Rome: The Roman Religion

Rome used to believe in Roman mythology with many different gods. Some of the Gods were Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mercury, Ceres, Apollo, Vesta, Neptune, Diana, Mars, and Pluto. People used to believe that these gods ruled everyone and everything. In Ancient Rome, people worshipped the Gods their Emperor believed in. Now people believe in the Roman Catholic Church and worship one god.

Religions take a hold on societies in different ways. Christianity started as a revitalization movement against the Roman hierarchy, and was comprised of mostly woman and the poor. The Roman Empire took up most of the Mediterranean and North Africa. With the death of Jesus, around 33 CE, came a new, unique, religion that was a spin off of Judaism but they believed that Jesus was the foretold Messiah. Although they were persecuted, Christianity took hold in the ancient world because it offered salvation, was fair to all, and preached love and peace.

Romes religion wasent so close to ours. The Romans were polytheistic but were monotheistic. They worshiped in temples while we worship in churches.Romes gods had issues but our gods is loyal. This

At one time, all of Rome was united by a common religion. This religion, commonly referred to as the Roman religion, was derived from the religion in Greece. Members of this religion, which included the majority, if not all, of the Roman citizens, worshiped many different gods, including the creator or father god, Jupiter, the sun god, Apollo, the god of inspiring wars, Mars, and many others as well. The popularity of this religion began to decline when Christianity arose. It appealed to the majority of the people, particularly the lower class and slaves, who now had something to put their hope and faith in. This religion spread rapidly, and Roman emperors felt that because it was so influential it would become a possible threat. These leaders began persecuting Christians, but many Romans had already committed to this religion and refused to abandon it because they viewed it as the most important part of their life. This led to a lack of patriotism in Roman citizens who then rejected politics and became independent of the government.

Although not always mentioned in the Bible, Roman gods impacted the lives of people in the Bible times a lot. One of the more significant Roman gods, Zeus, was highly respected for his power and authority. In the book of Acts, two disciples, Paul and Barnabas, healed a crippled man while traveling through a town called Lystra. The crowd praised them and said, “These men are gods in human form!” They called the Barnabas, the man traveling with Paul, Zeus.

Beginning around 700 B.C., stories by Homer and other Greek poets told of the lives of powerful gods who involved themselves in human affairs. Supreme among these gods was Zeus, but to the Romans he was known as Jupiter. Zeus was the supreme god and ruler of Olympus. He was known by many titles: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud- gatherer, the Rain-god, and Zeus the Thunderer. All of which are the most popular names dating back to ancient Greek history and mythology.

Romans were excellent at keeping their religion alive and keeping traditions ongoing. They were especially good at worshipping the nature including, stones, trees, waterfalls, etc. These special things had to be kept friendly by sacrifices and ceremonies. Some of these ceremonies and sacrifices took place in temples or nature. In fact, some of the temples are still standing today in Rome or now Italy. Many of these traditions have been studied by observing the statues and paintings they made. Besides believing in nature, the Romans also believed in gods. They paid homage to Jupiter, Minerva, Neptune, and Mars. The god that was the most powerful, Jupiter, was considered chief god of the state during the republican and imperial eras. Neptune was the god of the sea, Mars was the god of war and farm work, and Minerva was the goddess of crafts and wisdom. Before an event, attempts were made to discover the will of the gods, or what was going to happen, from signs in the sky like flight of birds, or by examining the insides of a slaughtered animal. The Romans would base their choices on the signs they believed they got from the gods. As I have told above, Romans were excellent at keeping their religion alive and keeping traditions ongoing. Romans believed in these things

In the ancient Roman world, religion played the most important role in everyday life, as well as in matters of the state. The Romans looked to the gods for political stability and for control of the unexplainable and natural phenomenon. The gods were believed to control all aspects of Roman life, and for that reason, a great deal of importance was placed in the appropriate worship of the gods. Women played an extremely influential role in ancient Roman religion. Not only did they participate in religious rituals, but some even held religious positions as Vestal Virgins.

The Roman Religion in the Principate period (44 BCE-300 CE) was Polytheistic. Meaning that they believed in more than one god. They believed in the Greek gods and that they each had different powers. By the Dominate

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. The comedy Amphytryon was written sometime during the fifteenth-century. The play has the following Roman Gods According to (Encyclopedia Britannica 2015), Mercury, who is the son of Jupiter and Maia, one of the Pleiades. Mercury is comparable to the Greek god Hermes; both are considered messengers of the gods. Next is Jupiter, also Jove, is the god of sky and thunder and king of the gods in Ancient Roman religion and mythology. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire Lastly there is Hercules which is the Roman name for the Greek divine hero

In a polytheist religion there are many gods each of which have a specific role in nature or life. Their supreme god was known as Jupiter. Jupiter was the god of lightning and the sky. His wife was Juno who was the god of marriage. There were many other other gods including Mars, the god of war and supposed father of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, Neptune, the god of the sea, and Pluto, the god of the dead. This polytheist religion was key to the Roman’s success because, without a religion a civilization can not be united and prosper.

The religious practices of the ancient Romans are best remembered with grand temples, great festivals and Christian persecution to the final acceptance of Christianity within the Roman empire over the

The Romans had a religion that they believed in but was not something concrete and was not of having a central idea. The religion was based on a mix of certain traditions and beliefs. Religion was not never really a big factor in their Empire. The Romans were stubborn with religion and this could be the reason they had an attitude towards these aspects of life. According to St. Augustine’s book Confession, he states that there were a lot of fake gods and there were two major religions in the Roman Empire. The very first religion was Paganism and that’s what his father was known to believe. Then the second main religion was Christianity which his mother believed in. The emperor of Rome at this time, Constantine himself was not a Christian when he conquered Rome, but rather he had a religious conversion when he won the fight with contending tetrarchs at the Milvian bridge in 306 AD, with help of image of the Cross. The

It has been known that the Romans and the Greeks have had many interactions with each other, whether it would be due to trading or just plain traveling, the stories of their myths have crossed each other in one way or another. This is may be the reason why there are many similarities between Greek and Roman Mythology. Even though a Greek god or goddess may have a different name in Roman Mythology they still performed similar tasks and were worshiped for similar reasons. I will compare and contrast Greek gods with their Roman equivalences to see how similar they truly are to each other. Probably the most famous Greek god, Zeus, was the god of all gods. Born to Cronus and Rhea, he was the ruler of the sky, and had

Ancient Roman religion played a very important role, they were known for having a Polytheistic religion. During this time period, they centered their lives around believing and worshiping multiple gods. There were all different types of goddess’ such as goddess of: war, sea, hunting, healing and wisdom, love, and ect. Although, out of all the different gods Jupiter was the most important. Jupiter was the king of all gods that Romans worshiped. Each god would have a special festival day, which was celebrated by the public. They could come the temples and worship the god, and also bring them animals to sacrifice.