Religious Practice & Beliefs in Pompeii & Herculaneum Priapus (Source 1)

A World of Polytheism The Romans worshipped many gods and adopted gods from every part of their conquered world. Like the Greek tradition, the Romans had the pantheon, which consisted of Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Vesta, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan and Apollo. These were the chosen celestial 12. However like other Roman towns, Pompeii & Herculaneum’s religious practice was different to others.

Like the Greeks, Romans believed the bound between gods and mankind united the people in their community. Greek religion practice influenced all aspects of Roman society. E.g. Emperor Augustus’s sister was married to Mark Antony, who left her for Cleopatra. Augustus sought revenge and after Augustus defeated Mark Antony, he dedicated his victory to the Greek god Apollo and as a result built a house beside his temple.

Because of this all citizens were expected to be involved in religious rituals and were expected to behave in an appropriate manner so not to upset the gods. In times of misfortune and disaster, the people of the town were expected to win back the favour of the gods through prayer and sacrifices.

Whole town religious festivals and ceremonies were major events in the society’s calendar and were taken very seriously. In both Pompeii & Herculaneum there were important priests who came from the town’s important families. Their role was to oversee the organising and running of the festivals and celebrations. Women held priestess positions only in the cult religions.

Like every other provincial town Pompeii & Herculaneum were polytheist in faith Gods were worshipped in a variety of ways both in public and in the privacy of their homes, which was an extremely important practice in Roman society. Cicero The most sacred, the most hallowed place on earth is the home of each and every citizen. There are his sacred hearth and his household gods, there the very centre of his worship, religion and domestic ritual. (Source 2) In the houses of both towns there were small shrines called Lararia with small statues or painted images of the Lares – household gods who protected the home and family

Household Lararium (Source 3)

Garden Shrines (source 4)

Some houses had images of a genius who was the spirit of the paterfamilias – master of the house. Each morning the master of the house would gather his family around the lararium, make an offering to the lare and say a prayer for the protection and prosperity of the household. However special celebrations occurred once a month and for births, marriages and special anniversaries. Archaeological diggings have discovered that when the eruption in 79AD occurred the majority of people took the lares from the lararium for protection.

Lararia (Source 5)

Personal deities were important to individuals Personal deities were important to individuals. The ones below represented fertility, prosperity and good fortune. (Source 6)

Other household gods included the likes of Vesta – goddess of the hearth, Panates – guardian of the pantry.

Cult religions Cult following was common in Pompeii & Herculaneum and this came from the adoption of foreign gods. Dionysos – Greek god of fertility and divine intoxication was worshipped in the Roman world under the name of Bacchus- who is seen as a man covered in grapes, usually positioned at the foot of Vesuvius. This particular cult had mixed feelings.

HSC 2007 Using the previous sources 1-6 and your own knowledge of other sources, describe what the evidence shows about religion in Pompeii and Herculaneum.