Roman Religion

Contents
The development of Roman religion * Why Roman religion developed….pg 2 * Why Roman religion took the form it did………………………………………….pg 3

The Deities * Deities reference chart…………..pg4-5

Common Practices * How to participate in the practices of prayer, sacrifice and divination.pg6-8 * Description of major priesthoods, festivals and domestic rituals..pg9-12

The Importance of Outside Religions * Stoicism and epicureanism….pg13 * Mystery religions…………………pg. 14

Bibliography…………………………….pg15

The Development of Roman Religion

Why did Roman religion develop? Numina were spirits who existed in the air, the hills, the forests, the hills, the valleys and even in your home. These Numina were sometimes helpful and sometimes harmful; they caused all events to occur. The Romans believed that they were neutral towards people. They believed that the numina assisted those that were respectful and harmful to those that were neglectful. The sole purpose of Roman religion was to avoid insulting and gain the support of the numina.

The numina were limited to a specific loyalty and power within that area. People worshipped the numina at small alters at home and outdoors. They didn’t worship the numina at temples or churches. The numina had no definite gender or form.

Sacrificium was a legal exchange from a person to a specific numina, which was meant to certify that the numina kept their end of the deal. Early Roman religion was more of a business matter than a religious matter.

There were countless things that influenced early Roman religion, one of these was the second King of Rome made certain numina important by making them protectors of the state (Mars, Juno and Jupiter).
They also setup priesthoods to look after their worship. The Romans also adapted plenty of ideas from the Greeks, Hellenistic Greeks and the Etruscans. Ideas such as to worship their Gods in temples, Believed that Gods were human shaped and they started to practice forms of divination. 2

Why Roman Religion took the Form it did

There were many things that influenced early Roman religion, one of these was the second King of Rome made certain numina important by making them protectors of the state (Mars, Juno and Jupiter).
They also setup priesthoods to look after their worship. The Romans also adapted plenty of ideas from the Greeks, Hellenistic Greeks and the Etruscans.

The early Greeks definitely influenced the Romans religion as they were more civilised and cultured than the Romans and had a more developed theology. Romans took from them the idea that the Gods had full range of Human characteristics (love, lust, anger, greed…)
The Romans adopted a lot of their ideas about their Gods from the Greeks but were more conservative about the behaviours that their Gods displayed.

The Etruscans also had effect on Roman religion; the Etruscans were economically, culturally and militarily stronger than the Romans during 6th C. BCE ruled Rome. The ideas the Romans took from the Etruscans are that the Gods are human shaped, the Romans decided to worship in temples and also practiced divination, such as watching the course of a bird flight.

The Hellenistic Greeks were mostly responsible for new philosophies and encouraged the Romans mystery cults.

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The Roman Deities Name(s) | Attributes | Responsibilities | Jupiter(Zeus) | Lightning bolt and eagle | King of the Gods | Mars(Ares) | Shield and sword | God of war | Venus(Aphrodite) | Dove and fruit | Goddess of love | Pluto(Hades) | Cerberus | God of the underworld | Juno (Hera) | Peacock | Queen of the Gods | Neptune(Poseidon) | Trident | God of the sea | Apollo(Apollo) | lyre | God of brightness, music and art. | Diana(Artemis) | Bow and arrow | Goddess of the hunt | Minerva(Athena) | Shield and spear | War and wisdom | Ceres(Demeter) | Grain ears/Torch | Goddess of agriculture | Bacchus(Dionysus) | Thyrsus | God of ecstasy and wine | Vulcan(Hephaestus) | Anvil | God of dangerous fire | Mercury(Hermes) | Bag of money | Messenger of the Gods |

Deified Emperors and Leaders

Augustus

* He was considered the first emperor of Rome ruling alone from 27BC until 14AD. * He was the nephew of Julius Caesar. * The 8 month (August) previously Sextilis was named after him in honour of his death on the 19th of August AD 14 * By law Augustus had powers granted to him for life by the senate.
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Constantine The Great * Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity * He defeated emperors Maxentius and Licinius during civil wars * He also fought successfully against the Franks, Alamanni, Visigoths and the sarmatians during his reign. * He United the Empire under one religion, Christianity.

Claudius * He was the first Roman Emperor born outside of Italy. * He was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness due to a sickness at a young age so his family excluded him from public office until his consulship. * He constructed many new roads, canals and aqueducts across the Empire despite his at first lack of experience. * He was succeeded by his Grand-Nephew and adopted son, Nero.

5 Common Practices
How to participate in Prayer
Prayer was a very important part of Roman Religion as you needed the Gods on your side if you were to be fortunate in life. You had to invite the Gods into your home/life/family so that they would keep you safe. Most Romans did this as part of tradition, regardless of religious piety. The Romans survived for centuries so some of their prayers must have been heard.

