1. The Roman Gods

2. Greece - Rome Roman gods No distinct “personalities”
Easy to “adopt” Greek pantheon & “convert” names/entities

3. Roman “gods” Numina “Powers” or “Wills” No stories told about Numina
Will-power?
No stories told about Numina
Honored for “simple acts of everyday life”
Similar to Demeter & Dionysus

4. Numina Lares (Lar) Penate(s) Spirit of an ancestor Gods of the hearth
Guardians of the storehouse

5. Numina “family” gods (not universal/public)
Never worshipped in temples
Only in the home
each meal shared

6. Numina Terminus Guardian of Boundaries
Significant in an empire that stretches across a continent!

7. Saturn Originally one of the Numina Ops (wife)
Protector of the Sowers and the Seed
Ops (wife)
Harvest Helper

8. Saturn Saturnalia Later… Ops “became” Rhea Winter festival
Roman “Cronus”
Ops “became” Rhea
Saturnalia
Winter festival
No war, equality, giving of gifts

9. Janus ALSO originally one of the Numina
“the god of good beginnings” that are “sure to result in good endings”
Chief temple – Rome (ran E – W)
“Two faced” god (young – old)
Doors of the temple “closed only when Rome was at peace”
3 times in 700 years (!!)