Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Antiquities of Human and Divine Things)[1] was one of the chief works ofMarcus Terentius Varro (1st century BC). The work has beenlost, but having been substantially quoted byAugustine in hisDe civitate Dei (published AD 426) its contents can be reconstructed in parts. To a lesser extent, quotes from the work have also been transmitted by other authors, including (among others)Pliny (1st c.),Gellius (2nd c.),Censorinus (3rd c.),Servius (4th/5th c.),Nonius (4th/5th c.),Macrobius (5th c.) andPriscian (5th/6th c.).
The work was divided into 41 books (libri), of which the first 25 were dealing withRes humanae ("human affairs") and the remaining 16 withRes divinae ("divine affairs"). It was above all an account of the cultural and institutionalhistory of Rome and theRoman religion. It was written in the 50s or 40s BC.[2]
InRes divinae, Varro introduced the division of divinity into three parts, intomythical theology,natural theology andcivil theology. The concept of "natural theology" in particular has become influential via the transmission by Augustine. The topical division ofRes divinae into 16 books has been preserved. Books 1–4 were dedicated topriesthood (de hominibus), 5–7 to cult sites (de locis), 8–10 to the religious calendar of festivals (de temporibus), 11–13 toritual (de sacris), and 14–16 to thegods (de dis), especially discussing the etymology of their names.
The work is based onStoic sources. Varro refutes the poetic or "mythical theology" as popular superstition, complaining that the pure veneration of the divine had been spoiled by the influence of the poets, but he considers valuable the philosophical debate on the nature of the gods.[3] Varro presents the Roman kingNuma Pompilius as a paragon of ancient piety. Numa was associated withPythagoreanism, even though Varro granted that Numa could not have been a Pythagorean since he lived beforePythagoras himself.[4]
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