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• Isis the immigrant and Roman toleration

  49–71

  Henry John Walker

  Views:

  263

  In adopting a foreign cult, ancient Roman worshippers were not searching for a new religion to replace their old one, but rather seeking to expand the range of gods and practices at their disposal. They assumed that all traditional gods and religions were valid and effective. There was, therefore, an implicit toleration built into the system of ancient polytheism, and this was admired by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, though the Roman state never guaranteed freedom of worship. The cult of Isis was distasteful to the Roman élite, and the government often reacted brutally to particular actions by her worshippers. Nevertheless, her cult was always popular with the general public and the state never wished to abolish it, and eventually built a public temple to Isis. The worshippers of Isis tested the limits of Roman toleration and demonstrated its vitality.

• Camilla and the Dresses

  119–132.

  Attila Ferenczi

  Views:

  53

  This article aims to create a context around a single line of the Aeneid. The narrator's statement narrating Camilla's death (femineo predae et spoliorum ardebat amore 11,782) is traditionally understood as prejudiced against women and does not quite fit with the earlier portrayal of Camilla's figure. The paper will argue that, on the one hand, the interpretation of the line is not as clear-cut as it may seem at first sight, and on the other hand, that the motivation attributed to Camilla by this statement contains an element that is quite unique in the Aeneid, and is characterised by ambivalence of values rather than by a clear rejection of her morality. The analysis tries to interpret the whole sentence through the nature of the spoils (praeda) mentioned in the sentence. By comparing Camilla's appearance and the clothing of her opponents in battle, it seeks to formulate connections between the different characters in the story.