Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum

Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Antiquities of Human and Divine Things)[1] was one of the chief works of Marcus Terentius Varro (1st century BC).

The work has been lost, but having been substantially quoted by Augustine in his De Civitate Dei (published AD 426) its contents can be reconstructed in parts.

To a lesser extent, quotes from the work have also been transmitted by other authors, including (among others) Pliny (1st c.), Gellius (2nd c.), Censorinus (3rd c.), Servius (4th/5th c.), Nonius (4th/5th c.), Macrobius (5th c.), Priscian (5th/6th c.) etc..

Varro refutes the poetic or "mythical theology" as popular superstition, complaining that the pure veneration of the divine had been spoiled by the influence of the poets, but he considers valuable the philosophical debate on the nature of the gods.

[3] Varro presents the Roman king Numa Pompilius as a paragon of ancient piety.