1. Public Religion

2. Beginnings of Religion
Original Roman religion derived from tribes of Italy, especially the Etruscans and Latins.
Much “religion” was a belief in myths and legends.
A core myth was the founding of Rome by Romulus after slaying his brother Remus.
As Greek cultural influence increased through the fourth and third centuries BCE, Rome increasingly observed Greek gods.
The twelve Greek Olympian gods became the centre of Roman religious observance.

3. Temples, Temples, Everywhere…
Most worship took place at temples.
In the Roman forum stood:
* The Temple of Vesta (and house of the Vestal Virgins – more on these later)
* The house of the pontifex maximus
* The Temple of Saturn
* The Temple of Julius Caesar
* The Sacred Spring of Juturna
* The Portico of the Twelve Gods
On the Palatine and Capitoline hills were more than thirty other temples.

4. The State Religion
The State gods were offered animal sacrifices on altars.
Offerings were made on festival days, and at times of national crisis.
People believed that the gods would protect Rome if priests honoured them with sacrifices.

5. Vestal Virgins The centre of Roman religion.
“If the gods did not hear the Vestal Virgins’ prayers, the state would not survive” – Cicero
“A girl cannot be chosen under six or more than ten years old; her father and mother must be alive; she must have no speech impediment, hearing defect or other physical weakness, and her father must not have surrendered his legal control over her.” – Aulus Gellius

6. Vestal Virgins 2: VestalLER
These priestesses guarded the sacred flame in the Temple of Vesta.
Within the temple, they could only use holy water from a sacred spring; canal or pump water was forbidden. Fire hazard!
If the water from the sacred spring were set down between the spring and the temple, it lost its holiness.
Six were chosen, and each served for thirty years.
A vestal who lost her virginity would be buried alive in an underground chamber.

7. Vestal Virgins 3: Vestallest
The role commanded huge respect and prestige.
They were the only women in Rome allowed to travel in a carriage.
Banquets were provided for them, and the State granted them huge subsidies.
Some vestals stayed on past their thirty years; one (Junia Torquata) served for sixty-four years.

8. The Original Pope The head chief in Rome was the pontifex maximus.
Julius Caesar held this position when he was thirty-seven, probably as a political manoeuvre.
This position came with a grand house in the Forum.
All emperors following Augustus took this position for themselves.

9. The Augures
These men interpreted omens for signs of approval or disapproval from the gods.
Cicero was an augur.
He noted three types of augury:
1. Signs from animals or humans.
2. Inanimate objects.
3. Unusual natural events.

10. 1. The Signs! The Signs!
Augurs studied the flight patterns of birds, or inspected the entrails of sacrificed animals (especially the liver).
Any abnormal size or colour was a bad sign.
Animals that showed human movements were a bad sign.
Animals that sneezed were a bad sign.

11. 2. The Book Speaks! The gods guided the fall of dice.
Books opened at random were guided by the gods - the words they revealed may have been prophetic.

12. 3. Just not natural.
Storms, earthquakes or meteorites were heralds of change, usually political.
Freak births (a five-legged calf, for example) were also an indicator of change to come.

13. Other sources Divination was also practised by many other soothsayers.
Private individuals could pay to have signs read ahead of significant family moments.
Prophets, or prophetesses, were also consulted.
Key amongst these were the Sibyls – wisewomen whose weird sounds were written down by interpreters. (Remember this when we get to Oedipus.)

14. Emperor Worship Religion changed under the emperors.
Julius Caesar was deified, and Augustus was his son by adoption.
It became standard practice to deify an emperor upon death.
The worship of a living person was new to most Romans – to many it was a ludicrous notion.
This form of worship solidified political power for an emperor.

15. Public Holidays
Feriae (or dies ferialis) were either public (publicae) or private (privatae).
State holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding.
Games (ludi) were not feriae, but the days on which they were celebrated were dies festi, holidays in the modern sense of days off work.
Although feriae were paid for by the state, ludi were often funded by wealthy individuals.

16. Religious Festivals
Religious rites were performed on the feriae, and public business was suspended.
Even slaves were supposed to be given some form of rest.
Cicero says specifically that people who were free should not engage in lawsuits and quarrels.
Some agricultural tasks not otherwise permitted could be carried out if an expiation were made in advance (piaculum), usually the sacrifice of a puppy.
Within the city of Rome, the flamens (state priests) and the priest known as the Rex sacrorum were not allowed even to see work done.

17. Details, details…
On a practical level, those who "inadvertently" worked could pay a fine or offer up a piaculum, usually a pig.
Work considered vital either to the gods or preserving human life was excusable.
Romans were not required to take any religious action unless they were priests or had family rites (sacra gentilicia) to maintain.
There were an astonishing number of holidays and festivals.

18. The Skinny
Original religion was closer to superstition; Greek deities adopted.
Gods worshipped in the construction of hundreds of temples. At least seven major temples in Pompeii.
Fate of Rome dependent on appeasing the gods.
Vestal Virgins (position of prestige) devoted thirty years to state religion.
Pontifex Maximus: top priest.
Augury: Signs from animals; signs from inanimate objects, unusual natural events. Also, sooth-sayers and prophets.
Emperors became gods on earth: assertion of corporeal power.
Feriae publicae funded by the state. Public business suspended on these days.
Ludi were paid for by private individuals.

19. Sources Taylor, David. Roman Society. Bristol Classical Press, 2001.