The Bacchic Cult In Ancient Rome

In the Roman state, the citizens showed their devotion to the culture and values through respecting the government officials and worshiping the Roman gods. This was practiced ever since the beginning of the Roman republic in 509 BC. However, three hundred years later in around 200 BC, allegedly, a Greek priest arrived in Etruria and led the expansion of the Bacchic cult into Rome and the rest of the Italian peninsula. This cult was associated with many immoralities and was of major concern to the Roman government for a variety of both official and private reasons. In order to address to this rapidly growing cult which eventually grew in population similar to that of a second city, the Roman government passed a senatorial decree known as the …show more content…
Other issues important to the Romans were also addressed in this proclamation. Another source regarding the Bacchic crisis is Livy 's book thirty-nine. He writes this one hundred and sixty years after the crisis occurs and presents the events in a more dramatic fashion similar to that of a Roman or Greek comedy. The government 's concerns are also presented in Livy 's account. The variations between the two ancient sources can be reconciled based on the fact they were written at very different time periods: one during the actual happening of the event and one almost two centuries later. Livy 's story and the Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus prioritize different issues such as the cult convening during the nighttime and women participating in the cult in Livy 's account and secrecy and size of the cult in the senatorial …show more content…
The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus was the decree passed by the Senate in 186 BC in response to the Bacchic crisis. The inscription, discovered in southern Italy, shows the extent to which the government needed to address the rise of the Bacchic cult and let the citizens know of the legislation being passed. The decree focused on the idea of the secret society, which the Bacchic cult associated itself with. The Roman government was not keen with the idea of secret society conducting rituals and rites since cult was sworn to secrecy. As a result, the Romans did not have any idea as to what happened within the cult and this unhappiness is shown in one of the measures put forth by the Senatus Consultum in the line, “Let no one be minded to perform ceremonies in secret; nor let anyone be minded to perform ceremonies, whether in public or in private or in the city, with approaching the urban praetor and obtaining his authorization...” (507). Along with the secrecy associated with the cult, the Romans were concerned about the large groups the Bacchic worshipers convened in. The size of the cult had grown so large the government believed it would not be able to control the cult if large groups of people with similar ideologies met up with possibilities of radicalization and overthrowing the political