Religion Of Ancient Rome
The religion of ancient Rome differs from many other polytheistic religions even in the absence of myth Background and origins According to Livy , it was after the reign of Romulus that Numa Pompilius , second king of Rome , instituted the religious practices and appointed pundits selected from the Fathers, being the noble characters chosen by Romulus. According Dumzil , the legendary story of Roman origins betrays an archetypal Indo-European : the first king, Romulus, focuses on military art and made Rome a true power. The second king, Numa founded the cult to the Romans and offers a new force: the fight for a good cause, the deities. The divine triad, Jupiter , in March , Quirinus , which is spread over three functions , as in ancient Indian religion trilogy gods Varuna , Indra , Nasatya. Jupiter is the function of sacred sovereignty, Mars, Quirinus and the warrior at this time god of mass production function and fertility The Roman religion All aspects mystical , theological or worship are mere superstitions in Roman eyes. Religion is what concerns the Romans and their gods. Cicero said: "Every city has its gods, and we ours." This is an official cult: the cult practice depends on the legal status and only the city can allow or disallow a God (Romans took over as civic gods a number of Greek gods or Oriental). Roman religion is a civic religion and ritualistic. Organized by the Roman state, and for the good of the Roman state, it is focused on the preservation of the pax deorum, the peace of the Gods, which guarantees the proper functioning of society and of Roman institutions and the prosperity of al City and the character of his victorious wars. Following the ancient tribal religion of the Indo-European and Italic, do not get him some mystical characters or even sentimental. The Romans, in the words of Cicero, considered themselves the most religious of men, that meant the most accurate in the performance of rituals, more attentive to fulfill their religious obligations which guaranteed them the favor of the gods. As with other other polytheistic religions of antiquity, so different they were, we must address them by following the rule that requires us to understand them, to forget everything that centuries of Judeo-Christianity have inculcated about concept of "authentic" from "religion." First Indo-European gods are never, unlike the gods of the Near East, and thus the biblical god, Masters all-powerful served by a crowd of trembling slaves. Oriental despotism turns on a total dichotomy god / man in the image of the dichotomy King (absolute) / subject (slave). Indo-Europen tribe is hinged so differentiated in orders and functions. There is no opposition but it changes and differentiations in the Italic as in the Greek world to the concept of deliberative and participatory city. The gods of these nations therefore of Rome - are citizens of a very high rank, especially powerful and honorable, particularly respectable, but they are not bullies who should be feared. The Roman is not afraid of its gods. This falls within the superstition. They are the "bosses" (as Roman) of the City, engaged in a reciprocal relationship with caring citizens. Normally, if piety is respected, if citizens are fulfilling their obligations to the gods, they are good and beneficial, especially since the increased prestige of their city reflects on them like a halo of glory. Jupiter is in the Capitoline Triad Roman with Juno and Minerva : to them that makes the most of cults. Many gods are gratified with a cult, so much so that the Romans no longer know the sex of certain deities, or they may continue to practice the rites which they no longer understand the meaning. The practice of rituals aimed primarily the desired efficacy. Although we know much about the religion of Rome archaic, under the Republic , worship is confused with that of the city, then from the Emperor of Augustus. It is also true that the polytheism of the Romans were tolerant ... to some extent. Sylla gave the 15-member mission of the college of interpreters of the Sibylline Books to monitor foreign cults. The Romans did not think their gods above, but they were proud to be the best for the rites. Pietas is successful ritual (or sacrifice ) perfect: why it is often necessary to repeat the ritual it is "administered" in a perfect way to avoid offending the god (there are examples of rites recommences thirty times by judges of great piety). Vis--vis foreign cults, the Romans are fairly tolerant, and generally all religions were tolerated (see religio lawful ). Has enriched the Roman pantheon of new gods and fed on different religious influences: the third century BC. BC for example has introduced the Greek cult of Asclepius. The original mix religion and Greek italics. At the end of the third century BC. AD, the cult Phrygian of Cybele is spreading gradually. It is officially imported to Rome during the Second Punic War, where the goddess is somehow installed in the Roman side (cf. Livy ). Subsequently, the Judaism is tolerated though strange and disliked the Roman spirit. With the conquest of Egypt, the Emperor is the title of Pharaoh , but only in Egypt. Oriental influences are showcased individual practices and the mystery cults, in the interests of direct relevance to the deity. In