Heritage > The Romans


Religion

Roman religion was strongly influenced by Greek tradition: the Romans decided early on that their gods must be the same as those of the Greeks. Zeus, the king of all the Greek gods, merged with the Roman Jupiter. Ares and Mars, gods of war, became one and the same in Roman eyes. The Celtic warrior gods Cocidius and Belatucadrus merged with the Roman god Mars. In Lydney Park, the Celtic god Nodens had a healing sanctuary, and there two bronze plaques show that he too was associated with Mars. The Celtic goddess Sul, deity of the spring and of healing, was identified with Minerva; they devoted a temple to her in Bath. In fact, the Romans usually absorbed the local gods into their culture when they conquered a new land. Soldiers even offered sacrifices to the enemies’ gods, trying to bribe them to support the Romans instead of their own people.

One Celtic god was Epona, who had strong connections with horses. In Chelmsford, a horse skull was found in a ritual shaft, another in a nearby ditch, and a whole skeleton minus its front two feet was found in a pit. They probably ended up there as a result of religious rituals. In Winchester, there is an altar which was dedicated by Antonius Lucretianus to Italian, German, Gallic and British mother-goddesses.

In the Cotswolds, there are many reliefs showing Celtic gods such as the Deae Matres (mother goddess), and the genii cucullati (guardian spirits with hooded cloaks). The reliefs usually show three or four figures. These deities were strongly associated with fertility. The water nymph Coventina appears in a relief at Carrawburgh. The River Wharfe, in North Yorkshire, had its own goddess, Verbeia.

At Rudston, a mosaic shows a charioteer here, and there a Celtic female fertility figure. Perhaps the householder wanted the mosaic to show off his Classical tastes, but without offending Celtic gods. A person might display bronze statuettes of Roman deities in the lararium (household shrine), but privately place a statue of a Celtic deity in a woodland grove.

All these gods, Celtic, Roman or otherwise, must not be offended. The Romans consulted augurs in an attempt to learn the gods’ wishes, by observing the behaviour of birds. If the sacred chickens were not eating, it was a bad day to do anything important like travelling or marrying. In the morning, many households said prayers for the family and the emperor at their lararium. A lar was a bronze figurine representing a household god, the spirit of the family’s ancestors. Other household spirits included the penates, who were in charge of the pantry. They were worshipped before leaving on a journey, and again after arriving home, to ensure the home’s prosperity. On the whole, instead of worshipping regularly, Romans would attend the temple only when they wanted something.

Each place was supposed to have a numen, a guardian spirit, who could be appeased with sacrifices. Before a farmer could clear woodland for cultivation, he would have to sacrifice a pig. Sacrifice remained an important part of worship throughout the Empire’s history. Hunters offered sacrifices to Diana, the goddess of hunting, before they set out. A temple would have a large altar where priests sacrificed animals. Assistants to the priest would examine the animal to make sure it was perfect before killing it. Then the augurer would examine the animal’s liver; if it was malformed, this was a bad omen, but if it was good, the god would accept the sacrifice. The offal would be burned for the sacrifice, but the good meat would be cooked for the worshippers in a sacrificial meal, or kept for the priests to eat later.


Most emperors were worshipped as gods after they died, and had temples dedicated to them. This was important in unifying the Empire. When Vespasian fell sick in AD79, he said, ‘Alas, I think I’m becoming a god.’ One important temple was the temple of Claudius at Colchester. Historians used to think that the temple was dedicated to Claudius while he was still alive, but this seems unlikely. Augustus and Tiberius refused to allow temples to be dedicated to themselves in their lifetimes, especially in Rome, where it might have offended the Senate. However, Augustus did allow an official cult to himself in some of the provinces. There were quite a few private temples to Claudius in other provinces, but the situation was different in Britain. The Britons would not have been interested in worshipping Rome or Augustus, but if they could be persuaded to see Claudius as a living god, that would have seemed much more real to them. But it seems that the temple was in fact dedicated after Claudius’ death, and it was probably built on the site of an altar dedicated to Rome and Augustus.

Funeral rites were designed to make sure that the spirit stayed on the side of the dead, and did not come back to disturb the living. For this reason, cemeteries had to stay outside the walls of a town. Sometimes the body would be buried face down, or the head removed and placed at the feet. The body was very often buried with jewellery, food, and other possessions for the spirit to take to the afterlife. A banquet would be held in which offerings of food were given to the dead.

To the Romans, the next world was as much a fact as this one. To get to the underworld, Charon, ferryman of the underworld, would take them across the river Styx. To pay him, a coin would be placed in the dead person’s mouth, even if the body was cremated. The Romans had a much vaguer concept than the Celts of what conditions in the underworld would actually be like, although they did have the idea that good was rewarded and evil punished.

Many educated Romans did not believe in the old gods, and turned to foreign gods such as Mithras (from Persia), Isis (from Egypt) and Bacchus (from Greece). The Bacchants did not seem respectable to ordinary Romans, because they used wine in their worship and were thought to conduct drunken orgies. This religion was one of the few not to be tolerated. The Druids were a Celtic group whom the Romans did not tolerate, because not only did they practise human sacrifice, but they also had great power over the aristocratic class. A ‘hideous and shameful’ Eastern religion was Christianity. The people were usually allowed to practise any religion provided they worshipped the Emperor as well, but Christians could not consider worshipping any other gods. For this, they were accused of treason; this was also the cause of antagonism between the Romans and the Jews. Many Christians were poor people and slaves, so were suspected of subversive plotting. Because they celebrated the Eucharist with bread and wine, which represent the body and blood of Christ, they were accused of cannibalism. Many Christians were killed, like Julius and Aaron at Caerleon, who may have died in the arena as public entertainment.



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