The 'Connected Reader' as a Window into Lived Ancient Religion: A Case Study of Ovid's Libri fastorum

Ovid's commentary on the Roman fasti is one of the literary products of the Augustan period extensively dealing with religious practices in centralised cult and domestic worship. Apart from its role in the development of ruler worship, its documentary value for reconstructing Roman ritual has been intensively investigated. However, the answers given by Ovid as contemporary observer or as Augustan theologian are at least as important as the questions Ovid is asking, or has his figures ask. Reader response criticism, my paper claims, opens up a tool for reconstructing lived ancient religion. The paper will analyse these questions of why, what, and when, in order to reconstruct a profile of what is questionable and worth knowing for the reader, implied by this exceptionally well-preserved 'antiquarian' text.