rome gods and religion

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A TALE OF 2 CITIIESLecture one:1.Section 1: BACKGROUND.2.Essential to our study is the understanding of how imagery and religion work together.

The Gods of Rome

1.Religion in Rome had many facets and was constantly changing and developing.- The nations assimilated by the Romans were added to the Pantheon.- Some aspects were unchanging.2. Initially it was a religion of form a Ritual with little emphasis on spiritual.- The idea to make a compact with the Gods, exchange of services.- External and communal affair- At first the family then the community Village City State and finally Empire.- Eventually these become meaningless and mechanical into this vacuum pour other kinds of religions

as the mystery cults and Mithraism

3. Initially the Romans had a pantheistic kind of religion in which the Gods unlike Greece were nothumanlike but rather spirits of trees and rocks and lightening- These spirits are called numina amoral neither good nor bad.- Had to be treated right in order to bestow good on man and it was the priests whose job was to

ascertain what the Gods needed.4.At first the fathers role was to lead the household Pater familias .- This was taken over later by the community the Rex.- King advised by groups of men called Pontifices and augures pecialists in religious law and the

second in interpreting omens.5.Early Examples:- Earliest known numina Vesta hearth and fire - Lares guards the home- Jupiter (taken from the Indo-European sky God)- Mars spirit of season and growth.- Propitiating the numina became the function of the Priests and Kings.- Proliferated until there were so many confusing number ridiculed in writings by St. Augustine .-

6.The Etruscans. We know little about them but there is a connection with the Greeks and the oracles

who were simply mediums.- They introduce the ideas of the temple, religious processions, Gods with human forms and the

statues and images- Goddess Juno Minerva and added Etruscan attributes to Jupiter.- Divination and prophecy- The interpretation of events in nature and the practice of reading entrails ad particularly the liver.7.Divination: This very ancient custom of looking for signs from the gods by observing nature.- Bird watching taking the auspices (under the auspices)- Claudius Pulcher and the divining chickens.8.Greek Gods ;- Roman absorbs the Greek pantheon.- Transition from impersonal numina human like Gods is completed.- Jupiter = Zeus. Father God.- Venus = Aphrodite.- Juno = Hera. Goddess of women and marriage.- Mars = Ares. God of war.- Mercury = Hermes the messenger.- Diana = Artemis Goddess of the hunt.- Minerva = Athena, Goddess of Wisdom.- Apollo Greek God unchanged in name.9. Old religion still survived- Romans continued to honour the numina. E.G. Fortune (Fortunata or lady luck);


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- Concord or political harmony. She was worshipped in many temples, but the oldest was on the ForumRomanum and dates back to 367 BCE and was built by Camilus. The temple also served as a meeting-place forthe Roman senate.

- Themis the Roman goddess of justice, portrayed as a woman holding a cornucopia and scales. Later she isportrayed with a blindfold, holding scales and a sword (or sceptre).Nemesis In Greek

- Each home usually had a shrine to a domestic numina.- Old religious calendars ordering of days of fasti and nefasti. (days of rest when business could be

conducted or not)- Annual festivals- SATURNALIA December. Later combined with the Sun God and Mithris.- Carnival that ended in Autumn planting.- Slaves were given liberty and people exchanged gifts. And a mock king was crowned.- With so many gods to choose from they developed personal favourites.- Important people had their own favourites and from these cults developed with observances and

Holidays.- Over the years colleges of Priests would develop special powers and privileges and nothing in roman

life from a business trip to declaration of war would be undertaken without the Gods Sanction. - E.G. The observance of declaration of war.10.The 3 major religions of Rome:

01.College of Vestal Virgins.- To Guard the sacred flame of Vesta once the numena of the Roman hearth, now symbolised the

