Religio Romana Religious practices in pre-Christian Rome

Ancient Rome had a religious system -- state-sponsored worship of gods and goddesses who were believed to lie behind the natural forces of the universe. Keep in mind that, unlike many modern religions, the Roman system was: Polytheistic. The Romans worshipped many deities of many different sorts, often borrowed from other cultures. In general, each god had a ‘portfolio’ or sphere of influence, like ‘goddess of love’ or ‘god of war.’ Mythological. There was no ‘bible’ for the Romans; what they knew about their gods came from the many myths, stories, and hymns about the gods and heroes (‘demigods’) that were passed down from generation to generation. Contractual. There was no sense of ‘God is love’ in the official Roman system. Roman gods rewarded or punished depending on how well their worshippers kept up their obligations. The Roman state, its priests, and its citizens were responsible for keeping the human side of the bargain. Many of these practices may seem superstitious to us.

Roman worship Romans worshipped their gods at temples, but not through prayer services that we would recognize. Roman priests made sacrificies on days scheduled through the year and worshippers would attend (and generally share in the food). An animal (or more) would be killed, its blood given to the god, and its meat cooked and distributed. Romans prayed, but not ‘at church.’ Indeed, it was inappropriate to pray unless standing under the open sky. Prayers were generally requests for help or thanksgivings. It was common to vow something to a god in return for a favour that had been or would be given. The poor might vow to make a small sacrifice, the rich to build the god a new temple.

Roman superstitions Oracles and auguries: The Romans believed that the gods could govern and share information about the future. Like the Greeks, the Romans often visited oracles like the famous temple of Apollo at Delphi. From the Etruscans they also learned to read the future from the flight of birds (augury) or from the entrails of sacrificed animals (haruspicy). The Romans practiced many superstitions. It was very bad luck to have a black cat enter the house, or to spill wine or oil. One should never mention ‘fire’ at a banquet, although if you slip up, you can pour water on the table to make the bad luck go away. A particularly bad omen is to trip over the doorstep -- which leads to the tradition, still carried on today, of a groom carrying his wife over the doorstep after they are married.

Two kinds of gods The Romans believed in two very different sorts of deities: State gods, the powerful humanoid beings like Jupiter, Apollo, and Juno, who were worshipped in their own temples and were often tied in with the gods and myths of the Greeks. Minor gods -- these remained more Roman in character. Every Roman family had its own Penates (ancestor spirits) and Lares (gods of the house and cupboard) that protected the family and expected proper treatment from them. Every adult Roman male citizen was expected to act as a priest and care for these gods, making small sacrifices and prayers to them daily.

The Greek connection The Romans came in contact with the Greeks during the Republic period of their history, especially during the Pyrrhic and Punic Wars, which were fought in the Greek areas of Southern Italy and Sicily. When the Romans heard of the Greek gods with their rich myths, and how similar they were in function to their own deities, they adopted the Greek stories and traditions to a large degree for their own, Roman gods. Thus, we often say that a god has a Greek and a Roman name.

The Capitoline Triad and the Olympians The ‘chief’ gods in the Roman pantheon were the Olympians, the twelve gods who lived on Mount Olympus, and especially the Capitoline Triad, the three who were worshipped on the Capitoline hill. The Triad were Jupiter (Zeus), god of the sky and storms, and king of the gods, his wife Juno (Hera), goddess of women and mothers, and his daughter Minerva (Athena), goddess of wisdom, craft, and war. The other Olympians were Neptune (Poseidon), god of the sea; Vesta (Hestia), goddess of the hearth fire; Mars (Ares), god of War; Apollo (Phoebus Apollo); god of light, sun, music, poetry, and healing; Venus (Aphrodite), goddess of love, beauty, and sexual desire; Mercury (Hermes), god of travellers and thieves; Diana (Artemis), goddess of the moon and the wild; Ceres (Demeter) goddess of the harvest; and Vulcan (Hephaestus), god of the forge. Pluto (Hades) was another important god who ruled the land of the dead, but he did not live on Olympus.

The Romans also worshipped other gods, many of whom had once been human. Some of these, like Heracles and Asclepius, had been raised up to heaven by the gods after their deaths and were worshipped as gods all over the Mediterranean; others were great heroes who, though they had died and gone to the underworld, were still believed to be demigods (half-gods) who still had power to protect those who worshipped them properly. Among these, the Romans particularly honoured the twins Castor and Pollux. The Romans learned about all these heroes from their many myths.

‘Other’ religions in ancient Rome The Romans also practiced some ‘foreign’ religions or allowed them to be practiced in Rome. Other cultures’ beliefs were often simply absorbed, but some had a strong enough identity to appeal to the Romans. The Egyptian goddess Isis was very popular in Rome and came to be accepted there. The Romans actually imported a strange Eastern goddess, the Magna Mater, when an oracle told them to do so. Many Romans were attracted to the Greek ‘mystery religions,’ which promised the secrets of eternal life but would only reveal them to initiates. Mithraism, an eastern religion, related to Zoroastrianism, was very popular among Rome’s soldiers during the Empire. There were many Jews in ancient Rome, and a few Romans were even attracted to Judaism (such as Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony), but because of its monotheism they did not fully accept it. Christianity caused a new problem for the Romans, and was often heavily persecuted until the reign of Constantine, when it was accepted as the official religion of the Roman Empire.