Roman religion?

Question

how did the roman religion affect the lives of romans in early AD?

Answer 1

Hello, my dear, lets see, In some ways Roman religion is a lot like Greek religion, but in other ways it is very different. Like the Greeks, the Romans thought that there were many gods, and that these gods each controlled different parts of the world: storms, the ocean, marriage, blacksmithing, and so forth, therefore a decision in rome couldnt have been taken without the "decision" taken by a divine voice.
The Romans were particularly interested in power, and much less interested in balance than the Greeks.
The chief of the gods, for the Romans, was Jupiter. His name is related to the name of the Greek god Zeus, and Jupiter is similar to Zeus in many ways. They are both sky gods who throw lightning bolts when they are angry.
At first the Roman gods were separate from Greek gods, although distantly related because both groups worshipped Indo-European gods. Later on, though, as the Romans met more Etruscans and Greeks and began to admire the Greeks more and more, the Romans adopted many Greek gods as their own and began to worship them as well. One early example is the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
For the Romans, as well, their emperors were gods, or something very close to gods, depending on who you asked. Generally in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, in Egypt and Western Asia, people worshipped the emperors as gods. But in the western part, in Europe, people worshipped only the emperor's guardian angel or something like that, not the emperor himself.



the principal gods were:
Saturn: one of the oldest gods, who was once the ruler, but his place was taken by his son (Jupiter).
Jupiter: god of the sky, he was the most important god.
Juno: Jupiter's wife, who looked after women.
Neptune: Jupiter's brother, who was the god of the sea.
Minerva: goddess of wisdom and women's work, such as weaving cloth.
Mars: god of war.
Venus: goddess of love, who was the lover of Mars.

During the later part of the Republic and throughout most of the pagan empire, the Romans deified ( or made gods of) people who were well loved or committed great deeds during their life. People were usually deified after their death and the deification was most always done by the senate. With the assination (and later deification) of Julius Caesar, it became popular for the senate to reward dead emperors ,who had served well in life, with deification. A humorous note to this involves the death of the emperor Vespasian in which he said ,just before he died, " I feel I am becoming a god." Upon deification an emperor usually had temples built in his honor and a cult of followers.

Also, during this period the Vestal Virgins were a major part of Roman religious practices. The Vestal Virgins were a sacred group of women whose duty it was to keep the sacred fire of Vesta burning at all times. The Vestal Virgins were required to take a vow of chastity upon entering the cult and the breaking of these vows was an offense punishable by a painful death. These revered women were so highly regarded by the Roman populace that they were given seats of honor in public places ,like the arena, when the regular woman was always put in less nobel areas.

By the early empire ,in the first century AD, the traditional form of Roman religion was beginning to show signs of breaking up. Causes for this breakup could be attributed to the swarms of new religious beliefs that were sweeping through the Roman empire and the fact that most of these theologies promised peace after death to the destitute and uneducated majority of the Roman populace. The most notable of these new religions was Christianity ,which had found it's roots in the rebellious Roman territory of Judea.

"And so it Came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augstus that whole world should be taxed"

These famous lines of the Christian Bible describe the first mention of a Roman Emperor and would be remembered throughout history with the birth of Jesus Christ ,the symbol of christianity. Though his life was short and he was crucified at an extremely young age, Jesus developed a cult following due to his presumed miracles and of his preaching of eternal peace and everlasting life. His crucifixion resulted in the spreading of his faith throughout the Roman empire and in the beginning of the end of traditional Roman religion. Ironically enough it was the Romanization of Europe that allowed the Christian faith to easily spread. By the death of Christ, the whole Roman empire was connected with well constructed roads and inns which allowed the prophets to spread their message easily and safely.

During the first decades preceding Christ's death, Christians were tolerated but not really liked by the general population of the Roman empire due to their refusal to acknowledge the emperor as a living god. This act of defiance was considered heresy by the state .The real mass persecution of the Christian people came during the reign of the emperor Nero who needed a scapegoat on whom to blame the great fire during his reign. He chose the Christians because they were only a new group and did not have the total acceptance of the Roman people. These persecutions were horrible and involved all sorts of barbaric tortures which included the victim being fed to the lions, crucified or being used as a human torch. These same persecutions which were meant to discourage christianity actually helped it to grow because it was believed that the Christians died for their religion (became Martyrs) which made them look even more nobel to the people.

Because of this persecution, many early Christians were forced to worship in the Roman Catacombs which was one of the few places they would be safe. The catacombs were sacred to the Romans because their dead were buried there and it was forbidden for them to kill anyone within their walls. It is also true that the crucifix was not always the symbol of Christianity but ,in fact, it started out as a Pagan Roman symbol. The fish was the identifying symbol among the early Christians and they identified with each other through that way.

The beginning of the third phase and of the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire occurred in 312 BC, upon the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. It is said that he had a vision from the Christian god before a monumental battle in which he was told that he would have victory if he painted the sign of Christianity on the shields of his men. He did what was told of him and was victorious and converted the empire to Christianity.

As soon as Christianity had taken a major hold in the empire and Christian communities developed, the early Christians decided that they needed a form of government to bind all the communities together. The Bishop was the head of all the Christian communities in certain districts called dioceses or sees. Under the bishops there were the priests who were specially set aside for church work and to help the priests were men called deacons. This system of church government developed under the Roman Empire is still in the same basic form used today.

In Pagan Rome, the Pontifex Maximus was the head priest who was in charge of all religious affairs of the state. In Christian Rome, the head Christian priest adopted the title and would be later known by history by that name. The high Pontiff ,or Pope, became an important figurehead next to the emperor and he was given a big role in the making of descisions. Near the end of the Western empire, when the imperial capital had been moved from Rome to Constantanople by Constantine, the pope (or bishop) was the only important man left in Rome and so assumed a position of power and responsibility. In 445 AD it was decreed that the Bishop in Rome had supremacy over the whole church.

Even though the Roman empire did fall less than 200 years after it adopted Christianity, the beliefs that Jesus inspired rose from the ashes and flourished. From the Roman empire, the church inherited much and Christianity had adapted the Roman form of government and the Roman idea of unity. It is because of these Roman ideals that Christianity survived through the ages to become the strongest religion in the world.




have a nice day, Karen B.

Answer 2

Be more specific - exactly which religion and which era are you referring to? Because Christianity took root in its early years and was officially adopted as the state religion not long before the empire collapsed. The previous pantheon was primarily imported from the Greeks and other conquered territories.

Answer 3

i will assume you advise Roman Catholic non secular practices, as against "Roman" in line with se - which may be pagan gods such as the Greek mythological gods. The Roman Catholic custom imitates Orthodox Judaism in various of techniques in ceremony and gown, even as also incorporating some pagan factors and practices from historic Rome.

Answer 4

Which portion of the population? It had more effect on women than men. And then there was the common folk as opposed to the plebians. Also the military and of course the conquered peoples and the slaves.

Answer 5

it affected everything . if you didnt follow the laws of the gods they would kill you , and they blamed christians alot for pissing the gods off