La repressione dei Collegia Bacchanalia tra fonti epigrafiche e racconto liviano

Abstract

The collegia Bacchanalia were clandestine associations, dedicated to the cult of Bacchus. As passed on to us by Livio, the Bacchanals from Etruria spread in Rome and throughout Italy, almost like an epidemic. During the Bacchanals all kinds of crimes and villains were committed. The Senate, therefore, in 186 BC, prohibited the celebration of the Bacchanals, with limited exceptions, and prohibited the associations of Bacchus, for the present and for the future, without exception. All this is related to us in Teurano’s table and, moreover, handed down from Livio’s story. From the analysis of the aforementioned texts, in this essay, it is concluded that the Senate considered «contra rem publicam» more than the cult of Bacchus especially the clandestine associations dedicated to the cult of Bacchus.