Roman Religion

Roman religion was a system of cults, rituals, priestly colleges and public duties, not only a matter of personal belief. For Romans, the correct performance of ritual maintained the pax deorum, the peace with the gods on which family, city, army and state depended.

In brief:

• Roman religion combined household cults, state rites and local traditions;
• the correctness of ritual, prayer, sacrifice and calendar was central;
• priests did not form a separate church but were part of the civic and political system;
• under the Empire, imperial cult and provincial cults became increasingly important;
• the spread of Christianity gradually changed the religious landscape of the empire.

Gods, household and city

Roman religion included public cults of Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Vesta and other gods, but it was not simply a list of Olympian names. Lares, Penates, genii, spirits of place and household shrines were also important. Household cult connected the family with ancestors, hearth and everyday protection.

Civic cult was part of political life. Temples, vows, games, processions and festivals reminded Romans that the community existed before the gods. Victory in war, founding of a colony, harvest, census or entry of a magistrate into office could all have a religious dimension.

Priests and ritual

Roman priests were responsible less for preaching than for ritual knowledge. Pontiffs oversaw religious law and the calendar, augurs interpreted signs, flamines served the cults of particular gods, and Vestal Virgins kept the sacred fire of Vesta.

The central action was sacrifice: prayer, procession, selection of the victim, inspection of the animal, the offering itself and the feast could form one complex rite. A mistake in words or actions could require the rite to be repeated, because exact form mattered more than emotional expression.

Empire, provinces and Christianity

Roman religion was open to adoption and adaptation. In Rome and the provinces, old Roman cults, Greek deities, local gods, eastern cults and forms of emperor worship coexisted. The imperial cult was not simply 'politics made divine': it connected loyalty to the state, civic elites, provincial assemblies and public festivals.

Christianity first existed within the diverse religious world of the empire, but gradually became a separate force. Conflicts arose not only from theology, but also from Christians' refusal to participate in some public rites. Later imperial policy changed: from persecution and local conflict the empire moved toward recognition and support of Christianity, covered in the article on the struggle between paganism and Christianity.

Topic navigation

I. Priests

• Pontifex
• Augur
• Flamen
• Vestal Virgin

II. Rites and cults

• Sacrifices in Ancient Rome
• Genius
• Larva

III. Society and late empire

• Roman society
• The struggle between paganism and Christianity
• Late Roman Empire

Household cult and Greco-Roman context

I. Household religion

• Roman Household Religion
• Lares
• Lararium
• Penates
• Genius

II. Comparison and mythology

• Differences Between Greek and Roman Religion
• Roman Gods
• Greek and Roman God Equivalences
• Greco-Roman Mythology

Related topics

Sacrifices in Ancient Rome, Pontifex, Augur, Flamen, Vestal Virgin, The struggle between paganism and Christianity

Literature

1. Cicero. De Natura Deorum; De Divinatione. 2. Livy. History of Rome. 3. Ovid. Fasti. 4. Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price. Religions of Rome. 5. Jörg Rüpke. Religion of the Romans. 6. John Scheid. An Introduction to Roman Religion.

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