1. Religions of Rome
Part III

2. 1. Old Roman Religion
Original State Religion:
All of Rome originally
– Based on Greek deities
– Very superstitious!!
– Lares & Penates,
Numina (spirit of a place), Augurs.
• Elites – turned to Greek Philosophy
Lararium
– Stoicism – Cicero – Roman orator & writer
– Individual duty
– Pursuit of justice = individual’s highest public duty
– Scorned those who took power & money as immoral,
illegal, unjust.

3. Augurs
“Divining” the future, reading signs in nature

4. Pontifex Maximus
• Highest religious office in Rome
– Stepping stone to more power
– Public rituals, bless temples
– Regulated calendars
– Administer law of adoption & wills
– Regulator of public morals, incl. punishment
• NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE ITALY! Needed to keep
their holiness and power in Rome at all times.
• With Augustus, it became part of the Emperor’s
duty
• Later, Catholic church took this title for the Bishop
of Rome, the Pope

5. Vestal Virgins
• Served Vesta, goddess of Hearth/ Home
• Fundamental to survival of Rome
• Kept Sacred Fire lit, brought water from
sacred spring & prepared food for rituals
• Kept sacred objects (ie: wills of public
Julius Caesar & Marc Antony)
• Vow of Chastity, Service for 30 years –
Buried alive if broke her vow; lover
tortured publicly & put to death.
• Could not leave Rome.

6. “Vae, puto, deus fio!”
• “Cripes, I think I am becoming a god!” Uttered
by Emperor Vespasian upon his death in 79 CE,
somewhat tongue in cheek… He was a very
practical military man, but knew that he would
be deified, regardless.
• In the Empire phase, all Roman emperors
(and their families) were considered to
become gods upon their deaths.
• Helped living rulers claims to legitimacy and
infallibility.
• Some Roman emperors took extreme
advantage while they were alive, requiring
that their subjects worship and pray to them.
Emperor Augustus portrayed
as Jupiter, King of the Gods.

7. 3. New Foreign “Mystery Religions”
Missionary Religions of Salvation: Appealed to
the poor MASSES:
– Close-knit feeling of COMMUNITY:
understanding, comfort, belonging,
sense of purpose in large impersonal
empire.
– Believed in Glorious REWARD after suffering on earth
IF believers adhered to the path described. Especially
appealed to poor, powerless, women, criminals, slaves, …
Laid groundwork for quick acceptance of Christianity later.
– EXOTIC beliefs from far-away places in the Empire. Arrived
with migrant workers, soldiers; missionaries traveled safe
sea lanes of the Pax Romana.

8. Mystery Religions
of Salvation
A. Mithraism - men
– From Anatolia
– Soldier’s god, then also
popular with merchants,
administrators
– Divine value of human life
– Moral behavior,
brotherhood.
– Community of believers
– Ecstatic union with Mithras
himself after death
B. Cult of Isis –
• Women (& men)
• From Egypt
• MOST POPULAR
• Benevolent protector
goddess
• Nurtured worshipers
• Helped them cope with
rapid change, especially in
urban, cosmopolitan
society

9. C. Cult of Cybele / Magna Mater
• Phrygia  Greece  Rome
• Adopted by Roman Religion
• Augustus identified it with
his wife, Livia
• Earth Mother - Embodies the fertile
Earth – goddess of caverns,
mountains, walls, fortresses, nature,
the wild.

10. D. Cult of Dionysus
• From Greece - Practitioners sought mystical union with the god through wine,
music, dancing, other rituals… For women and men.

11. 4. Judaism
Sacred Literature
• Tanakh - “Jewish Scripture”
• Talmud – God’s Covenant
with the Jews as his Chosen
People
• Torah – Pentateuch – 5
Books of Moses – Basis of
Judaism and Written Law.
• Deep appreciation of
scholarship
Rules
10 Commandments
Dietary Law - Eat no pork, Kosher…
Cover the head in prayer (humility)
Sabbath
Age-
Over 3,000 years old
High Priests – Led worship & study
Rabbi – Today, expert on Theological
& Legal Matters, Teacher, leader of
worship, counselor…

12. Religions of Salvation
4. Essenes
• sect of Judaism
• Dead Sea Scrolls
– Discovered in 1947
• Rituals
– Baptism in Water,
– Ritual Community meals
• Awaited an imminent
savior to deliver them
from Roman rule

13. The Temple in Jerusalem

14. Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE

16. Jesus of Nazareth
• “Christ” – Anointed One
• Age 30  Travel, teaching, parables,
healing.
• Roman POV: Preached social
upheaval & political insurrection.
• “King of the Jews” = this description
of Jesus posed a threat to Roman
governance & to power of the High
Priests.
• Arrested & put to death: Treason. He
was not a Roman citizen, so he was
not protected under Roman law.
• Resurrection
• Ascension

17. Conversion of
St. Paul
• Role of Pax Romana in
Spread of Christianity:
• Paul = Roman Citizen
• Legal, fast, safe travel
throughout
Mediterranean.
• “Apostle to the
Gentiles”
• Preached to poor, and
non-Jewish!
• Epistles - letters to the
people he converted
• Helped this sect of
Judaism become its own
religion

18. Wrote Epistles

19. Early Christianity
• Spiritual equality for all
– Hope, honor & dignity: all classes
– Women – set up meetings in
homes
• Close-knit communities supported members
• Decentralized authority – 200 years
– Regional Bishops  Remarkable disparity of teachings
• Like Jews, would not worship emperors so
seen as a threat to security  ridicule,
persecution, campaigns of elimination…

20. Christians & Jews …
During the empire period, they refused to worship the Roman Emperors as
gods….
….and THIS was TREASON!

21. The Division and Eventual Fall of
Western Rome…
Was a Gradual Process…
Vercingetorix

22. Questions
1. Why were foreign “mystery religions” so popular
in the Roman Empire of the 1st century?
2. Basically, how were they similar, and how were
they different?
3. Why were some of these beliefs persecuted and
others were not?
4. Who was most interested in which new belief
system? Ie: men, women; powerful, powerless;
rich, poor?