Atheism in Rome

[Quintus Pomponius Atticus]

Salvete,

In "Les bas-fonds de l'antiquité" ("The slums of antiquity") Catherine Salles, professor at the university of Paris, writes :

"It is a long time ago already (in Nero's age - Atticus) that the educated nobility, the Roman intellectual, believed anything about the many gods of the pantheon. Out of political considerations however, the Romans conscientiously continued to execute their sacred ceremonies, ritual purifications, offerings and other religieus manifestations..." (ch. II.12, my translation)..."

I'm curious whether atheism and scepticism were indeed as widespread in Nero's days as Salles proclaims and, if so, whether it was only among the educated elite or among the commoners as well.

I myself tend to think (although I don't have any tangible sources to prove my point) that the religious reality of the early empire was not as unambiguous as Salles describes it : while many senators and equites must've openly or secretly mocked the old religion, I also think "old-fashioned", traditionalist nobles still worshipped the gods sincerely, perhaps even more sincerely than ever, as a sort of reaction against a more or less general disbelief and (what they saw as) moral degradation.
I think this 'mixed' situation also existed among the common people : while many of them must've lived for no more than "panem et circenses", as Juvenal describes it, I also think that, certainly among the plebs rustica (the country folk) but also in the cities, old religous customs and superstitions persisted until the end of the pagan world.

Any opinions on this ?

Valete,

Q. Pomponius Atticus

[Anonymous]

Salve Pomponi Attice,

I wish I had time to reply at length right now, but for now let me offer a quote from an early work on the subject:

"Concerning the literary sources involved it is sufficient to observe, first of all, that the Greek and Roman authors cited represent the attitudes and customs of limited classes in contemporary society: the skepticism of the intellectuals and the excesses of the nouveaux riches. As to the Christian sources, they betray a frank bias both in the selection of discreditable data and in the utilization of that data to serve a polemic purpose. Because of this misuse of inadequate materials the point of view which posits a dearth of real religion in the Graeco-Roman world is itself clearly discredited.

Completely contradictory to such an estimate was the judgment of the earliest Christians concerning rival religious movements. They, who knew competition with gentile cults as a matter of vivid present experience, did not question the strength or reality of gentile loyalties to heathen systems. Not because Gentiles were irreligious but because they were so incurably and tenaciously religious, Christian propagandists actually made little headway with them at first. In face of this discouraging situation the missionaries explained their early failures as due to the infatuated devotion of Gentiles to gods who were really demons. The earliest historian of Christianity, writing at the end of the first century, represented Paul, the outstanding missionary to the Gentiles, as saying to a typical pagan audience, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious." (my emphasis)

from Chapter one of: PAGAN REGENERATION: A STUDY OF MYSTERY INITIATIONS IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD, by Harold R. Willoughby @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pr/index.htm

Vale bene,

Ambrosius Celetrus

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salvete

What Celetrus has posted about Christian commentaries would also apply to the skepticism of Roman intellectuals. Seneca mocked the cultus deorum that he observed on the Capitolium, and yet it shows that there was a strong and devout worship to observe. Likewise with Juvenal, Persius, Propertius and Pliny, by posing what they observed as superstitious forms of worship, they were offering us an insight into how greatly the culti deorum ex patria were being practiced. The texts that we often rely on do represent only a certain class, and we should recall too that what has come down to us was selected by Christians. It is not representative of Romans in general or even of Roman intellectuals. The other sources available to us are inscriptions. Modern historians have often used a few funerary inscriptions that cast doubt on belief in an afterlife, when such inscriptions are actually quite rare. Another example is the assessment by Cumont on the relative disbelief in oracles during the 3rd century, where he offers no evidence to support his opinion, and for a contrast he posed that belief in oracles had increased in the 2nd century based on a single inscription. The record provided by inscriptions do not indicate any decline in belief in the first four centuries of the common era.

Valete

[Quintus Pomponius Atticus]

Salvete Piscine et alii,

I recently read an interesting book concerning this subject called "Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths", by Paul Veyne. The back flap gives a good idea of what this highly recommended little book is. For our French-speaking sodales : the original French edition is still in print in a pocket version (Seuil, Points Histoire) and costs less than 6 €.

Valete,

Q. Pomponius Atticus