the first century , the emperor Caligula is interested in the cult of Isis. At the end of the second century , Commodus was initiated into Mithraism. All religions, however, have not experienced this tolerance and assimilation Roman and clandestine rituals are suspect in the eyes of the Romans: The Roman calendar is divided into various kinds of days, depending on the activity could be undertaken : For years, the quality of day was announced by the pontifex maximus only a month before, because the schedule was complicated (lunar calendar of 355 days a year so every 2 years was added an intercalary month of 20-22 days. Julius Caesar simplifies the system by 45 BC. by adopting a solar calendar proposed by the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria : the Julian calendar ), still in force today, after the reform Gregorian in 1582. See also: Roman Religious holidays The pomrium is an imaginary line that defines, in Rome , an area where the effectiveness of the rites is guaranteed. It is a pure, and thus death and armed men are not allowed. The templum (different from "temple") is a terrestrial or celestial space, cut off from the human world, and dedicated to the gods. We can distinguish: The sacrifice (make holy =) is the most important ritual because it helps maintain the pax deorum recognizing their superiority (Maiestas them) in exchange for a vow. It is practiced by a magistrate or a father for the domestic religion. There are two main types of sacrifices: Artemis is the only goddess (Huntress) that can receive the game as a sacrifice. Part of the sacrifice is burned on the altar or on the ground, the other is eaten by humans. Everything is burned on an altar or on the ground. That is what we call the Holocaust. It is mainly intended for deities hypochtoniennes (live underground). The offerings. The Roman gods offer pets - Cattle - Sheep - Swine - Sometimes Dogs The sacrifice is multistage process that must be followed in the correct order for successful offerings: - The Praefatio: the inaugural offering the use of wine that symbolizes the recognition of the gods but also of Incense. - The Immolatio which is payable on the back of the animal in the Mola Salsa: a salty meal. We consider this act as a consecration of the animal to pass from the human world to the divine world: belonging to God. The ready repent few drops of wine on the front of the animal and then passes the knife on his back with a quick gesture to show that the beast is devoted to sacrifices to the gods. - The Romans do not describe the next step which is the killing of the animal. The slave responsible for killing the animal must ask permission before slaughter. We attach the horns so he nods and then knock him out with a mallet. - The Precatio: prayer pronounced aloud by priests - The Litatio: versification and acceptance of sacrifice by the gods - Sharing sacrificial - The sacrificial banquet. Namely an offering may take place if the animal does not in place, if it is frightened, ill or fled. In this case the offering to maintain the Romans should choose another docile beast healthy. In ancient Rome , belonging to social class influences the auspicious rites. The rich are normally incinerated, the poorest as the slaves are thrown into mass graves without ceremony. The rituals have also changed with the demise of the Roman religion in favor of Oriental religions such as Christianity. It is common for some men, whose emperors through the Imperial cult , are the subject of a cult following death. The prodigy, in Latin or Prodigium portentum if it is particularly scary or impressive, can be defined in the Roman religion as the spontaneous manifestation of the divine will by the onset of natural phenomena and climate specific. These prodigies were therefore interpreted as a sign of anger or disapproval of the divine. It was for the Romans to find in the acts that performed recently or those who did not please the gods. Indeed, for the Roman prodigy necessarily mean failure. These wonders could result in rain of stones, from the origins of Rome tiaent perceived as signs warning of terrible misfortune for the city. There were also spectacular, ie the wrath that fell at specific points. The birth of hermaphrodites (monster) was considered against nature because it proved to be the worst of all the wonders under Roman beliefs, that child is considered a threat to world harmony, a sign of military defeat and death. Indeed, in the Roman concept heavily influenced by the Etruscans , particularly in the late third century BC. AD , the very presence of a hermaphrodite was seen as a defilement of the Roman territory. Moreover, the fact of not knowing if that child is a boy or girl was an attack on the Roman identity in itself and raised among the Romans deepest horror. The miracles were so numerous, varied and all taken into account by the Senate. As the wonders express their dissent and dissatisfaction of Roman gods must multiply the atonement ceremonies to ward off these miracles and regain divine favor. Thus, it is through the holding of religious ceremonies known as "atonement" and particularly through the offerings and sacrifices to the gods that Rome hopes to regain the support of their deities. In this, the Senate has several means of action, namely 3 priesthoods competent