Romano-Celtic Temples as Multifaith Spaces (20 min)

Presenters

Alex Rome Griffin, Lancaster University

Abstract

The study of Romano-Celtic temples has a long and varied history; however, the flow of scholarship interpreting these spaces has lately dwindled. Because of this, some untested tropes are oft repeated without any deconstruction. Chief among these is the idea that individual temples could only facilitate the worship of one cult. As such, some of our conceptions of these immensely complex sites require reevaluation. In this paper, I use case studies of temples at Vindolanda and South Wiltshire to argue that Romano-Celtic temples were often far more generalized in terms of the religious practices demonstrated. My approach to the evidence is holistic, encompassing epigraphy, artwork, and votive assemblages. Through this, I contend that far from being clearly delineated spaces, intended for specific practices or functions, Romano-Celtic temples may have acted as multifaith spaces that could host a variety of gods and facilitate a variety of ritual practices. In doing so, they created places where people of different identities could coworship and both demonstrate their own identity to others and be exposed to diverse identities in return. Identifying these spheres of interaction allows for an examination of the role of religious mediation in limiting socioreligious splits and how the boundaries we perceive today are entirely a product of scholarship rather than the evidence. This reciprocity promoted cohesion between groups that socioreligious barriers may have otherwise divided. Such spheres of interaction may have been especially significant in bridging the gaps in religious practice between Native, Roman and other immigrant peoples. In the case of Vindolanda specifically, the importance of the space in creating a cohesive identity through coworship is revealed to be especially significant, since frontier communities were subject to extreme change and thus required an accessible and reliable means of creating and transmitting community identity.