Salustio

On the Gods and the World

Curated by Paolo Bagnato

The religion of the Romans is known to us directly thanks to school education only through some short treatises by Cicero, brief quotations in more extensive works, philosophical elaborations such as those of Ovid and Seneca, the latter often distorted by the Stoic and Epicurean perspective. The Christian apologetics of the first centuries appears richer in information and, however, presents 'paganism' in a derogatory form in order to highlight the theological and moral superiority of the Mosaic and Christic revelation. Renaissance aestheticism and hermetic occultism have further distorted its image, while the modern and atheistic 'science of religions' and esoteric-occultist interpretations have ideologised its contents, albeit in opposite directions. The work of Salustio, which Paolo Bagnato curated for this website, instead provides a profound and genuine vision of the religion of the Romans. The pamphlet from the friend and advisor of the Emperor Julian thus denies the hasty judgments of polytheism, idolatry and anthropomorphism of which the ancient "religio" is still accused. From a careful reading it will be possible to notice the affinities between the Roman 'religio' and the eastern dharmas and the irremediable gap in perspective towards monotheisms.