The Religion of Numa / And Other Essays on the Religion of Ancient Rome

A set of five analytical essays traces the development of religious consciousness in ancient Rome from its legendary early kingdom through subsequent reorganizations, republican transformations, the waning of popular faith, and the revival under Augustus. The author combines textual critique, comparative anthropology, and philological caution to reconstruct survivals of primitive belief such as animistic doubles, the emergence of named cultic powers, and the impact of foreign contacts and institutional reforms on rituals, priesthoods, and civic cults, aiming to present the Romans' religion as a living social phenomenon rather than an abstract system.