For a people famed for throwing Christians to the lions and destroying the Temple in Jerusalem, the Romans were often surprisingly welcoming of foreign gods into their city and their prayers. This talk traces Roman attitudes towards the religious practices of other peoples throughout their history, asking: Did the Romans view other religions as legitimate? How multi-cultural were Roman religious practices? When and why did they forbid certain kinds of worship? These questions of religious tolerance will help us consider the larger relationship between identity, religion, and imperial politics.
Dr. Carolyn Tobin is a professor of Classics. She received her PhD from Princeton University in 2019 with a dissertation on Roman republican history and has taught at Vassar College, Vanier College, and McGill University.