Roman state.- Fire enclose in a round temple in the Forum Romanum never permitted to go out, tended in

ancient and intricate ritual.- Caretakers were Vestals originally daughters of the King later drawn from leading families and a

great honour.- They are extremely entrenched in the Roman mentality and were especially difficult to eradicate.- In 391 and 392 king Theodosius issues edicts against paganism 2 groups held on.- The Devotees of Serapis and the Vestal Virgins.- From age 6-10 must remain for 30 years. Vow of chastity. (IF she broke her vow)- Syncretistic Rome constantly filters in aspects takes aspects from other pagan faiths so the attributes of

Diana are incorporated into the role of the Vestal Virgin.- she was conceived as a huntress, blessing men and women with offspring and granting expectant mothers

an easy delivery.- On the 13th of August she was worshipped with fire and lamps which lit up the lake and in hearths

throughout the country.- At Nemi she also bore the title Vesta indicating the role of her sacred fire.- Her statues show her holding a burning torch. Women came to make offerings crowned with wreaths and

with torches.02.The Sibylline Oracles promoted the welfare of the State in a more tangible way.- The oracles were originally 9 Sibylline books reduced to 3 (Story of the Etruscan King)- Prestige of the Oracles was enormous they were consulted in matters of great moment. War

famine etc. Only undertaken on the orders of the Senate. Actual content of the oracles is amystery.

- Story of Constantine seen later before the battle of Milvian bridge- These books are lost today and their contents are unknown.03. The Emperor as Romes spiritual head or Pontifax maximus - Originally the Emperor deified at his death.- This then became practiced during his lifetime.- The role of quasi-deity became a symbol for his empire worship became an expression of loyaltyand unity.- The deification of the Emperor not literally the person but rather the genius of[AO1] the that

person- However, not only individuals had guardian spirits: families, households, and cities had their own.- Even the Roman people as a whole had a genius. The genius was usually depicted as a winged,

naked youth, while the genius of a place was depicted as a serpent. (See also: Lares.)- The sarcophagus (238 AD)Genius of the Senate; Shows the State of the empire with its multitude of

plots counter plots and assassinations. The genius is intended to invoke the respect of the populace on thedeification through

- Military commanders have a History of taking over the government as the Emperors flounder indebauchery and misrule. Pathetic Gordianus III father and grandfather murdered in the same year looksterror struck as well he might when murdered by An Arab Officer called Philip who was inevitablyassassinated himself.

11.The Statue of Augustus seen as Imperator.- Seen as Imperator in grand pose a blend of Doryphoros and Arringatore.- After his death otherwise would have been wearing boots (As a God he did not need)- Shown as a young man , Head is a portrait official type seen on coins.


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- Features are Hellenistic- Drapery falls on his arm revealing the relief story on his armour telling the story in mythological terms

of his rise to power.- How would this contrast with the Portrait of Augustus as Pontifax maximus? - Deliberate contrast seen as a Roman high priest- About to perform a sacrificial rite head veiled in a fold of his toga.- Recalls Praxitels softness in marble deliberate radiates Godlike wisdom and maturity.- Not a realistic likeness a general idea of beauty and wisdom borrowed from the Greeks.- ORIGINS OF PATRIARCHAL WORSHIP -

12.The Rise of Augustus- During Julius Caesar's occupation of Gaul (now much of which is France) in the first century B.C.E.,

things were going fairly smoothly for the Romans until an upstart Swabian Barbarian named Ariovistuscame moseying across the Rhine to see what was going on. In fury, Julius Caesar chased him and histroops back across into Germany (58 B.C.E) and proceeded to pursue the occupation of Gaul much moreaggressively than before.

- In anger, many of the Gallic barbarian tribes, such as the Averni, rose up in revolt against the harshRoman treatment. A feisty young barbarian named Vercingetorix (pronounced Ver-sin-JEH-toh-ricks)was adamant that Caesar and the Romans would be driven out of Gaul.

- His people raised him to kingship in 52 B.C.E. Under his leadership, the Gallic tribes were very largelysuccessful in quashing the Roman occupation, until the fateful batttle of Alesia, where Vercingetorix andhis troops were forced to yield to Julius Caesar. Vercingetorix was captured as a prisoner of war, takenback to Rome by the victorius Julius Caesar, imprisoned there, and later executed by strangulation in 45

B.C.E. Of course, Caesar himself was assassinated the next year by his own people, so "what goesaround, comes around."

