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Women of different religion in Ban-kim-cheng Formosa
Ancient Roman sarcophagus, Saint Petersburg – Саркофаг Церемония бракосочетания
AE 1971, 418 Viminacium
Deus Aeternus Viminacium IMSII,1
Religion in the Roman Empire Cover
(c. 500 BCE – 400 CE)
Names: Religio Romana; Roman state religion; civic cult of Rome.Scope: Religion of the Roman Republic and Empire before Christianity. Unified Italic, Etruscan, and Greek elements into a highly organized system.
Origins: Formed from Italic household/agrarian cults, Etruscan ritual science, and Greek pantheon absorption.Republic (509–27 BCE): Highly formal civic cult, tied to state offices.Empire (27 BCE–312 CE): Addition of imperial cult, Eastern mystery religions, growing pluralism.Decline: Gradual suppression with rise of Christianity; Theodosius I banned pagan cults (391 CE).
Archaeology: Temples (Pantheon, Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus), altars, inscriptions.Texts: Cicero, Varro, Ovid (Fasti ), Livy, Pliny, Roman law codes.Inscriptions: Dedications, curse tablets, calendars (fasti).Iconography: Coins, sculpture, frescoes of gods and rituals.
Capitoline Triad: Jupiter (sky, law), Juno (marriage, state), Minerva (wisdom, crafts).Major gods: Mars (war, agriculture), Venus (love, ancestry of Rome), Vesta (hearth), Janus (gates, beginnings), Saturn, Apollo, Diana, Mercury, Neptune.Chthonic deities: Dis Pater/Pluto, Proserpina, Hecate.Household spirits: Lares (ancestors), Penates (household gods), Genius (guardian spirit).
5. Cosmology & Myth
Cosmos: Ordered by divine will, maintained through ritual contract (do ut des – “I give so that you give”).Myths: Rome’s founding myths (Romulus/Remus, Aeneas).Cycles: Agricultural calendar; Saturnalia reflecting golden age myth.Fate: Strong belief in fatum (fate) and augury.
6. Ritual & Practice
Sacrifices: Animals (oxen, pigs, sheep), libations, incense; performed with precise formulae.Festivals: Saturnalia (winter), Lupercalia (fertility), Parilia (shepherd rites), Vestalia (hearth fires).Divination: Augury (bird signs), haruspicy (Etruscan entrail reading), oracles, omens.Domestic cult: Daily offerings to Lares and Penates.Imperial cult: Worship of emperors’ genius and divinized emperors (esp. Augustus onward).
7. Sacred Space & Material Culture
Temples: Dedicated to specific deities, aligned with civic functions.Altars: Central to public and private cult.Sacred spaces: Capitoline Hill, Forum, Vestal hearth, groves, springs.Objects: Vestal fire, augural rods, priestly vestments, votive inscriptions.
8. Religious Specialists & Institutions
Priestly Colleges:
Pontifices (ritual overseers).Augures (omen interpreters).Haruspices (Etruscan diviners).Flamines (priests of specific gods).
Vestal Virgins: Priestesses of Vesta, tending sacred fire.Emperor: Supreme pontiff (Pontifex Maximus ) under the Empire.
9. Social Function & Law
Religion inseparable from politics and state order .
Magistrates doubled as ritual officiants.
Oaths sworn by gods in courts and treaties.
Festivals reinforced civic identity and hierarchy.
Religion served as Rome’s ideological glue, legitimizing expansion and empire.
10. Death & Afterlife
Afterlife concepts: Manes (spirits of dead) honored; underworld realm of Dis Pater.Funerary rites: Cremation or burial with grave goods, libations at tombs.Ancestor cult: Daily veneration of Lares and Penates.Elite beliefs: Philosophical schools (Stoic, Epicurean, Platonic) added diverse afterlife doctrines.
11. Symbolism & Cultural Expression
Symbols: Eagle (Jupiter, Rome), fasces (magistrate authority), laurel wreaths, cornucopia.Ritual art: Reliefs of sacrifices, triumphal arches.Calendar: Fasti inscribed religious festivals.Theater and Games: Linked to Dionysus/Liber, later to civic cult.
12. Contact & Transformation
Greek influence: Olympian gods directly absorbed into Roman pantheon.Eastern cults: Isis, Mithras, Cybele, Sol Invictus imported and popular.Christianization: From 1st c. CE onward, Christianity steadily replaced Roman cults.Suppression: Pagan rituals outlawed 391 CE; temples repurposed as churches.Legacy: Roman law, calendar, festivals, priestly titles (pontifex , augur ) echo into Christian and secular institutions.