Religion And Politics In The Republic Of Rome

Rome's polytheism has a long history.It absorbed the religions of ancient Italy,Etruscan and ancient Greek.In the Roman Republic era,Romans had a relatively complete religious system,with a division of labor among the clergy and a wide range of religious activities.Besides,Romans were devoted to their religion.In the period of Republic,religion was not only related to the private spiritual life,but also to the political area.On the one hand,religion provides legitimacy for the republican government and maintains the stability of the political order.On the other hand,due to the importance of religion,the Roman ruling class,represented by the senate,attaches great importance to the regulation and defense of the Roman religion.It makes the Roman Republican government and the Roman religion become alliance on this point.In the late Republican time,the traditional religion was under serious impact,because of the influence of various factors.At the same time,the power of republican government was on the wane in the constant conflicts.Both traditional religions and republican politics were in crisis.It is not an accident that the two crises occurred at the same time.It happened because of the close relationship between religions and the republican government.To be precisely,in this time,religion could not provide legitimacy for political power,and politics could not defend the orthodox status of religion.The causes of the crisis of faith and the political power are complicated,but the reasons above could be at least one of them.This paper attempts to prove the close connection between religion and politics during the Roman republics,by sorting out the historical facts of the relationship between religion and politics in the Republican period.Religion,because of its important role in the Republican period of Rome,should be regarded as an important part of the whole republican constitutional system.