One category of material concerns what we might consider the cult of the gods as it had been traditionally practiced; this mostly comprises rites of the state religion, but some consideration is also given to the practices of other communities within the bounds of the Roman Empire. I have been guided here by Aleida Assmanns useful list of media that transmit memory in religion:74 calendars (how do Tacitus Romans preserve or change the traditional scheduling of religious festivals?); architecture (what determines the building of or alterations to temples and other religious monuments?); liturgy (do Tacitus Romans celebrate festivals in the same ways as their ancestors?); and images (how do they treat cult statues?). In addition to these, Tacitus is also interested in priests and their traditional functions.75 When Tacitus introduces such material, I am interested in analyzing it from the perspective of memory and forgetfulness. When the trappings of traditional ritual appear, to what

When or how is continuity upset, or preserved? Is continuity always valorized, or are there times when innovation is salutary or necessary? When are the traditional roles of figures such as priests and other religious experts respected, and when are they altered or ignored? What about the role of Senate? How does the presence of the emperor complicate these roles, or affect the continuity of religious traditions?

Observations on the veneration of emperors is another category of religious material Tacitus includes, and one that is particularly important for understanding how cultic and cultural memory intersect.76 Another thread I will follow through the Annals is moments when the emperors and their relatives are remembered by being inscribed into cult practice, cultic spaces, and ritual calendars, a process I term cultic commemoration. In other words, what happens when those same aspects of cultic memory I noted above (calendars, architecture, liturgy, images, and priests) are used to commemorate emperors and other members of Romes ruling house? Effectively, it turns them into 74 A. Assmann 2008, 100. See also J. Assmann 2011, 67; Rupke 2012a, 140.

75 Davies2004,1857emphasizesthatpriestsdonotperformtheirtraditionalroleastrusted experts nearly as often in Tacitus as in Livy; nevertheless, as I shall show, there is still evidence to demonstrate that Tacitus is interested in priests traditional functions. 76 Foranexampleoftheapplicationofculturalmemorytheorytorulercult,seeNorena2015. Introduction 19 gods, pushing them, in Rupkes terms, beyond the unquestionably plausible social environment inhabited by co-existing humans who are in communication. Emperor cult fits this definition, in that deceased former emperors are not coexistent, observable, or in communication with those who offer them acts of worship.77