Rome, Diplomacy, and the Rituals of Empire: Foreign Sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus

Larisa Masri

doi:10.25162/historia-2016-0018

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Rome, Diplomacy, and the Rituals of Empire

Foreign Sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus

Masri, Larisa

From the journal Historia Historia, Volume 65, September 2016, issue 3

Published by Franz Steiner Verlag

article, 12878 Words
Original language: English
Historia 2016, pp 325-347
https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2016-0018

Abstract Related content References

Abstract

This article examines a ritual whereby foreign envoys, upon concluding treaties and alliances with the Roman Senate, offered sacrifice to Jupiter Capitolinus at his temple in Rome. I argue that the ritual symbolically acknowledged the superiority of Rome’s power and its gods, and became an important symbol of empire. At the same time it was structured as a voluntary act, undertaken at the request of Rome’s would-be allies. This allowed Rome’s allies to cast Roman hegemony as a partnership between autonomous polities, and so served as an instrument of Roman imperialism.

Author information

Larisa Masri

Keywords

Roman religion | Roman ritual | Jupiter | Roman diplomacy | Roman empire

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