Rome forms no exception to the general rule that nations, like individuals, grow by contact with the outside world. In the middle of the five centuries of her republic came the Punic wars and the intimate association with Greece which made the last half of her history as a republic so different from the first half; and in the kingdom, which preceded the republic, there was a similar coming of foreign influence, which made the later kingdom with its...

"The historical tales Romans perpetuated were generally of two types. One consisted of foundation stories; other tales established their identity as a people. The types of historical tales dominating Roman mythology features heroes who were thought to have defended and/or saved Rome from hostile forces"--

Examines primitive religion; Celtic, Greek, Babylonian. Egyptian, and Roman religions; Brahmanism; Janinism; Buddhism; Hinduism; Confucianism; Taoism; Judaism; Zoroastrianism; Christianity; and Mohammedanism.

This is a study of star-worship collected from all available astrological and astronomical texts from antiquity. Cumont shows that astronomical knowledge was developed over time in the ancient Near East, eventually allowing prediction of phenomena such as the location of the planets, the phases of the moon, and eclipses. This knowledge was used as the basis of a religious system which was integrated into Greek and Roman Paganism. This involved worship...

"Religion and the religious life from the second to the fourth century A.D. when the gods of Olympus lost their dominion and Christianity, with the conversion of Constantine, triumphed in the Mediterranean world"--Jacket subtitle.