Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Romans defined themselves as a people of special religiosity ( pietas ) and strict adherence to the mos maiorum (which meant, to them, something more than mere ‘custom’). Although accommodating to the religious practices of others (except when they included objectionable rites like human sacrifice), and very ready to conflate their own gods with those of the nations which they incorporated into their Empire, even eventually welcoming some foreign deities such as Cybele and Isis into their own State pantheon, there was always a recognizable, sometimes even a predominant, element which can be called Roman, even in an outlying province like Britain. Actual transplanted Roman cult was the exception. First, it is likely that the coloniae of Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln each had a capitolium where Jupiter Optimus Maximus together with Juno and Minerva received veneration, and other chartered towns no doubt had similar cults. Three temple-like buildings were attached to the forum of the municipium of Verulamium, though it is not certain whether any of them was a temple of Jupiter. This forum was built in Flavian times and dedicated in the governorship of Agricola ( Frere 1983 : 55–72). One of the best indications of an early cult of the god in a town is the base of a column dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus in honour of the Divine House (the Imperial Family) at Chichester ... log in or subscribe to read full text