ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

informed ritual practice.Roman religion valued orthopraxy, or correct action, groundedin observation. 82A prominent feature of Roman orthopraxy was the precise andcontractual nature of the vow that accompanied an offering or sacrifice.In Rome, thesevows were recited to the presiding magistrate by a pontiff, who was an expert in sacredlaw and procedure, including for games, sacrifices, vows, tombs, and burial law.Thus,if the Roman religious system were bestowed upon the colonies, then there must havebeen some means of transferring also the pontiffs ritual laws and formulae.Finally, the commissioners would appoint the first magistrates and priests of thecolony, in order to provide an authority structure which could govern the colonyaccording to the laws and tenets the commissioners provided. The colonial magistratesorsometimes were cosoles or duoviri in Latin colonies.In citizen colonies, thecommissioners only instituted the minimum of magistracies necessary to addressimmediate crises for which there was no time to consult with Roman magistrates.Forthe priests, the commissioners would appoint pontifices and augures for the colonial81 Ando (2003), p. 2.82 Ibid. p. 11.83 Orlin (1997), p. 35. The vows for temples, especially, were conditional and almost contractual.84 Beard, North, and Price (1998), p. 24. Pontiffs also determined what was sacred and what was profane,as in the case of Capua's statues (Livy 26.34.12). Cf. de Cazanove (2000), p. 73.85 Bispham (2006), p. 88. For example, the magistrates at Ariminum {ILLRP 77) and Beneventum {ILLRP169) were called cosoles at least until the second century. After this Ariminum's magistrates were calledduoviri {ILLRP 545). It seems that Beneventum also hadpraetores. (ILLRP 545). Lomas (2004), p. 220also notes that the Charter of Tarentum (CIL I 2 .590) and the Lex Genetiva Mia from Urso in Spain (CIL I 2 .594) shows that the cities' administration was modeled on Rome, but these are both beyond the period andtype of colonization studied here and cannot be firm evidence that all colonies followed a Romanadministrative model.86 Salmon (1970), p. 17.123