Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un bon voyage: Invoking the deities of the roads in the Latin west

Abstract

The control of the Mediterranean and its surroundings by the conquering Roman Republic after the victory over Carthage, and later over the Hellenistic kingdoms throughout the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, notably increased connectivity and the movement of people. This paper focuses on the wide range of ritual instruments, above all the propitiation of the gods through sacrifices, in the face of journeys in general, and on the diverse religious resources documented in the epigraphy of the Latin West.