By: Daniel P., Amanda L., and Martha G.

Which Gods Did Romans Believe In?  The Romans believed in gods similar to the gods that the Greeks worshipped.  The chief of the gods for Romans was Jupiter, who was very like the Greek god Zeus, and both gods threw lightning bolts as weapons. The planet Jupiter was named after the god Jupiter.  Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, was similar to Neptune, Roman god of the sea. Neptune, the planet, was named after Neptune the god.  Pluto of the Underworld was like Hades, Greek god of the Underworld. The small cold planet Pluto was named after Pluto.  Hera, Zeus’ queen, was very like Juno, Jupiter’s queen.  Hermes was in fact liked with Mercury, as they were both messengers of the gods. Mercury the planet was also named after Mercury.  Venus, the goddess of love, was like Aphrodite of Greece.  Apollo was also Apollo in Greek, as they were gods of the sun and prophecy.  You have probably heard of the Disney movie Hercules, but his original Greek name was Heracles, but the Romans later adopted him as Hercules, the god of Physical Strength.  There are many more gods but it would be too boring to keep talking about them.

Prayers and Sacrifices?  Praying to the gods was a very important part of Roman life, and if one was to get it wrong, he/she would have to begin the whole prayer again no matter how long it took.  Sometimes, a god/goddess’ name would change depending on the situation, for example, the god Juno was Juno Lucina when she was the goddess of childbirth, but she was Juno Moneta as goddess of mint, because Roman state mint was planted in her temple.  Most prayers were accompanied with a small sacrifice, not always the killing of an animal, though this was very common. It had to be at least some symbol of life in some form, like wine, cheese, fruit, vegetables and milk were used as non bloody offering to the gods.  Different gods required different sacrifices, for example for Janus one would need a ram, Jupiter demanded a heifer, Mars needed an ox, pig AND a sheep, except for the 15 th of October when it most definitely had to be the winning horse of the day, the one of the inside of a chariot team.  Animal sacrifices were very detailed and messy times. They poured wine over the animal’s head and sprinkled some sacred bread over it’s head. The way that they killed the animal was by cutting it’s throat, but before they offered it as a sacrifice to the gods, they had to check the animal’s innards to make sure that they were not offering an animal that carried a bad omen. If the animal offered really had a bad sign lurking in it’s entrails, then another animal would have to be sacrificed in it’s place. If not, then then most important organs in the animal’s body would be burnt an an altar. All the other parts of it was either thrown away or eaten later as part of a feast.  Praying before a big race or a war was common to ensure success.

What did Romans Believe Happen After They Die?  When someone died, they were thought to have travelled down to the Underworld. Firstly, they had to cross the River of the Dead, called the Styx. Everyone was buried with a coin to pay the ferryman, Charon. Then they had to get past a fierce dog with three heads called Cerburus, who would only let the Dead through. Finally they had to come before the Judges of the Dead. The only living person to fight Cerberus was Hercules, the strongest man in the world. One of his Twelve Labors included fighting and capturing Cerberus and bringing him to the Upper World. (He let Cerberus free afterwards.)  The moon of planet Pluto is called Charon, after the ferryman over the Styx, because Pluto was god of the Underworld and Charon was his sidekick.

Months of the Year?  January- Named after Janus, the god of gates, doorways, beginnings and ends.  February- Named after februum, the Latin term for purification.  March- Named after Mars, the god of war.  April- Named after aperire, the Latin word for open which stands for the opening of spring.  May- Named after Maia, the goddess of fertility.  June- There are two possibilities as to how this month got it’s name. the first one is that it was named after Jupiter’s wife Juno, or that it comes from the Latin word iuniores meaning younger ones.  July- Named after the famous general Julius Caesar.  August- Named after Augustus, the first Roman Emporor.  September- Named after the Latin word septem, meaning seventh, because it used to be the seventh month before King Numa Pompilius added January and February before March.  October- Named after the Latin word octo, meaning eighth, with the same origin as September.  November- Named after the Latin word novem, meaning ninth, with the same origin as September and October.  December- Named after the Latin word decem, meaning tenth, with the same origin as September, October and November.

Festivals?  Saturnalia was an important Roman festival in honor of the god Saturn. This is when slaves and pheasants swapped places with their masters. It was started when the Romans saw to the defeat of the Carthaginians. Originally held for a day, the 17 th of December, the Roman citizens slowly made it longer until it started on the 17 th and ended on the 23 rd. There were many attempts to shorten this festival but they all caused great uproar from the citizens so any other attempt to shorten this particular festival were forgotten. Saturnalia was the actual starting point of the Christian festival Christmas, because Saturnalia was a time for families, eating, drinking, and merriness.  Liberalia was a festival held on the 17 th of March, in honor of Liber, the god of vineyards and fertile crops. This day was also the traditional day that a boy could become a man by being given a special toga, the toga virilis.  Fordicia was a festival held on the 15 th of April to honor the Earth Goddess Tellus, where pregnant cows were captured and killed, and the young fetuses were burnt on an altar.  Parilia was a festival held on the 22 nd of April, a week after fordicia, when a flock of sheep was herded towards a stack of burning bales of hay, then forced to jump over the hay to ‘purify them’.  On the 19 th of April there was another festival to honor Ceres, who was the goddess of agriculture, and the year’s harvest. This festival was especially important to all farmers. In early Roman times this festival would include setting foxes with burning sticks tied to the ends of their tails loose in the area where the Circus Maximus would be built.  As the Romans loved to drink wine, there was a wine festival held on the 11 th of October.

Bibliography  Websites…                     Book  Living Through History: The Roman Empire Nigel Kelly, Rosemary Rees and Jane Shutter