Download
1 / 27
270 likes | 430 Views
Roman Religion. Important to distinguish between Roman religion and religion in the Roman world. Processions and sacrifices. The act of sacrifice was the central cult activity Sacrifices might be of animals, plants, or liquid sacrifices (libations). Processions.
E N D
Important to distinguish between Roman religion and religion in the Roman world
Processions and sacrifices • The act of sacrifice was the central cult activity • Sacrifices might be of animals, plants, or liquid sacrifices (libations)
Processions • The Roman calendar reserved days for state religious events • Sacrificial processions paraded through the streets along a fixed route (eg the Via Sacra) and the sacrifice took place on an altar outside the temple • The gods were supposed to show signs of approval or disapproval
Suovetaurilia • Boar, ram and bull • Performed as an act of purification (lustratio) • After each census was taken, and also on important occasions such as triumphs, or offerings to the Capitoline Triad
Recently-discovered painting from a building used by a religious association near Pompeii, showing a suovetaurilia procession, perhaps a local sacrifice at a crossroads
The sacrifices were often divided up among the celebrants and eaten • Public banquets were a common feature of religious occasions • Correct observance of ritual and tradition was important in state religious events
Priestly Colleges • Pontifices • Augures • XVviri sacris faciundis
The Roman Pantheon • Jupiter • In early times known as Diespiter, ‘father of the day’ • His priest, the flamen Dialis, was the most important of the order of flamines • The Ides of each month were dedicated to his worship, when the flamen Dialis led a white ewe along the Via Sacra to the Capitol for sacrifice • At his temple on the Capitoline hill, triumphators ended their triumphal processions and presented the spoils to Jupiter
Juno • Ancient Italian mother goddess • Juno was considered to be the wife of Jupiter and Queen of the gods • As well as her shrine in the Capitolium, she had her own temple on the Capitoline, the Temple of Juno Moneta • The Kalends of every month was sacred to Juno
Minerva • Identified with the Greek goddess Athena • A wooden statue of her, the Palladium, was kept in the Temple of Vesta in the forum; it was one of the most sacred objects in Rome, and was said to have been brought from Troy
Venus • Originally and Italian fertility goddess • Became identified with the Greek Aphrodite, goddess of love • Venus was the mother of the Trojan prince Aeneas, and therefore was particularly important to the Romans • Hadrian constructed a huge double temple to Venus and Rome on the Via Sacra
Mars • Originally an agricultural deity, he became identified with the Greek war god Ares • As a war god he was very important to the Romans, and like Jupiter, Mars had his own special flamen • Mars was also the father of Romulus and Remus by Rhea Silvia, vestal and daughter of King Numitor • Mars was the lover of Venus
Outside state religion, religious life was largely a private affair, although the state liked to control larger groups of people • Each neighborhood in Rome had its local deities (particularly at crossroads), and there were many foreign religions in the city • Slaves worshipped the genius of their masters, clients the genius of the patron, and everyone the genius of the Emperor
Mystery cults • Some ‘unofficial’ cults had initiation ceremonies, in which secrets were gradually revealed as the person became more and more initiated into the cult • Only those who had gone through the initiation rights could participate fully in the cult
Christianity • Among the foreign imports • Early confusion of Christians with Jews • The state was concerned about regulating the cult • Persecutions: Nero, Trajan Decius, Valerian
The Christian authorities were also concerned about regulating Christianity • Many different sects in early Christianity, but gradually a unified Church developed with the consent of the emperors • Early Christians in Rome were organized into associations like many other groups in Rome: religious associations; manufacturing guilds, etc.
Religious groups often met to have ritual banquets • They also frequently had common burial grounds
Catacombs • Underground tomb complexes • The preservation in some catacombs is very good
There are pagan catacombs, Jewish catacombs, Christian catacombs
