The Sword and the Altar. Military Camps and Piety during the Early Roman Empire.
| N° d'inventaire | 17640 |
| Format | 15.5 x 24 |
| Détails | 518 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Rennes, 2013 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
Although their army was one of the best of antiquity, the Romans attributed their success less to the excellence of their weapons than to their piety towards the gods. This conviction was shared by the soldiers themselves, as evidenced by the hundreds of religious inscriptions erected in military camps during the Empire that have come down to us. The rise of these dedications is linked to the development, between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, of permanent camps. Often compared to real cities, these had a religious center, administrative premises, cantonments, a hospital, or even an amphitheater, all of which were likely to contain inscriptions. Christophe Schmidt Heidenreich's work brings together for the first time the dedications of the camps in an exhaustive catalog and places them in their original context. It thus reveals a teeming world, reflecting the army's many activities: more than 70 divinities provided aid and protection to all the camp's inhabitants, from the simple soldier to the legion commander, as long as harmonious communication between gods and men was guaranteed. This was the task undertaken by the military authorities, who reconciled the imperatives of service and devotion to the gods, while avoiding disrupting the human and divine hierarchies. This policy allowed the flourishing of a rich epigraphic culture, an expression of a military piety whose dynamism only faltered with the crisis of the 3rd century, a prelude to the Christianization of the late period.
Although their army was one of the best of antiquity, the Romans attributed their success less to the excellence of their weapons than to their piety towards the gods. This conviction was shared by the soldiers themselves, as evidenced by the hundreds of religious inscriptions erected in military camps during the Empire that have come down to us. The rise of these dedications is linked to the development, between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, of permanent camps. Often compared to real cities, these had a religious center, administrative premises, cantonments, a hospital, or even an amphitheater, all of which were likely to contain inscriptions. Christophe Schmidt Heidenreich's work brings together for the first time the dedications of the camps in an exhaustive catalog and places them in their original context. It thus reveals a teeming world, reflecting the army's many activities: more than 70 divinities provided aid and protection to all the camp's inhabitants, from the simple soldier to the legion commander, as long as harmonious communication between gods and men was guaranteed. This was the task undertaken by the military authorities, who reconciled the imperatives of service and devotion to the gods, while avoiding disrupting the human and divine hierarchies. This policy allowed the flourishing of a rich epigraphic culture, an expression of a military piety whose dynamism only faltered with the crisis of the 3rd century, a prelude to the Christianization of the late period.