ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book tells a number of interconnected stories about Roman religion, which argue in one sense towards a deconstruction of the term Roman. It seeks to encourage debate, and to open dialogue in new interdisciplinary areas within and outside the classics. The chapters in this book set developments in Latium, Etruria, central Italy and the Greek world beside those in Rome; without the former the Roman evidence cannot be properly understood. The historical development of the peninsula, and the nature of most of the evidence, especially the literary material, make a Roman emphasis in practice unavoidable. A principal concern of this book is, by proceeding from a number of case studies, to stimulate debate on development of Roman religion over time, from the archaic period through into the late republic, and beyond.
