In the selections on the Sibylline Books Warrior helps us understand how the Romans used these oracles, and why they were treated with such reverence.  According to Warrior (speaking of the Sibylline books), “This collection was said to consist of utterances of the Sibyl of Cumae…”, who was said to be an Apollonian oracle. As such, the Romans used this collection in times of panic and anxiety when the established political order might not have been capable of doing so. Such emergencies could have been an upcoming military engagement, plague, or domestic political strife. In sections 8.9 & 8.10, Livy and another anonymous author discuss the Sibylline Books being summoned to help end a devastating plague. The books heeded the advice that Aesclapius should be summoned from Epidaurus, and once completed the plague was quickly subsided. Those in charge of these oracles, the quindecimvirs, were sacred members of the Roman society and were able to be exempt from serving the military or civil responsibilities.

In my reading of the sections on magic, it seems that most of the topics covered problems faced by an individual. There were sections dealing with a dislocated hip joint (12.6), immobilizing a woman (12.10), memory loss (12.17), and even impotence (12.18). Furthermore, there are several sections that deal with harsh punishments for using a spell on your neighbors’ crops, or even knowing magic at all. It is likely that there was such a high amount of interest for these individualized supernatural services because of the largely communal aspect of religious life in Rome. As most cults and rituals were designed to benefit the entire city or empire, there was a large demand for a more personal and individual system.

Besides magic, there were other forms of worship that had a more personal feel to them to counter the large and communal aspect of most Roman religion. Namely, the cult of Mithras, which found popularity in the military ranks as well as the lower classes, who largely would have been left out of the influence religion brought the upper classes of Roman society. To ensure a small and intimate bond, if a group expanded to a certain size it was broken up into two different groups in order to maintain the individual community.  Each group had seven groups of initiation, which formulated a strict hierarchy.