, it argues that augury in both theory and practice left space for perceived expressions of divine will which contradicted human wishes, and that its rules and precepts did not allow human beings simply to create or ignore signs at will. Analysis of the historical evidence for Romans receiving, and heeding, signs which would seem to have conflicted with their own desires allows the Jupiter whom they approached in augury to emerge as not simply a source of power to be tapped and channelled to human ends, but as a person with his own interests and desires, which did not always overlap with those of his human enquirers. When human and divine will clashed, it was the will of Jupiter, not that of the man consulting him, which was supposed to prevail. In theory as in practice, it was the Romans, not their supreme god, who were 'bound' by the auguries and auspices. **
About the Author
Lindsay G. Driediger-Murphy is an Assistant Professor in Latin and Roman Social/Religious History at the University of Calgary, Canada. After completing a DPhil in Ancient History at the University of Oxford in 2011 she became a Stipendiary College Lecturer at Oriel and Jesus Colleges, Oxford, before moving back to Canada to take up her current post. Her research and teaching focus on the religious history of the ancient world.

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Driediger-Murphy, Lindsay G.

Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

German Historical Institute London

OUP Oxford

Oxford classical monographs, First edition, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2019

Oxford University Press USA, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2019

The Oxford classical monographs, Oxford, 2019

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

1, 2019

lg2566074

producers:
Acrobat Distiller 10.0.0 (Windows)

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Memory of the World Librarian: outernationale

Cover 1
Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control 4
Copyright 5
Dedication 6
Preface 8
Contents 10
Texts and Abbreviations 12
Introduction 20
0.1. OF GODS AND MEN 20
0.2. WHY NOW? 28
0.3. WHAT IS NEEDED? 42
0.4. HOW? FOUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES 43
0.4.1. Guiding Principle 1 43
0.4.2. Guiding Principle 2 47
0.4.3. Guiding Principle 3 62
0.4.4. Guiding Principle 4 66
1: Do As I Say, Not As I Do? Report versus Reality in Augury 70
1.1. INTRODUCTION 70
1.2. PRINCIPLE 1 IN THE HIGH AND LATE EMPIRE: COMMENTS ON SIGNIFICATION 75
1.3. PRINCIPLE 1 IN THE HIGH AND LATE EMPIRE: CLAIMS THAT AUGURAL RULES GAVE HUMANS THE FREEDOM TO ACCEPT OR REJECT SIGNS 88
1.4. PRINCIPLE 1 IN THE MIDDLE (AND LATE) REPUBLIC: CLAIMS THAT HUMAN AWARENESS OF SIGNS DETERMINED THEIR VALIDITY 105
1.5. PRINCIPLE 2 IN THE EARLY PRINCIPATE: THE CLAIM THAT AUGURAL RULES GAVE HUMANS FREEDOM TO ‘CREATE’ SIGNS BY REPORTING THEM 112
1.6. PRINCIPLE 2 IN THE LATE REPUBLIC: THE CLAIM THAT HUMANS CONTRIVED AUSPICATION SO AS TO RECEIVE FAVOURABLE SIGNS AND AVOID RECEIVING UNFAVOURABLE ONES 127
1.7. CONCLUSIONS 139
2: Convenience or Conversation? Why ‘Watching the Sky’ Was More than Wishful Thinking 146
2.1. INTRODUCTION 146
2.2. WHAT WAS SKY-WATCHING? 152
2.3. DID SKY-WATCHING INVARIABLY PRODUCE SIGNS? 156
2.4. WAS SKY-WATCHING TECHNICALLY SUFFICIENT TO PROHIBIT ASSEMBLIES? 162
2.5. POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS: THE TIMING OF SERVARE DE CAELO 167
2.6. BUT WOULD IT ACTUALLY WORK? 174
APPENDIX: ANCIENT REFERENCES TO THE BIBULUS AFFAIR 177
1. Contemporary References 177
2. Later References 177
3. Other References to Delay Caused by Bibulus (how not stated) 178
4. Other References to Bibulus’ Opposition and Attacks on him (no mention of sky-watching) 178
5. Other References to Doubts about the Validity of Caesar’s Legislation (auspices not mentioned) 178
3: Out of Control? The Effects of Augury on Roman Public Life 180
3.1. INTRODUCTION 180
3.2. MOTIVES, PART 1: CICERO, THE AUGURIUM SALUTIS, AND THE LIMITS OF OUR KNOWLEDGE 187
3.3. MOTIVES, PART 2: TWO METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND TWO ABDICATING CONSULS 191
3.4. MOTIVES, PART 3: THE CONSUL, HIS COLLEAGUE, A TRIBUNE, AND ROMAN RESPECT FOR AUGURY 198
3.5. THE DYNAMICS OF STATE DIVINATION 208
3.6. BUT DID IT REALLY MATTER? 212
3.7. CONCLUSION: WHEN SIGNS SAID NO 219
Conclusion 222
Bibliography 228
Index Locorum 276
General Index 283