with each different specificities but all three are able to perform ceremonies of expiation. First are solicited the pundits who are located in the city of Rome, may be approached immediately by the Roman power. They proceeded first to a survey, they exposed the findings before the Senate. On behalf of the latter, they must determine what God is manifested through all these wonders. This is where the Annals Maximilian had plenty of interest because through observation of phenomena, the answers given by previous pontiffs had been recorded in the archives. Thus, for each type of miracle, it was appropriate to take a particular response annotated in the archives to avert the phenomenon. The priests belong to the elite patricio-plebeian (knights and senators often and therefore magistrates), and are seen as fulfilling a public utility. They are each charged is the worship of a god (the flamens ), is organized into colleges permanent, or in brotherhood (the sodalities ). There are four colleges where the sacerdotal priesthood is for life: These are also called fraternities sodalities. The opposite of religio (which concerns the public domain) is superstitio (which concerns the private sphere): the atheism does not exist. The citizens have no right to make free call to worship a god public. Fear and Love of the gods is sheer superstitio: this is not civil behavior. "The religio is a merit, superstitio is a weakness," Cicero. The " Case of Bacchanalia ( 186 BC. ) is a serious religious matter: a secret cult is rendered to Bacchus (the wine flows like water) by several people. It is a crime "against-City" "City Within the City" by a private worship a god, because the city is a "corpus" of gods and these gods are the City (private worship is impossible). The "criminals" were severely repressed. Pietas is the scrupulous observance. The Romans believed the most righteous of humans and therefore they are helped by the gods. They also invite the gods of the defeated opponents to come to Rome to be well honored. Thus, the gods of the vanquished that they are leaving even less well protected and assisted. Pietas also signifies the respect due to parents (pietas erga relatives), respect of the homeland (pietas erga patriam). In both cases, it also has a religious meaning: the Roman worships the gods Manes (his ancestors), the lar familiaris, he participated in the civic cult. One can not speak of religion without reference to the Roman gods of the Mediterranean basin that have been "imported" into the mother city, Rome. The first deity who came to Rome is the Anatolian goddess Cybele , in 204 BC. AD , whose rites were performed by eunuch priests, who, like the worship of the goddess Atargatis , was mutilated and transformed their rites in bloodshed. Nevertheless, one can still feel some exaggeration in the writings of authors who disagreed with these cults from the East. Then came the Greek gods, which caused an assimilation between deities. So the little god Neptune became the equivalent of the great master of the sea Poseidon. A minor goddess of forests, Diane , was equated with the sovereign wooded areas, Artemis , the virgin huntress. But the Greek god who kept nearly all its attributes and even its name was Dionysus - Bacchus. A scandal broke out about it in the second century BCE, the "case of Bacchanalia. " The Alexandrian cult arrived in Rome by merchants Egyptian , and it is only under Caligula they began to be practiced. Indeed, the emperor thought he was a descendant of the pharaohs. We worshiped in the Campus Martius the Egyptian goddess Isis , her husband Serapis and their child Harpocrates ( Horus the Child Hellenized). But were also worshiped other gods of Egypt, such Hermanubis (Hermes-Anubis) or Apis , which has traces until Gaul. Isis took considerable importance and was faithful to her, as in Egypt, the universal goddess who begat the universe and the stars, the Mother Goddess. This cult was very hierarchical, on a more or less borrowed Egyptian traditions. One can still admire today the temple of the goddess to Pompeii. But the god who had the most success in Roman territory was Mithras , an Indo-Iranian god. This god arrived later among the Eastern deities. He is venerated in mithraea. His cult was reserved for men only and it was very successful in the military. The god was a chance for salvation, and is often represented in the scene of the tauroctony. Some turned to the gods because they seemed closer or promised a blessed immortality, but basically the Roman religion was syncretic and these new cults were outside not in conflict with existing ones. The official religion of the City
"The" religio "is justice towards the gods and to the dead" by these words, Cicero includes the word "justice" (from the Latin jus, "moral obligation") as a "moral duty" to make peace gods is maintained. The worship of other religions
The operation of the Roman civic religion
The religious calendar
The Sacred Spaces
The pomrium
The templum
Religious practices
Sacrifices
Offerings
Cremation
The opinion of the gods
The wonders
Priests
The priestly colleges
The religious brotherhoods
Special cases: the rex sacrorum and Vestal
superstitio and pietas
superstitio
Pietas
The Eastern deities
Greco-Roman Gods
See also
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