Les dieux et la fabrique de la ville : les pratiques religieuses dans la constitution du lien social d’un quartier pompéien

A study of the religious topography of a Pompeian quarter (I, 6-9; IX, 7 and IX, 11-13), centred on the Via dell’Abbondanza, shows that the gods present successively joined together, complemented each other and distinguished themselves, in an interplay of echoes and resonances reflecting the social, economic and institutional structures that organised the daily lives of its inhabitants. While institutions, the familia and the economy created structuring links for the Pompeians, it was the rites and divine images that formalised and staged relationships of power, dependence and hierarchy. What’s more, religious practices established moments of sociability, with an integrative vocation, guaranteeing everyone a place in the vicinal community and playing an active part in building social links at neighbourhood level.