I am going to teach you the steps you will need to make a successful prayer to the Gods.

Step | Importance | Naming the Right God | If you name the incorrect God for the task you are asking then your prayers may go unheard or worse | Extra Identification | List all the possible names and variations of that Gods name so that it is clear to whom you are talking to. | A clear request | Do not confuse the God, make your request clear. E.G. If you asked for a new companion you may end up with a dog when really you were requesting a wife. | Why your request should be granted | Explain to the God(s) why they should fulfil your request; make sure you have a good reason. Never demand anything from the Gods. | The offer | As you make a vow, make an offering as you make a request. Make sure you offer the right thing to the right God. |

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Here is an example of my own prayer that I have made.

Dear the ever gorgeous Venus, God of love and longing. Humbly I kneel before your altar asking for a new wife, a companion to last a lifetime, a woman who can cook and clean. Grant me this and I shall sacrifice my PlayStation to you, I offer you this for only a small expense of your time. Please fulfil my asking o mighty Venus, God of Love.

How to Participate in Sacrifice
To participate in a sacrifice you had to be either a * Priest * Suppliant * Flute player * Haruspex * Attendant

Many things were sacrificed to please the Gods; different types of offers were made to different Gods based on their preference. Even the sex and colour of an animal being sacrificed had to be specific to that God. Here’s a list of some of the many things that were sacrificed. * Gold/Silver/Jewellery * Clothing * Animals (blood sacrifices were offered when asking for lots in return).

In households, sacrifices were made daily on special occasions. In the annual calendar there were a number of agricultural feasts celebrated by most Roman Citizens.

Blood sacrifices were usually performed at a Roman temple on the altar. Other smaller sacrifices were simply placed near the altar.

People usually made sacrifices to ask the Gods for a big favour in return. There were also sacrifices at major festivals for specific times of the year. 7 How to Participate in Divination
I’ll start by explaining what divination is, it is a form of spiritual science that the Gods would expose their will to the people through signs, omens and dreams. These messages were then revealed by way of interpretation or intuition. People who could interpret signs of the Gods were considered gifted and extraordinary. People practiced the art of divination so they could foresee the future and warn anyone of ill intentions from the Gods.

Here are some ways in which you too could practice divination and predict your future:

Augury: This is the art of watching and interpreting the flight and song of birds for messages from the Gods. Romulus himself used this method of divination.

Sacred Fowls: In this form of divination instead of watching the bird’s flight and song, you watched the way they ate. A piece of cake was thrown in front of the bird’s cage, if the bird was greedy it was a good sign. But if the bird showed little interest or tried to fly away, then that was a bad sign.

Haruspicy: This involved examining the internal organs of a sacrificed animal, particularly the liver. If there was any imperfection in the organs then the God was displeased. Haruspices were never an official priesthood though and never had the authority of other priestly colleges.

Astrology: Predicting the future by consulting the stars. The Romans believed the planets and stars to be divine; therefore they naturally influenced everything underneath them.

The sibylline books: If the pontifices didn’t know how to deal with a problem once it had been interpreted by the augurs they would then consult with the sibylline books. A collection of oracles brought by Tarquin, the last king of Rome. Unfortunately you won’t be able to use this method as the oracles were lost long ago.

Dreams: Another form of divination was the interpretation of dreams 8 based on a belief that some dreams were messages sent from the Gods. There were many famous accurate interpretations during Roman times predicted from dreams. Such as the time Julius Caesar dreamed he raped his Mother, he then realised this meant he would conquer earth, the Mother of all.

Major priesthoods, festivals and Domestic Rituals

Priesthoods

Pontifices: Pontifex maximus was chosen by the people of Rome, the others were elected by a committee. Their role was to make judgements on all religious matters. They made the rules for worship, feats and sacrifice. They regulated the Roman calendar.

Vestal Virgins: Six girls of a young age would be chosen to serve as vestal virgins, originally the Kings daughters. Their main duty was to keep the sacred flame burning. They took holy water from sacred wells and were responsible for guarding sacred objects.

Rex Sacrorum: In Ancient roman religion the rex sacrorum was a senatorial priesthood reserved for patricians. Although in the historical era the pontifex maximus was the head of Roman state religion, Festus says that in the ranking of priests, the rex sacrorum was of highest prestige, followed by the flamines maiores.
Flamens: There were 15 flamens and each had the responsibility for the worship of a particular God. There were also Flamens who looked after the different cults of Rome. The flamen of Jupiter was the most important but he needed to meet many requirements so it was near impossible to find a flamen for Jupiter.
Epulones: They had the duty of organizing public feasts at major festivals and games. To get in this committee you had to get elected by the committee.
Quindicimviri: Their chief duty was to guard the sibylline books. They also supervised foreign cults. 9
Augurs: They were asked to make judgments on affairs of the state and individuals. They also interpreted omens or signs sent by the Gods. They had to apply as lesser priests above the Quindicimviri, then get elected to become an Augur.
Haruspices: Haruspices had the worst job of all priests. They had to interpret the will of the Gods by looking at the entrails of sacrificed animals. They were often also called on to interpret other omens as well.

