Prodigies in the Early Principate?

Abstract

This chapter stems from the question of whether we can still meaningfully speak of prodigies for the early Roman Principate. Modern accounts of prodigy expiation in Roman religion end their treatments with the fall of the Republic and do not provide any discussion of prodigies under the Principate. A fundamental shift is usually identified in the transition from prodigies that affect and pertain to the res publica as a whole to portents that affect the person of the emperor, and portend either the beginning of a reign or its imminent, traumatic end. On this account, the system of public prodigies can only function in a context where the Senate is central as the main body of religious authority and can play a leading role in the process of interpretation and expiation. When that system morphs into a monarchic regime, prodigies are replaced by private portents and omina, which focus on the emperor, and reflect either his own preoccupations or wider concerns about his power. This chapter offers some correctives to that account by offering a fresh reconsideration of the infrastructure of prodigy reporting and expiation in the early Principate, and argues for a scenario in which the involvement of the Senate and the direct input of the priestly colleges retain a significant role.