13.Patrician with 2 marble heads from the republican times.

- Greeks worked in a canon of beauty and would never accept the idea of a portrait head, thiswas an Etruscan tradition.

- Old custom of making exact wax portrait masks, ancestor worship.- The heads show strong family resemblance.- Head was lost and replaced by another unrelated one.

- PORTRAITS AND BUSTS- Heads of Emperors were not flattering and quite unattractive this is in keeping with Roman

mentality always practical and matter of fact people.- Head of Pompey- Certainly done by a Greek sculptor aware of all the techniques of Hellenistic art.- - How did the art of Greece become used and known by the Romans?- After the sack of Syracuse Roman artefacts arrive in great nos.- Stripped of original setting and meaning they become objects of adornment.- Extensive collections are built up by plunder or purchase.- When originals ran out copies were made by the thousand.

13.The Pantheon- Originally built as a temple to all the gods of the Roman state religion, but has been a Christian

church since the 7th century AD. It is the only building from the Greco-Roman world which iscompletely intact and which has been in continuous use throughout its history.

- Original Pantheon built by Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed by fire in AD 80, and the Pantheon wascompletely rebuilt in about AD 125, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, as date-stamps on thebricks reveal.

- In AD 609 the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who reconsecratedit as a Christian church, the Church of Mary and all the Martyr Saints (Santa Maria ad Martyrs), whichtitle it retains.

- A dome that fits perfectly and is intended to portray the heavens.- Originally painted Blue as the heavens and was meant to imitate the canopy of the heavens.

14.Epicureanism and Stoicism- Epicurean: the natural world formed by chance and without order therefore man is free to direct his

own destiny.- Epicurus the idea was the goal iof life is pleasure achieved when man is free from pain. This of course is

mistranslated into a life of pleasure by many cynical Romans.- Stoic : - Stoic comes from Stoa or porch in Athens because its founder Zeno from Cyprus was too poor

to hire his own hall to teach.- They taught the natural world meticulously ordered by a universal reason, which exists in all things.

Man living in harmony with reason man can rise above the difficulties of his own surroundings.- The stern ethics of stoicism appealed to the serious minded Romans.- Life live with pure reason is the goal and the things of ordinary people wealth health and positon are not

of value.


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- Story of Seneca Stoic writer and Lawyer:- Banished from the Senate by Claudius returns to Rome as Neros tutor, was implicated in a plot and

ordered to commit suicide. Sat in a bath and with Stoic disdain opened his veins. 15.Eastern philosophies:

- Merchants With the continued disillusionment of the Romans towards traditional Gods thereis an openness to new ideas and religious philosophies.

- There is a tremendous lack of faith in the authorities who are busy usurping one leader foranother. Roman religion froze the impulses of faith by its coldness and prosaic utilitarianism- The leaders of Rome entertain the people with endless spectacles which prevent the ever

growing unemployment problem from becoming a rebellion.- - Merchants, slaves and soldiers brought back eastern religions.- Cybele Isis and Mithras.1.Cybele: also known as Magna Mater brought by official invitation in 205 BC. At a time of war

(2nd Punic) and the Sybaline oracle suggested this may help their cause.- Rome had misgivings in spite of initial success.- The rituals involved cutting and pricking and became an orgy of blood (not go down too well

today) and were eventually outlawed although later it was revived.- Cybele in Asia Minor The selfsame mystery religion imported into Rome(deoius the child), Also known

as Kybele and Magna Mater and the Mother of the Gods, the worship of this goddess spread throughoutthe Roman Empire. Originally Phrygian, she was a goddess of caverns, of the Earth in its primitive state;worshipped on mountain tops. She ruled over wild beasts, and was also a bee goddess. Her festival

came first on the Roman calender. Along with her consort, the vegetation god Attis, Cybele wasworshipped in wild, emotional, bloody, orgiastic, cathartic ceremonies

- Because Cybele presided over mountains and fortresses, her crown was in the form of a city wall. Thecult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic ritesaccompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Her annual springfestival celebrated the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis.