This book proposes a new way of understanding augury, a form of Roman state divination designed to consult the god Jupiter. Previous scholarly studies of augury have tended to focus either upon its legal-constitutional aspects or upon its role in maintaining and perpetuating Roman social and political structures. This book contributes to the study of Roman religion, theology, politics, and cultural history by focusing upon what augury can tell us about how Romans understood their relationship with their gods. The current scholarly consensus holds that augury, like other forms of Roman public divination, told Romans what they wanted to hear. Modern scholars speak of augury as a way of gaining control over the gods, of priests and magistrates as ‘creating’ the divine will regardless of the empirical results of augural rituals, and of Jupiter as being ‘bound’ to actualize whatever signs human beings chose to report. This book challenges this consensus, arguing that augury in both theory and practice left space for perceived expressions of divine will which contradicted human wishes. When human and divine will clashed, it was the will of Jupiter, not that of the man consulting him, which was supposed to prevail. In theory as in practice, it was the Romans, not their supreme god, who were ‘bound’ by the auguries and auspices.

Le dos de la jaquette indique : "Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control proposes a new way of understanding augury, a form of Roman state divination designed to consult the god Jupiter. Previous scholarly studies of augury have tended to focus either upon its legal-constitutional effects or upon its role in maintaining and perpetuating Roman social and political structures. This volume makes a new contribution to the study of Roman religion, politics, and cultural history by focusing instead upon what augury can tell us about how Romans understood their relationship with their gods. Augury is often thought to have told Romans what they wanted to hear. This volume argues that augury left space for perceived expressions of divine will which contradicted human wishes, and that its rules and precepts did not permit human beings to create or ignore signs at will. This analysis allows the Jupiter whom Romans approached in augury to emerge as not simply a source of power to be channelled to human ends, but a person with his own interests and desires, which did not always overlap with those of his human enquirers. When human will and divine will clashed, it was the will of Jupiter which was supposed to prevail. In theory as in practice, it was the Romans, not their supreme god, who were bound by the auguries and auspices."

Roman Republican Augury: Freedom and Control proposes a new way of understanding augury, a form of Roman state divination designed to consult the god Jupiter. 0Previous scholarly studies of augury have tended to focus either upon its legal-constitutional effects or upon its role in maintaining and perpetuating Roman social and political structures. This volume makes a new contribution to the study of Roman religion, politics, and cultural history by focusing instead upon what augury can tell us about how Romans understood their relationship with their gods. 0Augury is often thought to have told Romans what they wanted to hear. This volume argues that augury left space for perceived expressions of divine will which contradicted human wishes, and that its rules and precepts did not permit human beings to create or ignore signs at will. This analysis allows the Jupiter whom Romans approached in augury to emerge as not simply a source of power to be channelled to human ends, but a person with his own interests and desires, which did not always overlap with those of his human enquirers. When human will and divine will clashed, it was the will of Jupiter which was supposed to prevail. In theory as in practice, it was the Romans, not their supreme god, who were bound by the auguries and auspices.

Scholarship on Roman Republican augury has previously tended towards the view that official divination was organized to tell its users what they wanted to hear. This volume argues instead that its rules did not allow humans simply to create or ignore signs at will: when human and divine will clashed it was the latter which was supposed to prevail

2020-07-13