ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

etained a distinctly Greek character, or, more generally, the colonies with Sabellicneighbors favored the use of small bronze figurines in their worship of Hercules or Mars.The type of colony, whether Latin or citizen, did not seem to dictate the colony's religioussystem in terms of its adoption of Roman forms of worship over local ones. The colony'slocation and level of prosperity, however, did correspond to the breadth of worship in thetown; i.e. the lucrative port colonies at Luna and Aquileia had monumental sanctuariesthat showed influences from around the Mediterranean.In general, Roman colonization is the background against which the religioussystems of the colonies developed. While the decision to found a colony had militarysignificance for the Roman senate and often personal significance for the commissionersinvolved, the military or personal connotations did not dictate every aspect of thereligious system in the colony. It seems to me that colonial religious systems in themiddle Republic were focused on integration, not conquest. The colonists sought tointegrate with their immediate neighbors to the extent necessary to live peaceably andprosperously.It is true that the integration among colonial and local populations was sometimesa long, difficult, and bitterly earned process whether the colony was located on an activemilitary front, e.g. the difficulty establishing and defending Placentia and Cremona, or ina pacified area, e.g. the need to supplement the colonies of Sipontum and Buxentumwithin ten years of their foundation. If the integration was successful, however, thecolony prospered and became a functioning community in its own right. The integrationat Fregellae worked too well: the colony became so prosperous and independent from247