The Ancient Roman Afterlife

[A] groundbreaking monograph...It will be an invaluable resource for scholars of religion, funerary practice and afterlife in ancient Rome and more generally...King aims to use his model of variability in Roman belief to show the cult of the dead as inclusive of all Romans, living and deceased. Through extensive literary evidence and select cross-cultural comparisons, he largely succeeds. This stands to become a foundational text. ~Antiquity

[An] excellent monograph…This book is absolutely essential reading for anyone working on ancient afterlife belief or on Roman funerary custom and the cult of the dead...A truly excellent piece of scholarship. ~The Classical Review

King presents many attractive impressions of Roman society in his study...King’s major thesis – that Romans regarded their dead as gods, thought about them, communicated with them, attended to them, and intended to join them – is conclusively presented. ~Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Within an ambiance that has vigorously challenged even the ability to talk about 'religion' in the Roman world, King's work is a breath of fresh air that offers sober analyses of concepts that usually go without further elaboration in studies dealing with Roman religious ideas: gods, afterlife, belief, and ancestors. In this respect, I find King's work to be an irreplaceable piece of scholarship for all interested in Roman religion. Highly recommended. ~Religious Studies Review

Charles King sets out to demonstrate that the Roman di manes, the deified dead, were taken seriously by the Romans and should be also by us. This is a remarkably simple thesis which, remarkably, still requires demonstration, since most modern scholars, by dismissing the Roman belief in the manes as simply a curious superstition, fail to recognize and understand the fundamental role that the manes played in the Roman belief system and ideology of commemoration. To take on the question of belief in the Roman religious system, King proposes the analytical utility of considering 'belief clusters' rather than individual beliefs, since the former capture more clearly the overlapping, 'fuzzy' nature of the Roman system. This is a bold and original argument that makes a significant contribution to a current debate of real importance for our understanding of Roman religion. ~John Bodel, coeditor of Household and Family Religion in Antiquity

King ranges widely across literary genres, law, epigraphy, and archaeology. He provides a thorough, rigorous, and well-documented study of an aspect of Roman religion and culture that, despite its importance, has so far not received due attention. ~James B. Rives, author of Religion in the Roman Empire

[The Ancient Roman Afterlife] makes essential reading, not only for specialists in religion or funerary studies, but for all Romanists and anyone with an interest in Roman culture...Its implications are far-reaching, and its conclusions cannot be ignored. It should generate discussion and debate well beyond the field of funerary studies. ~Journal of Roman Studies