Roman Religion I: The Gods

ROMAN RELIGION I: THE GODS

Characteristics of Ancient Religion

Polytheism: many gods
Absence of central authority

No authoritative scriptures
No priestly caste

Relationship of human & divine

do ut des ("I give so you will give")

Emphasis on ritual
Sacred/Secular distinction blurred

Animism

"animism": belief that natural phenomena, sites in landscape have souls, power

numen: intangible power of divinity

Numinous sites

Springs
Streams, rivers
Trees and groves
Hilltops
Crossroads

A strangeness there filled country hearts with dread
And made them shiver at the wood and rock
"Some god," he said, "it is not sure what god,
Lives in this grove, this hilltop thick with leaves"
- Vergil, Aeneid Book VIII

"liminal": related to boundaries, edges

Non-Anthropomorphic Gods

General characteristics

Personify natural function, process
Lack iconography, mythology
Sometimes come in M/F pairs

Pastoral deities

Faunus/Fauna: shepherds
Pales: cattle-herders

Agricultural deities

Saturnus: sowing (~ Gk. Kronos)
Ceres: grain (~ Gk. Demeter)
Liber/Libera: wine (~ Gk. Dionysos)
Flora: flowering plants
Pomona: fruits & vegetables
Terminus: boundaries
Robigus: rust, mildew

Household deities

Vesta: hearth/fire
Janus: doors, thresholds, New Year
Lares/Penates: household gods
Manes: spirits of dead ancestors
(Lemures): (ghosts)

Anthropomorphic Deities

Origins

Indo-European (> Italic, Greek)
Etruscan
Greek
Near East & Egypt
(Artificial)

Syncretism: merging of different religious systems or gods

Aspect: separate 'side' or persona of single god (usually indicated by suffix)

(IE) *Dyaus

(Etrusc.) Tinia (Gk.) Zeus

     Jupiter Optimus Maximus
             " Capitolinus
              " Tonans (etc.)

Indo-European

Jupiter (< *Dyaus)
Castor & Pollux (< Divine Twins)
Hercules (monster-slaying man/god)

Italic & Etruscan

Mars: agriculture + war
Quirinus (~ Romulus)
"Capitoline Triad"

Jupiter
Juno
Minerva

Greek "Olympian" gods

Saturnus (< Kronos)
Jupiter (< Zeus)
Juno (< Hera): marriage
Neptune (< Poseidon): sea
Ceres (< Demeter): agriculture
Diana (< Artemis): woods, moon
Mercury (< Hermes): commerce
Apollo: music, poetry, medicine
Mars (< Ares): war
Minerva (< Athena): crafts
Venus (< Aphrodite): love and sex
Bacchus/Liber (< Dionysos)
Hercules (< Herakles)

Later Developments

Eastern Imports

Cybele/Magna Mater ("The Great Mother"), 204 BC
Isis, Osiris, Serapis, 1st c. BC ->
Astarte/Atargatis/the "Syrian Goddess"
Mithras, 1st c. AD ->

Abstractions

Victoria, 294 BC
Fides
Concordia
Fortuna (~ Gk. Tyche) (etc.)

Ruler-Worship

Near East -> Hellenistic rulers -> Rome
Dead emperors deified ("Divus Julius" etc.)
Reigning emperors worshipped in East

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