Tradition, Right, and Power. The Elusive Limit Between Politics and Religion in the Late Roman Republic

The relationship between politics and religion is, al least, as ancient as the first written records that West has a memory of. Even if this relationship has been a constant in the political history of peoples, is particularly in classic Age where is often said that politics and religion are indistinguishable. This is verified with a particular emphasis in Rome where, at the time that religion officiate as a constitutive element of social bond, politics was proclaimed as the one to keep religious observance to ensure, through it, the welfare of the Urbs. Despite this, we believe that with the repetition of the indistinction topic they often overlook the relationships and interests of those who formed the power roman elite, denying so a chance to understand the still in force relationship between the sphere of the divine and the affairs of state. Thas is why this paper intends to inquire about the limits between religion and politics where some of the sensitive logics to understand the operation of power in Rome would lie and, maybe, of our own time.