'Heaven, however, resented this haughty spirit': Religion in the Caudine Forks Narration and Historiographical Interventions

War, Peace and Resilience in the Ancient World Narratives - Marinella Ceravolo

Davide Morelli

Description

Literary traditions about the story of the Caudine defeat (321 BC) are quite jumbled. Some of the problems of the historical reconstruction involve religion. In particular, the causes of the defeat (allegedly, the Roman hybris), the omens, the alleged prophecies, the Roman behaviour, the prodigies that surround it, and the religious-juridical nature of the deal struck after the defeat present many interesting points. In this article, it is argued that Roman historiography (and Livy in particular) used, among other features, religious characterisation in order to present and strengthen the version chosen by the authors. This does not help in better defining the circumstances of this defeat, but sheds light on ancient narrative techniques used to characterise the ‘historiographical earthquake’ that the Caudine Forks story represents in ancient historical writing.

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Citation

Morelli, Davide . 'Heaven, however, resented this haughty spirit': Religion in the Caudine Forks Narration and Historiographical Interventions. War, Peace and Resilience in the Ancient World Narratives. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. May 2026. ISBN 9781000000000. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44506. Date accessed: 21 Nov 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.44506. May 2026

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