Festivals
Let’s start with a few fun facts about Roman festivals: * Holiday originally meant Holy Day * Every 8th day was market day * There were 155 holidays a year in Augustus’ time * Julius Caesar changed the calendar by making it 365 days plus a leap year.
The three key days in each month were… * The Kalends- The first day of every month * The Nones- The 5th or 7th in (march, may, july) * The Ides- The 13th or 15th in (march, may, july or october)
Each day of the month was marked with a N, NP, C or F which means… * N= Nefastus, This was a day on which most public business was suspended. May be an anniversary of some public disaster. * NP= Nefastus Publicus- This was a major public festival. * C= Comitialis, a working day on which law courts and assemblies functioned. * F=Working day without law courts or assemblies. 10
Here’s a table with the important Roman celebrations on it. Month | Festival | January | Compitalia- A festival for agriculture | February | Parentalia-A festival to keep spirits of the dead happy | March | Liberalia- A festival for boys coming of age | April | Ceres- A festival celebrating the founding of Rome | May | The Lemuria- A festival for the dead | June | 24th- A festival is held for the goddess of luck | July | Games are held in honour of Apollo | August | A festival is held for Hercules, only men may attend | September | Celebration of Jupiter’s temple | October | A feast to celebrate fountains in Rome | November | 4th-17th Games of the people | December | Saturnalia- Public feast where slaves were treated like free men and business closed for a week |

Domestic Rituals
Coming of age: boys
Boys had a ceremony to show when they reached manhood, usually somewhere between the ages of 14 and 17. When they came of age they were released from their Fathers authority. The boy removed his Bulla and dedicated it along with his toys to the household lares, thanking them for protecting him through his developing stage in life. He then laid aside his purple edged toga (a child’s), and put on a white toga (the sign of a man). They then had a feast to celebrate the young man’s coming of age. Then after sacrificing at Jupiter’s temple he went down to the forum to enroll as a citizen, usually accompanied by most male relatives and friends.

Coming of age: Girls

It was the duty of every Mother to show her daughter how to manage her future household, also to see that she was closely 11 watched to ensure her virginity at first marriage. Girls were recognized as women on the day of their wedding. This usually occurred around the age of 14, when she was considered sexually mature. The groom was normally around 21, but sometimes much older if the girl was unlucky and got married to wealthy powerful men in order to form an alliance between families.

Roman marriage
There were 3 forms of marriage:

Usus- the most simple, involving only the initial consent of the couple and their living together continuously for a year. This is the ceremony most plebeians had as they couldn’t afford much more.

Coemptio- the groom paid a small coin to the brides father in the presence of witnesses.

Confarreatio- most elaborate patrician ceremony. It was much harder to gain divorce from this form of marriage and by the end of the republic it was relatively uncommon.

Death and funerals in Ancient Rome

Romans believed that certain funeral rituals were required to be carried out otherwise the living would be contaminated and the dead wouldn’t be able to enter the underworld. All burials had to be done outside the city to prevent this contamination.

Here’s an explanation of how to carry out a roman funeral of your own!

* Wash the body, dress it in its best clothes and place a coin under their tongue to pay Charon who would ferry the soul across the river Styx to the underworld! * Invite your friends and family round to pay their last respects. * Take the body outside the city for cremation, place it on a pyre and get a closed relative to deal to it with a torch.

12 * Douse the pyre with water or wine once it was burned down and place your loved ones ashes into an urn. * Eight more days of family mourning and a feast, held at the tomb to signify the unity of the family.

Birth in Ancient Rome
The main purpose of marriage was to produce children without any birth defects such as brain damage. More importantly they had to produce a son to carry on the Father’s familial line. The birth of a daughter was seen as a financial burden as they required a dowry to get married and couldn’t inherit property or wealth like a son could.

We know from tombstones that a lot of roman women died during childbirth. Producing children was dangerous and essential, so there were many religious rituals surrounding it, many divinities were asked to help the main one being Juno the protector of women in marriage and childbirth.

Once the birth was successful, more rituals began to ensure the protection of both Mother and child. A sacred meal was offered to the guardians of little children, the brothers picumnus and pilumnus. At night three men gathered at the door of the house holding an axe, a stake and a broom. They represented three numina called intercidona, Pilumnus and Deverra. Their actions represented chopping, beating and sweeping away the unfriendly spirits.

