This study demonstrates the importance of references to religious material in Tacitus’ Annals by analyzing them using cultural memory theory. Throughout his narrative of Julio-Claudian Rome in the Annals, Tacitus includes numerous references to the gods, fate, fortune, astrology, omens, temples, priests, emperor cult, and other religious material. Tacitus, who was not only a historian but also a member of Rome’s quindecimviral priesthood, shows a marked interest in even the most detailed rituals of Roman religious life. Yet his portrayal of religious material also suggests that the system is under threat with the advent of the principate. Traditional rituals are forgotten as the shape of the Roman state changes. Simultaneously, a new form of cultic commemoration develops as deceased emperors are deified and the living emperor and his family members are treated in increasingly worshipful ways by his subjects. The study traces the deployment of religious material throughout Tacitus’ narrative, to show how Tacitus views the development of this cultic ‘amnesia’ over time, from the reign of the cryptic, autocratic, and oddly mystical Tiberius, through Claudius’ failed attempts at reviving tradition, to the final sacrilegious disasters of the impious Nero.
