Roman Religious beliefs
Ancient Rome had many gods and goddesses, incorporating gods from the territories they conquered. The gods that they created related to all the areas of their lives - love, war, fun, hunting and work.
The key gods and goddesses are...
Jupiter - the ruler of the gods. he is often depicted with thunderbolts.
Juno - the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of woman and of fertility.
Mars - the god of war and second only to Jupiter in terms of strength. the God of the Roman Army.
Venus - the goddess of love and of beauty
Minerva - the goddess of wisdom, industry and arts and crafts
Neptune - the god of the sea - represented by the trident
Ceres - the goddess of the harvest
Vulcan - a god of the underworld and blacksmith to the gods
Diana - goddess of hunting
Bacchus - god of wine and parties - very popular god.
Mercury - the messenger of the gods depicted with wings on his helmet and sandals to show he could travel quickly.
Vesta - goddess of the home and the hearth or home fire. She was very important to the Romans.
The Roman people were very loyal to their gods. They would have a shrine in their houses and work places. The gods were very important to their daily behaviour. If the weather was bad they would think that the gods were angry or if it was sunny and blue sky then the gods must be happy and friendly. The gods were considered complex being both good and bad. You had the gods underneath the ground and the gods in the sky. The gods in the under world were usually outcasts or gods that are just plain mean. The gods in the sky were the happy leaned back kind of gods, only fighting when the underworld gods started war with them. When the gods would fight it would often be bad for the humans.
In Roman religion every household had its own spirits which protected it from bad things. The lares were the spirits of the family's ancestors. And the Penates were kind spirits who guarded the larder. Little figurines of these spirits were kept in a small household shrine, called the lararium. The spirits would be worshipped by the family on special days. Bits of food or wine might be sacrificed to them to keep them happy.
Embracing new gods
With the ever growing size of the empire, there were always new gods from other civilisations that Rome had embraced. As they learned about these new gods, new temples were built to these new gods in the Roman pantheon.
Bringing the Christian faith and belief into the Roman empire
In 312 AD something revolutionising happened, something that would change the Roman religion and the western religion forever. The emperor at the time, Constantine the Great, said he had a sign from the god of the Christians in a dream before a very important battle. Constantine won that battle and from there on showed his gratitude to the Christian god by turning the whole empire over to the new religion. So successful was this conversion that Constantine remained a Christian his entire life. He is the main reason most of the countries in the Roman Empire adopted the Christian religion.
Ancient Rome had many gods and goddesses, incorporating gods from the territories they conquered. The gods that they created related to all the areas of their lives - love, war, fun, hunting and work.
The key gods and goddesses are...
Jupiter - the ruler of the gods. he is often depicted with thunderbolts.
Juno - the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of woman and of fertility.
Mars - the god of war and second only to Jupiter in terms of strength. the God of the Roman Army.
Venus - the goddess of love and of beauty
Minerva - the goddess of wisdom, industry and arts and crafts
Neptune - the god of the sea - represented by the trident
Ceres - the goddess of the harvest
Vulcan - a god of the underworld and blacksmith to the gods
Diana - goddess of hunting
Bacchus - god of wine and parties - very popular god.
Mercury - the messenger of the gods depicted with wings on his helmet and sandals to show he could travel quickly.
Vesta - goddess of the home and the hearth or home fire. She was very important to the Romans.
The Roman people were very loyal to their gods. They would have a shrine in their houses and work places. The gods were very important to their daily behaviour. If the weather was bad they would think that the gods were angry or if it was sunny and blue sky then the gods must be happy and friendly. The gods were considered complex being both good and bad. You had the gods underneath the ground and the gods in the sky. The gods in the under world were usually outcasts or gods that are just plain mean. The gods in the sky were the happy leaned back kind of gods, only fighting when the underworld gods started war with them. When the gods would fight it would often be bad for the humans.
In Roman religion every household had its own spirits which protected it from bad things. The lares were the spirits of the family's ancestors. And the Penates were kind spirits who guarded the larder. Little figurines of these spirits were kept in a small household shrine, called the lararium. The spirits would be worshipped by the family on special days. Bits of food or wine might be sacrificed to them to keep them happy.
Embracing new gods
With the ever growing size of the empire, there were always new gods from other civilisations that Rome had embraced. As they learned about these new gods, new temples were built to these new gods in the Roman pantheon.
Bringing the Christian faith and belief into the Roman empire
In 312 AD something revolutionising happened, something that would change the Roman religion and the western religion forever. The emperor at the time, Constantine the Great, said he had a sign from the god of the Christians in a dream before a very important battle. Constantine won that battle and from there on showed his gratitude to the Christian god by turning the whole empire over to the new religion. So successful was this conversion that Constantine remained a Christian his entire life. He is the main reason most of the countries in the Roman Empire adopted the Christian religion.