- A Priest of Cybele shown in vestments pomegranate (symbol of life)pine cones and fruit(fertility). Beside him are objects of cult rites cymbols and self flagellation whip.

- Identified with Dionysus or Bacchus religious fervour a hall mark of the religious rites andalcohol a means to abandonment.

2. Isis: far more gracious and gentle deity.- Originally Egyptian later Hellenised.- Isis became so powerful for many generations Jews and Christains would bear the name

Isidore or (gift of Isis) as easily as Theodore (Gift of Fod)

- Favoured by women drawn to her elaborate and mystical initiation rites.- Lasted for 10 days which culminated in the story of the death and resurrection of Isis

husband Osiris, the miraculous rebirth achieved by the outpouring of grief by Isis herself.- Followers would feel themselves to be reborn through the ritual. Semiramis Nimrod and

Tammuz.- Rome is full of obelisks ;The Obelisk and its history and meaning. Death of Nimrod murdered

through Semiramis and his body lost and the search for it.- The obelisk is everywhere in official buildings throughout the world. Why- Very significant: Tower on the head symbol, is combined with horns as in Egypt the sun or all

three.3.THE OBELISKS ARE IN KEY PLACES WORLD WIDE TODAY!- The Perpetuation of the worship of Isis- The year is 1789 in Paris and the Bastille is stormed it is dismantled and in its place is put a

statue of Isis flanked by 2 lions- The statue was conceived by the artist Jacque Louis David artist and propagandist for the

revolution.- The statue was constructed out of plaster and out of her breasts flowed 2 streams into a

fountain out of which the populace could drink the pure and salutary liquor of regeneration.- There was a serious attempt at this time to rid France of the control of the Christian Church.- A new religion was to replace Christianity this was called the Cult of Reason or Cult of the

Supreme Being!- The orgy of beheading in 1793-4 could hardly have been called reasonable. Priests resigned

their posts in droves and the Bishop of Paris was forced to recant.- Maximillian Robespiere masterminded by the painter Jacque Louis David.- In the Street festivals that followed the Goddess of Reason garbed with a tricolour veil and

the little red cap popular amongst revolutionaries. La Libert Nanine Vallain 1793-4- The cap is specifically reminiscent of 2 well known pagan deities Cybele and Mithras.

Phrygian cap from where Cybele originated. (In modern Turkey)Cybele is often associatedwith Isis (The Trojan Paris with Phrygian cap.)

- May 1814 Louis XVIII installed on the French throne after the deposing of Napoleon.- Freemason and is succeeded by his brother Charles X both showing a marked preference forEgyptian symbolism in their public works


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- 1827, Jean Francois Champollion and the Rosetta Stone(?)was commissioned by Charles X tobring an Egyptian Obelisk to Paris one of a pair that stood in Alexandria.

- To be place in the Place de la Concorde The place where the guillotine had been erected thatbeheaded the aristocracy.

- Francois Edouard Picot decorates his personal museum at the Louvre (which was not publicyet) with an Egyptian theme, so he uses the same Isis theme that was placed in the square ofthe Bastille.

4.Mithras:- The origins are shrouded in antiquity but Romans were introduce to Mithras by Persian

Zoroatrianism. Zoroaster or Sarathustra and monotheistic believer and a reformer of themulti theistic Gods in the near east.

- Representation of Mithras is traditionally seen with him in a cave, on the back of a Bull, dagger inhand wearing a flowing cape and a Phrygian cap. He pulls the Bulls head by its nostrils stabbing it with adagger, back foot extended over the bulls right leg. A dog and a snake are shown leaping into the Bullswound showing the conflict between good and evil at the moment of creation. A scorpion is shown at theBulls genitals depicting evil trying to destroy life at its source.