Accepting the newborn child was the Father’s right. The newborn child was lain on the ground to symbolise its origins from Mother Earth. The Father was then invited to pick the child up. If he picked the child up then it was accepted into the family. If he didn’t then the child was left on the ground to die from exposure. Newborn children were often left to die from exposure if they were deformed or even if they were a girl.

Once the Father had accepted the child further rituals were carried out to ensure the child’s protection. A special couch was placed in the atrium of the house for Juno Lucinia (girls) or for Hercules (boys), to invite them to take temporary residence and guard the child.

The naming and purification ceremony was on the 8th day for a girl and on the 9th day for a boy. The couch was then removed from the atrium and the infant was purified and given a name with the goddess Nundina presiding. Offerings were made to the gods and a bulla (amulet) was put around the childs neck to protect it from evil spirits. The Eldest son usually took all of his Fathers names, later sons got different names. Girls usually only received one name, usually a feminine version of her fathers name e.g. Antonius-Antonia
Friends of the family brought gifts to celebrate.

Stoicism and Epicureanism

Epicureanism: The goal of Epicureanism is to achieve pleasure through the removal of pain and mental anxiety. They eliminate all non-natural desires such as ambition to attain political power or fame. Epicureans rely on the desires that free the body from pain by providing shelter and abolishing hunger through the supply of food and water, noting that simple foods provide the same pleasure as luxurious meals. Epicureans believe people desire the natural delights derived from sex, companionship, acceptance and love. Some of their teachings were that they believed everything was made of atoms and they also believed that there were more universes. They didn’t believe in Gods or fear death. Their greatest aim in life was to live in moderation.

Stoicism: Their main beliefs were that all living beings were children of God and that all humans ruled by the same law.The Stoics grant the highest importance to self-preservation, by believing that virtue and wisdom are the necessary abilities to achieve satisfaction. They also believed that regardless of the consequences on must always perform his/her duties. By exhibiting self-control, the Stoic follower lives according to the virtues of wisdom, bravery, justice and moderation. The greatest aim in life of stoicism was to accept your fate.

Epicureanism vs. Stoicism: Whereas the Stoics ' conception of fulfilment resides solely in virtue 's ability to provide contentment, the Epicurean notion of happiness is rooted in the obtainment of external goods, which vanquish hunger and bring the satisfaction of food, shelter and companionship.

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Mystery Religions Cult of Dionysus | State Religion | The Eleusinian Mysteries | * It was almost immediately banned from Rome * Dionysus was the Greek God of wine and fertility * His rites were often accompanied by wine and riotous dancing. * Eternal life was offered to those who initiated in this cult * The romans feared that were secret meetings were just an excuse for orgies and that participants were planning murder | * Only involved men. * Worshipped many different Gods * More of a business relationship with their Gods * You didn’t end up in heaven or get re-incarnated * You don’t have to do anything to initiate * | * Involves the Goddess Demeter of fertility * They re-enacted scenes from their deities’ life. * Sedate and respectable cult, Augustus himself initiated in it. * They didn’t celebrate with feasts. |

The cult of dionysus was definitely not a necessary addition to the practices of Roman religion. It offered crazy celebrations involving lots of wine+woman which lead to drunk orgies. Roman leaders quickly banned this cult when it arrived in 218BC as they feared that the leaders were plotting murder. This cult didn’t really offer much more than state religion unless you believed that it really gave you eternal life. None of the members are alive today so clearly it didn’t work.

Compared to State religion the eleusinian mysteries was quite similar as they were a sedate and respectable cult unlike the cult of dionysus. Augustus himself had initiated from this cult which increased its popularity. Compared to state religion the eleusinian mysteries only worshipped one God, Demeter the goddess of fertility. She would insure the growth of crops every season and insure that the Romans would live a relatively comfortable lifestyle with no hardship when it came to growing food, feeding the family etc. State religion also had prayers/celebrations/sacrifices to ensure the growth of their crops every season. The Eleusinian mysteries re-enacted scenes from their deities life and had no feasts for celebration. 14

Bibliography
Books:
* Myths and legends explained, by Neil Philips * Roman religion classical studies booklet

Websites * Retrieved from http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_bakaoukas4d2.htm accessed on 26/3/12 * Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome Accessed on 26/3/12 * Retrieved from http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/list-of-roman-gods.htm accessed on 26/3/12

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Bibliography: Books: * Myths and legends explained, by Neil Philips * Roman religion classical studies booklet Websites * Retrieved from http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/uc_bakaoukas4d2.htm accessed on 26/3/12 * Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome Accessed on 26/3/12 * Retrieved from http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/list-of-roman-gods.htm accessed on 26/3/12 15