Law and religion in the Roman republic / edited by Olga Tellegen-Couperus.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [203]-221) and index.

Divine law and the penalty of sacer esto in early Rome / Leon ter Beek -- Law and divination in the late Roman republic / Federico Santangelo -- The curiate law and the religious nature of the power of Roman magistrates / Michel Humm -- Rationalizing religious practices : the pontifical calendar and the law / Jörg Rüpke -- The jurisdiction of the pontiffs at the end of the fourth century BC / Jan Hendrik Valgaeren -- The longevity of the fetial college / Linda Zollschan -- Sacred law and civil law / Olga Tellegen-Couperus -- Control of the sacred in Roman law / James Rives -- The immortality of the soul and Roman law / Jan Willem Tellegen.

Over the past two hundred plus years, scholarship has admired Roman law for being the first autonomous legal science in history. This biased view has obscured the fact that, traditionally, law was closely connected to religion and remained so well into the Empire. Building on a variety of sources {u2013} epigraphic, legal, literary, and numismatic {u2013} this book discloses how law and religion shared the same patrons (magistrates and priests) and a common goal (to deal with life{u2019}s uncertainties), and how, from the third century B.C., they underwent a process of rationalization. Today, Roman law and religion deserve our admiration because together they supported and consolidated the growing power of Rome.