Thank you for visiting. This article is the fourth installment (the final one) in a series explaining the original texts of Rome.
This time, I look at Rome’s own gods and the religion that moved the state, which supported the founding myths so far. What faith the Romans cultivated behind the gods borrowed from Greece — there lies another individuality of Roman mythology.
For an overview map of the original texts of Roman mythology as a whole, please see this summary article.
What Religion Was for the Romans — a “Covenant” with the Gods
The key to understanding Roman religion lies in the point that its character is entirely different from Greece. Whereas Greek mythology valued the lively “stories” of the gods, full of love and strife, what the Romans valued above all was “performing the correct ritual correctly.”
The Romans thought of the relationship with the gods as a kind of “covenant.” As in the phrase “do ut des (I give so that you may give),” if humans correctly offer offerings and prayer, the gods, in return, protect the state’s prosperity. This state of keeping the gods’ favor is called “pax deorum (peace with the gods).”
So the manner of ritual was strict. If even one letter of the words of prayer was wrong, it was redone from the start. Deciding important things without confirming the gods’ will (the omens) was taboo. Roman religion was a “public duty” to protect the state’s peace, rather than the salvation of the individual.
The Larousse Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman MythologyView on Amazon →
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
The Borrowed Gods — the Reinterpretation of Greece
Many of Rome’s major gods are reinterpretations (identifications) of the Greek gods. At their center were the three supreme gods who held a magnificent temple on the capital’s hill, the “Capitoline Triad” — Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), and Minerva (Athena).
But even the same god had a different weight in Rome. For example, the war god Mars was, in Greece, the rough and unpopular Ares, but in Rome was deeply revered as the father of the founder Romulus, governing agriculture and war, an important god second to Jupiter. Even borrowing the lineup of the gods, which god is valued reflects the values of that people.
Rome’s Own Gods
On the other hand, Rome also had its own gods, without a corresponding god in Greece. These are more deeply tied to the life and state of the Romans.
| God | What they govern |
|---|---|
| Janus | A god of entrances, beginnings, and transitions, with two faces facing front and back |
| Vesta | A goddess governing the hearth fire and the state’s sacred fire |
| Quirinus | The deified Romulus. One of the old triad alongside Mars and Jupiter |
| Lares and Penates | The household gods, guarding the home and the storeroom |
| Saturn | A god of agriculture. Known for the year-end festival “Saturnalia” |
| Terminus | A god guarding the boundaries of land |
Especially distinctive is “Janus.” He has two faces, front and back, and governs the beginning and entrance/exit of all things. That the start of the year (January = the month of Janus) is dedicated to him is for this. In the Roman forum was the “Temple (gate) of Janus,” and it is held that during war the gate was opened, and only in peacetime was it closed. That its gate was closed is told to have happened only a handful of times in Rome’s long history, telling how much of a war-fighting country Rome was.
The Vestal Virgins — the Maidens Who Guard the Sacred Fire
Even among Rome’s own faiths, especially important was the faith in the hearth goddess “Vesta.” In the Temple of Vesta, the “sacred fire,” symbolizing the very life of Rome, was kept burning ceaselessly.
The ones who bore the role of guarding this fire were six women called the “Vestal Virgins (Vestales).” Chosen as girls, they vowed to keep their chastity for about 30 years. The priestesses received tremendous respect in society and were given special seats and rights, but their duty had strict laws.
If they let the sacred fire go out, it was held to be an ill omen that calamity would come to the state. And a priestess who broke the vow of chastity received the extremely heavy punishment of being buried alive underground. A single woman’s chastity tied to the fate of the state — the idea that “if the sacred fire goes out, Rome too perishes” shows, more strongly than anything, that for the Romans religion was the state itself.
The Priests Who Govern the State
Roman religion was also a giant state organization, operated by specialized priestly colleges.
Standing at their summit was the chief priest, the “Pontifex Maximus” (later the emperor came to hold this position concurrently; it is the origin of the English “pontiff”). Below him were the flamens (priests) who served particular gods. In particular, the priest serving Jupiter is told to have been imposed many fine taboos, such as “may not ride a horse” and “may not wear a knot.”
Even more important was the “augur.” They read the gods’ will from the way birds fly and their cries, and the state’s important matters, such as war and elections, could not be carried out unless a “favorable omen (the gods’ permission)” was obtained. Besides this, there was the “haruspex,” who read the entrails of sacrifices and lightning by Etruscan-derived skill, and the “Sibylline Books,” books of prophecy opened at the state’s crisis. Specialists who read out the gods’ will were incorporated into the center of Roman politics.
