Roman Religion: What the Pagans Believed
How people believed and worshiped in ancient Rome.
As the Republic expanded, the Romans came into contact with different religious beliefs and deities. These were often incorporated into Rome’s religion, in a process called syncretism. The Romans regarded themselves as a religious people, favored by the gods. They saw their success as a sign of divine providence.
What is religion?
Roman religion was very different from the modern monotheistic faiths, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In fact, even the definition of religion was seen differently by the Romans than modern people. The most obvious difference is that the Romans practiced polytheism. There was no single concept of godhood in Roman culture. Divine beings and spirits were seen as taking an infinite variety of forms. Nor was there a clear hierarchy; only modern scholars attempt to rank the pagan deities. Although Roman paganism was much more decentralized and personalized than the Abrahamic faiths, the Romans still had what we might call organized religion. There were a number of official priestly bodies, called colleges. Even the Romans, for all their sophistication, were not immune from clericalism.
Superstitions
Most Romans were deeply superstitious. Their world was one of capricious, anthropomorphic deities, who had to be appeased by rote rituals and bloody sacrifices. Many modern-day superstitions, such as black cats and stepping under ladders, are directly traceable to ancient Rome. But these superstitions were not confined to ordinary Romans. Even educated Romans felt this way. Roman generals often brought a little statue of Apollo for good luck on the battlefield.
The Romans believed in magic, and often tried to cast curses on their enemies. Individuals invoked magical powers to rain down misfortune on their foes. The exact texts of these Roman curses are preserved to us today. They were written on tablets, often by professional sorcerers. The usual formula was to make a bargain with an underworld deity, such as Pluto, and then to list off the body parts of the hated person.
Incantations were used on behalf of the entire Roman state. When the Romans waged war, they gave formal curses, called a devotio, pledging the enemy’s city to the gods of the underworld.
Polytheism
To the Roman mind, the universe was inhabited by an infinite number of gods, including many that they had not heard of. When the Romans encountered other religions, they were very open about adding new gods to their pantheon of deities.
Before attacking an enemy, Roman priests formally invited the foreign gods to defect to Rome’s cause. This ritual was known as an evocatio. It was Pascal’s Wager on steroids. The Romans weren’t going to take any chances, and were happy to enjoy the blessings of any deities.
Sometimes, Roman gods were anthropomorphic and human-like. Other times, the deities were personifications of abstract concepts. For example, the goddess Victoria represented victory. Nature spirits were associated with geographic places or bodies of water, such as Father Tiber. There were also a number of imported gods, thanks to Rome’s foreign conquests. One such deity was the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Each Roman would handpick a number of deities to act as personal guardians. Certain gods were associated with specific cities and professions.
The Romans didn’t have a standardized religious text. There was no pagan equivalent of a Bible or Quran. While there were certain rituals practiced by ordinary people, the Romans didn’t have a central, all-encompassing theology. They were not dogmatic.
Roman religion was a loose collection of diverse gods and practices. There was a great deal of personal choice permitted. There were different gods for different people and places. There was no single, universal deity.
Rome’s state religion was based on the worship of only those specific gods who cared about the Eternal City. But individuals were free to pay homage to any other gods they wished.
Olympian gods
The main staple of Rome’s pantheon was the Olympian gods, which came from Homeric Greek culture. This included Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Apollo, Diana, Ceres, Bacchus, Mercury, Minerva, Vesta, and Vulcan.
To the Romans, the most important deities were Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter was the king of the gods. Mars was the god of war. Both of them were thought to be specifically interested in Rome’s well-being.
The Roman pantheon of gods was further expanded by various epithets, which emphasized specific attributes of the same deity. They were usually related to certain locations or activities. For example, there was Mars the Avenger. Jupiter alone had 19 epithets.
Demi-gods
In addition to the classic Olympian gods, the Romans believed in a subclass of minor deities. These were men who obtained divine status through their heroic acts on Earth. Examples included Hercules and Romulus, the founder of Rome.
There were other entities that were classified as demi-gods, such as nature spirits. This was called a genius loci, or “spirit of the place.” Certain Roman deities were personifications of abstract concepts. The most notable were Fortuna (“luck”) and Victoria (“victory”).
Foreign gods
The Romans incorporated the gods of the Egyptians, Etruscans, and Germanic peoples they fought into their own pantheon. Sometimes, the Romans thought that those foreign gods were just local variants of the existing Roman gods.
Pontifical College
In ancient Rome, there were very few professional priests. There were different types of priests but, for the most part, being a priest was not a full-time occupation. There was no special training for priests. Priests existed to perform public rituals and sacrifices. The most powerful priests, mostly men, organized themselves into various colleges. Each college had a fixed number of positions. Priests were elected by the other members. It was an office held for life.
