ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

likely that the commissioners drew upon their experience on campaign and perhaps theadvice of their supporting staff of engineers to lay down a functional city plan based onthe terrain available, much as they did for marching camps. 110So, again, colonialfoundation is not a statist activity, but something shaped by the individual circumstancesand military experience of the commissioners and colonists.Along with experience with the marching camp layout, the generals would havebeen familiar with the religious rituals and spaces in an army encampment. Much of theevidence available for military ritual is imperial in date. 111There are a few passages inLivy and Polybius which suggest certain features of military ritual and religion, however.In particular, Livy records a number of sacrifices on a variety of altars or altar-likesurfaces. According to Livy, sacrifices certainly occurred within the camps:His decoratus insignibus bouem eximium Marti immolauit, centum bouesmilitibus dono dedit qui secum in expeditione fuerant. Iisdem militibus legioneslibras farris et sextarios uini contulerunt; omniaque ea ingenti alacritate perclamorem militarem, indicem omnium adsensus, gerebantur. Livy 7.37.3.With these decorations upon him [Decius] sacrificed the beautiful ox to Marsand presented the hundred oxen which had been given him to the men who hadaccompanied him on his expedition. The legionaries also contributed a pound ofmeal and a pint of wine for each of them. During all these proceedingsenthusiastic cheering went on through the whole camp. [Trans. Roberts]If these sacrifices were performed during the Republic as they were under the Empire,then the sacrifices would have taken place in the open area next to the praetorium, andnu Zanker(2000),p. 27.111 Especially Beard, North, and Price (1998), Vol. 1 pp. 324-328 - the authors follow this account ofmilitary religion immediately with an account of colonial religion after Caesar (pp. 328-334 with theconclusion that even under the Empire, the colonies could borrow fromRoman religion, but there was noblueprint of deliberate religious Romanization (p. 334)). See also Helgeland (1978) for a lengthier butequally imperial treatment of army religion, as with Watson (1969), pp. 127-131. Kemkes and Willburger(2004) present archaeological evidence for soldiers and religion at Nimes, again primarily imperial andbased off of the Dura inscription.