Religion
From Rome
Roman religion was broken up into three Phases.
Contents |
The First Phase
The First Phase was from 753 B.C.E to 500 B.C.E. At this point in time religion was limited to three Gods (Jupiter/Jove, Mars, and Quirinus). These three gods were part of what the Romans called the Archaic Triad. These gods had elements that were similar to Greek gods, but they hadn't been fully identified yet. For example, Jupiter was given the role of supreme ruler. Also the Romans named a place where soldiers trained "The Fields of Mars." However the Romans didn't have a fully developed set of characteristics for their gods until the Second Phase.
The Second Phase
Quote: Michelangelo (1475-1564) looked at everything with an artist's critical eye, and he was not easily impressed. But when Michelangelo first saw the Pantheon in the early 1500s, he proclaimed it of "angelic and not human design." http://www.monolithic.com/thedome/pantheon/
Jupiter/Jove
Jupiter or Jove, meaning Father god, was much like the Greek god Zeus. Like Zeus he had supreme power above all the other gods. Also, he and Zeus share the same symbol and weapon, the thunderbolt. Another similarity is that they each have two powerful brothers one who is god of the sea and the other who is god of the underworld. His wife, Juno who's Greek counterpart is Hera, is the only god who actually scares him. She has a very short temper and when she catches him with other women she gets extreamly angry. Some gods have days or months, Thursday is Jupiter's day. Saturn is his dad and Jupiter's grandfather is Uranus.
Mars
Mars, the war god was supposedly the Father of Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus were twin brothers thrown in a river to die, by the fraud of a king Amulius. The true king Numitor who was also the twins grandfather was Amulius's brother. "If the twins' grow up they will take the thrown" was probably what Amulius was thinking as they plunged into the depths of the rushing current. Luckily for the twins Mars looked after them. A she-wolf and a woodpecker, which are sacred to Mars raised them. Later they overthrew the Amulius and founded Rome. Actually Romulus founded Rome. Remus made fun of the walls Romulus was making saying they were too short. In anger Romulus killed him. Mars's Greek equivalent is Ares and March and Tuesday are his day and month.
Quirinus
Not much is known about this god. He is the god of the state and has no Greek counterpart. Some say he is the Romulus after his deification
Deification
Another ritual performed in the second phase was deification, to make something or in this case someone into a god. Typically, a person was deified after his or her death. A person was deified if they had done a great deed or were emperor. Temples were often built in honor of them.
Juno
Juno is the queen and the goddess of marriage and women. Kalends, the first day of each month were hers. June is named after her. Romans had a belief that all women and men had a caring sprit within them. The women had a juno and the men, (no they didn't have a jupiter) had a genius. Some Romans believed that men had both a good genius and a bad one.
Apollo
God of sun and music, Apollo had a famous oracle in Crete and other notable ones in Clarus and Branchidae. Apollo would bring life-giving heat and light to Earth. Apollo oversees the studies of law, philosophy, and the arts. He gave the gift of philosophy to his true love, the Trojan Princess Cassandra.
Vesta and the Vestal Virgins
Vesta was a virgin goddess of the hearth. She was also the goddess of family so she was worshipped in every household. Vesta played a prominent role in Roman culture because she was represented as a source of life and immortality since she was the keeper of the flame. Aeneas, a Trojan War hero, brought sacred fire to Troy. The Romans believed that if Vesta's fire went out there would be a great disaster in Rome. The Vestal Virgins were a group of highly honored women who went about the temples keeping the fires lit. If they disobeyed their vows or lost their virginity they were buried alive. On June 9 they celebrated renewal of the fire.
Christianity
Unfortunately many Christians were persecuted. In the Roman plays Christians would be murdered during the death scenes. Also for entertainment of spectators they would be thrown in pits, unarmed, with lions. To learn more on Roman theater see: Art and Music. Christ was spreading his teachings to many people through out the Second Phase. The Romans did not like his monotheistic teachings and he was targeted as a troublemaker. Christ was a Jew. Although the Romans allowed Jews to live within their empire, they were wary of them revolting. During Passover Christ stopped his travels to visit Rome and celebrate with the other Jews. While there he noticed some merchants in a sacred temple and in anger he chased them away. The Romans then decided that it best if he were crucified to prevent a future revolt.
The Third Phase
The third and final phase lasted from 313AD. to 476AD. Christianity started to spread throughout the Roman Empire after the death of Christ. In the beginning of the third phase, right before a seemingly hopeless battle Constantine a Roman emperor had asked the Roman gods for help. Instead the Christian God sent him a vision in his dream. From the description in "History Alive! The Ancient World" it may have looked like this:
He interpreted the vision as a message telling him to have the Christian sign, the cross painted on his soldiers' shields. Victory went to the Romans and Constantine became a Christian and converted Rome to Christianity. He created a city, which he named after himself, Constantinople and said that his city was devoted to only Christianity. As it turned out pagan, meaning non-Christian, statues were discovered there.
Quote
In Latin, “religio” means “something that binds.” For Romans, religion was a force that bound families together, bound subjects to their ruler and bound men to the gods. http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/religion.html
SFPL Links
Books
- History Alive! The Ancient World