The most important was the Pontifical College. It contained 16 pontifices, and 15 flamens. The leader of this college was known as the Pontifex Maximus, or Great Priest. He was considered the head of Rome’s religious affairs. The Pontifex’s main duty was to preside over religious festivals.
The three major flamens worshipped Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Jupiter was the king of the gods. Mars was the god of war. And Quirinus was the god of citizenship.
The flamen of Jupiter was called the flamen dialis. He was the most important of the flamens, and was required to stay in Rome. He was forbidden from touching certain items, such as seeds or dead bodies. At all times, he had to wear a special hat, called an apex. He was the physical link between Rome and Jupiter, who was praised with the epithet Optimus Maximus (“the Best and Greatest”).
Also associated with the College of Pontiffs were the Vestal Virgins. These six women worshiped Vesta, the goddess of fire and hope. They were required to be chaste for 30 years. Virgins who broke their vows were punished by live burial. The most important duty of the Virgins was to tend Rome’s sacred fire. This was believed to literally sustain Rome.
College of Augurs
The College of Augurs were 16 men who interpreted omens and signs. They were influenced by the ancient Etruscans. They observed the flights of birds, and their feeding habits. They inspected the internal organs of sacrificed animals. They also interpreted natural phenomena, such as lighting.
The Romans were a superstitious people. All public events were preceded by augury. If the omens looked bad, the event was outright cancelled. Imagine that!
There was a special site on the Capitoline Hill, called the auguraculum. This was where the augurs looked at one quarter of the sky. They studied ravens, crows, owls, and eagles. The pullarius observed the eating patterns of chicken, which was interpreted as a miraculous sign. The more eagerly the chickens ate, the better. This was done as a test of the gods’ favor before battle.
The haruspex was a priesthood borrowed from the Etruscans. They analyzed the internal organs of sacrificed animals, especially the liver. These priests examined the size, shape, and health of the animal livers.
Prodigies
Prodigies were unsolicited messages from the gods. The most common of these was lightning. Lightning was the symbol of Jupiter, and was deeply special to the Romans. Sites struck by lightning were regarded as holy. Lightning seen before a public event resulted in its cancellation. This rule was manipulated for political purposes in the Late Republic.
Any bizarre or strange event, to the Romans, was a sign from the gods that needed to be interpreted by the augurs. All Roman writers report these kind of events, known as portents. There were so many of these signs.
This including talking cows, the raining of stones, weeping or bloody statues, and raining blood. Weapons (such as spears, statues, or swords) could burst into flames. Bees could settle atop battle standards. Bulls could kick over altars. The sky could burst into flames. Animals were born with multiple heads. Ox jumping off cliffs. Mysterious voices spoke. Many of these omens were associated with the death of famous men.
Decemviri
The third college of priests was the decemviri (“ten men”). They were custodians of a series of ancient, divinely-inspired manuscripts called the Sibylline Oracles. They supposedly came from different prophetesses, called sibyls. The sibyls famously appear in Raphael’s Sistine Chapel.
The ten men randomly plucked pages of the Oracles to read. Whatever it instructed, they did. It usually involved the introduction of new gods or ceremonies.
Fetials
The fetials were another priestly college. These 20 men were involved in religious rites involving international relations, including declarations of war and the signing of treaties.
The Romans believed that a war had to be just in order to win the blessing of the gods. The fetials had to travel and meet with Rome’s enemies, and invoke Jupiter and Quirinus. After about 33 days, if demands were not met, the Romans were permitted to declare war. It was the formal procedure by which the Romans declared war.
The fetials played a role in treaties. They formalized treaties by invoking the gods with prayers. They asked for Jupiter’s blessing, and offered a pig as a sacrifice.
Animal sacrifices
Sacrifice was a major part of Roman worship. The Romans sacrificed many animals, such as goats, cows, bull, sheep, pigs, birds, dogs, and horses. Male animals were sacrificed to male gods; female animals were scarified to female goddesses. White animals were offered up to sky gods. Black animals were offered up to the gods of the underworld.
No deformities were permitted on the animals. Ribbons were tied around horns. Rich people gilded the horns of their animal sacrifices with gold. All temples had their altars located outside. Animals that struggled a lot were seen as a bad omen.
Worshippers would go into a temple and write down their vows on wax tablets. Those would then be attached to the cult statue. At the sacrifice, all people had to wash their hands and cover their hands. Silence was expected, except the sound of the flute. Once the animal was led to the altar, formulaic prayers were recited. Large animals were struck with a hammer or axe. The animals were cut up in specific directions. Sloppy sacrifices were seen as inauspicious. Internal organs—the heart, liver, and intestines—were burned up by fire on the altar. Priests sometimes made preemptive sacrifices to atone for any mistakes in the ritual process.
The lustratio was a purification ceremony done for a plot of land, to prevent natural disasters. A pig, a sheep, and a bull were sacrificed.