3. Study Questions

This form of ritual was usually enacted as a response to a particular crisis, so the correct form of honouring the gods was vital to ensure success in solving the crisis. 

Titus Livius (Livy) was a historian writing during the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. He wrote a history of Rome from its founding but not all of it survives. 

Greek and Roman religion share many features, including a similar pantheon of  gods, the centrality of temples, altars and animal sacrifice. There were some differences in ritual, and the Romans brought in numerous other gods into their religious framework.

Xenia is the Greek concept of guest friendship, in which hosts and guests undergo a series of reciprocal actions , such as hospitality and gift giving. Homer’s Odyssey is centred around the activities of xenia. Xenia was a way of creating informal travel networks that  meant the ability for individuals to travel safely in the ancient world. It has been also suggested that the Odyssey is about early Greek colonisation in the 8th century BC, and how Greeks interacted with non-Greeks in southern Italy, Sicily and the territories surrounding the Black Sea. 

We are looking at them in English, not Latin. We are looking at extracts, so out of context. Poetry is not a historical document of factual events. Livy mixes myth and fact in his writings (and admits that there is no factual evidence to back up his accounts of early Rome).