- - Mithraism was closely related to an older faith that was another Egyptian Babylonian import

namely that of Sun Worship. Sun worship in fact becomes the most prolific of all pagan religiousimagery to supply the newly appointed faith of Christianity as we shall see.

- Sun Worship was a kind of monotheism and in the third century became almost the official state religionfollowed very closely by Mithraism also advocating a strong monotheistic outlook. Interesting how theyall proliferate specifically at this time.

- Constantines mother was a priestess of the sun God and we see elements of the 2 faiths constantlyin the outlook of Constantine.

- Originally Persian God of Light Undefeated warrior keen hunter and able horseman everything thatwould appeal to the Roman soldier. Code of conduct and strict discipline.

- Appeals directly to soldiers and becomes the unofficial religion of the Roman legionary- Becomes Romes most widely spread religion by the 3rd C. AD.- The basic mythology: Sun God commands Mithras to slay the bull. He hunts it drags it back to the

cave where he sacrifices the beast. The blood of the Bull spills out becomes the source of all life.- Inscription on a Mithraic shrine in Rome You saved us by the spilling of your blood.- Tail sprays grain to signify harvest and new life but the scorpion is also present trying to drink from

the blood of the Bull.- Sun God and Mithras share a meal of the meat and the blood of the Bull- They then ascend to heaven in the sun Gods chariot. - Shaking of hands.- Secrete initiation rites Mithras would grant salvation and eternal afterlife- Shrines resemble caves to imitate the killing of the Bull- Baptism and bread and wine celebrate the eating of the blood and meat of the Bull.- Aspire through discipline to ascend through the ranks to the level of Pater. The top level meant entry

into paradise at their death.- Justyn Martyre and Tertullian were aware of the Mithraic Eucharist as a demonic parody of the Christian

practice.- Gradually declined by the 4th century through syncretism and competition with Christianity.5.The worship of the Bull.6. The signs of the zodiac and Taurus being supplanted during a shift in the constellations that we now

know to be because of the wobble of the earths axis.7. Deity of truth and light and introduces the concept of a battle between good and evil to the Roman

mind.8. 3rd Century AD practically the official religion of the Roman army.9. Identified with sun worship from Egypt Re or Ra. Monotheistic religion going back to Persia.10.7 pointed star identifies this man as a priest from the sun God in roman Egypt.11.Apollo in Greece and Mithraism in Rome12.Certain rites not too different to Christianity e.g. Baptism.13.Worship by raising hands.

16.The Jews in Rome: The Beginnings of Christian persecution.14.Jews lived under relative security in Rome. Under dominion since 63 BC15.Under chronic suspicion for belief in the one God but Augustine did decree synagogues were inviolable

and Jews did not have to attend the court on their Sabbath days. Generally Jews coexisted with theRomans in peace.

16.Josephus the Historian was a initially commander of rebel Jews to which we owe the story of Masada.Later he defected to the Romans and was received favourably.

17.To commemorate his brothers capture of Jerusalem in A.D.70 Emperor Domitian erects as wascustomary a triumphal arch along the sacred way the street which connected the imperial forums withthe coliseum.


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18.The arch is a permanent version of a temporary arch customarily built by Roman commanders whenthey returned triumphant from war at the head of armies, bearing spoils of war and leading fetteredprisoners.

19.By the end of the Roman empire there were 64 of these scattered throughout Rome.20.Constantine the great erected one after his victory at Milvian Bridge the great turning point in the

History of Christianity.21.Seutonius in one of the earliest records of Christianity describes how the Jews were banished from Rome

in A.D.49 by Claudius, specifically because of the tensions between the Jews and Christians.22.The revolt of 66 was crushed and Jerusalem totally destroyed by Titus in 70A.D.23.135 The Diaspora driven out of Jerusalem never to return.24.Synagogue paintings of the Jews are used as examples for the early Christians looking for a model to

base their depictions on.