The Original Texts That Convey Roman Religion — Varro’s “Three Theologies”
Roman religion has no single scripture like a myth. So from what original texts is its whole picture known? The most important is the “Antiquities (Divine Antiquities)” of the great scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC). He encyclopedically systematized Rome’s gods, temples, rites, and priestly system. This book itself was lost, but because the later Christian thinker Augustine quoted it in great quantity in “The City of God,” its content has come down to the present.
Varro organized the way the gods are spoken of into “three theologies (ways of discussing the gods).” This well shows the structure of Roman religion.
| Theology | Bearer | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Mythical theology | Poets | The stories and myths of the gods (told in the theater) |
| Natural theology | Philosophers | Cosmological contemplation, asking what a god is |
| Civil theology | The state, the citizens | The cult and rites the state conducts publicly (the center of Rome) |
What the Romans especially valued was the third, “civil theology” — that is, correctly venerating the gods as a state. The stories of the gods (mythical theology) belonged, to the last, to poets and the theater. Here too the character of Roman religion, valuing cult over story, clearly appears.
The Emperors Who Became Gods — the Cult of the Empire
Roman religion, with the times, proceeded toward venerating the emperor himself as a god. This is called the “imperial cult.” Its source goes back to the already-seen deified Romulus (Quirinus).
In fact, the assassinated Julius Caesar was, after death, formally made a god by the Senate, the “Divine Caesar (Divus Iulius),” and a temple was even built (this deification is the very ending of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” seen in Article 3). The following first emperor Augustus too was, after death, venerated as “Divine Augustus.” Thereafter, it became the custom for an emperor who carried out good governance to be enrolled among the gods by a decree of the Senate after death. The cult of the emperor also functioned as a “bond,” binding the diverse peoples living in the vast provinces by loyalty to a single empire. The cult of the gods becoming, directly, an apparatus of state unification — the practicality of Roman religion reaches its height here.
Household Religion, and Ovid’s “Fasti”
Roman faith was not the grand state cult alone. In each and every household, too, religion was deeply rooted. Each house had a small altar called the “lararium,” where the household gods Lares and Penates, and the guardian spirit of the head of the family, the “genius,” were venerated daily. The head of the family (the paterfamilias) served as the priest of that house.
And Rome’s year was colored by countless rites. The year-end “Saturnalia,” with revelry that reversed status, and the “Lupercalia,” related to the wolf and fertility — festivals continued month by month. The poet Ovid’s “Fasti” is a work that sang these Roman rites and the calendar, month by month, together with the myths that are their origin, and has become a precious original text for knowing what gods the Romans venerated, when, and how.
Rome’s Individuality as Myth and Religion
Finally, let me summarize the individuality of Rome’s myth and religion. It comes down to the point of being extremely practical and one with the state.
The Romans, while borrowing the stories of the gods from Greece, held to their own religious view of “keeping the covenant with the gods by correct ritual, and protecting the state.” And their embrace was astonishingly broad, accepting one after another the gods of various conquered lands. Egypt’s Isis, the Persian-derived Mithra, and finally even Christianity flowed into the Roman world. Borrowing gods, mixing them, and incorporating them into the order of the state — this flexibility and practicality was the true strength of the religion of the great empire Rome, which bound many peoples together.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Myths That Make StoriesView on Amazon →
Greek and Roman Mythology, Explained in MangaView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I explained in detail Rome’s own gods and the state cult, following the original texts. How was it?
Two-faced Janus, the Vestal Virgins who guard the sacred fire, the household gods Lares and Penates, and the priests who conducted strict ritual as a “covenant with the gods.” I think you have felt that Roman religion valued the order and practicality of the state over story.
With this, all four articles of the Roman mythology original-texts series are complete. From the hero Aeneas who came from Troy, to Romulus raised by a wolf, Ovid who compiled the transformation myths, and the own gods and state cult, I hope you have savored the Roman mythology that existed together with the state.
I also explain the original texts of other mythologies and religions. For the full list, please see the Summary of the World’s Mythology and Religion Original Texts.
Reading it alongside the original texts of Greek mythology lets you enjoy the difference of the two even more.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Roman Mythology (5/5)