17.Christianity

25.The Romans saw Jesus as a minor political rebel crucified under Tiberius by the procurator PontiusPilate. (Tacitus)

26.Initially scattered throughout the empire without any kind of central administration.27.Rivalries did develop and doctrinal disputes did flourish. The local flavour did influence these.28.It was a religion initially of the cities and it became an urban movement. The Poor were ready converts

and they expected Christs imminent return.29.The Latin word Paganusmeaning a rustic to describe a non Christian and the term stuck

18.The problems with Christianity for the Romans.30.Not the fact that they worshipped their own God this was not a problem in syncretistic Rome.31.First problem: The founder was a criminal tried and executed by the State. In an Empire very

dependant on state security, the rebelliousness of the Jews was well known, and the danger ofinsurrection always imminent.

32.2ndly: Christians as the Jews could not admit the divinity of Caesar.33.There were accusations of love banquets in which the body and blood were eaten from the son of man.

The believers loved each other as brothers and sisters. Incest? Cannibalism?

16. Persecution breaks out in Rome.

34.In 64 A.D. amid mounting opposition to the Christians Nero uses them as a scape goat for the greatfire of Rome. Terrible stories of persecutions and the struggles that would last for 3 hundred years.

35.Why were the Christians so willing to die?36.in Rome Catacombs are the earliest e.g. Of Christian Art. The catacombs. Story of the catacombs notlike the popular idea at all.37.The Catacombs:38.Forbidden burial places or not wishing to bury their dead with Pagans Christians used the burial customs

of the poor. Paganus was a non city dweller39.Burial places of Christians not secrete hiding places.40.Called coemeteria from which we get cemetery.41.Poorer Romans burned the bodies and kept the ashes in urns to which they offered incense.42.Christians made their own burial chambers in which the bodies were kept in tunnels dug into the soft

tufa stone subterranean levels with several levels joined together by secondary tunnel form a complexnetwork.

43.Links between chambers sometimes contained the relics of martyrs or were used for the celebration ofliturgies or anniversaries for the dead.

44.These crypta often decorated with crude paintings in rich colours.45.Symbols like the fish olive tree and dove were seen for the first time.46.Rectangular niches would house the bodies sometimes several, this type of burial called Loculi47.Other tombs called arcosolia decorated with a carved arch or slab decorated above the tomb.48.Were no longer used after the 5 th Century but became pilgrimage destinations49.7th Century bodies of martyrs were removed and to the Churches.50.The cross not a popular subject until many years later.

19.The Roman circus.51.Amphitheatre the most obvious and famous eg. The Coliseum in Rome52.Slaughter immense; 5000 animals would die in a single day.53.To supply the arenas hunters would have to go through the provinces rounding up lions tigers

elephants Hippos Rhinoceroses.54.Hunts were spectacles in their own right.55.Area closed of with nets prey hunted using dogs javelins stones.56.Beaters with shields and flaming torches trapped the animals and herded them into crates to

be transported to the circus.57.Whole species threatened Hippo wipe out in Nubia.58.Crowds delighted to see odd spectacles panthers pulling chariots elephants kneeling beforethe emperor and write in the sand with their trunks.59.Bears wrestling buffalo or Bulls against Rhinos


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60.Always inventing new unequal matches even flooding the coliseum and staging a warbetween ships.

61.Hail Emperor those who are about to die salute you.62.Prisoners of war slaves or criminals. Fighters were even able to win freedom.63.These practices last well into the 5th century AD and even beyond64.Constantine forbade Gladiatorial games in 325, but they continued unabated in the West.65.Honorious describes them in 405 after a monk named Telemachus had been done to death by

the populace for trying to separate 2 gladiators in the Coliseum

20.The triumph of Christianity66.Empeor Diocletian creates a system known as the Tetrachy in order to try and prevent the

Empire spiralling out of control.67.The Tetrarchy made up of 2 emperors with the title Augustus and 2 heirs-apparent with the

titles Caeser.68.He retires in 305 and his coruler does so Maximium does so as well.69.The 2 Caesers are meant to become Augusti and then repeat the process but in less than a

year the system breaks down and there are 4 rival Augusti.19. CONSTANTINE AND MILVIAN BRIDGE

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