Aulus Gellius
The undertaking of this role was very important to the chosen few. Although the minimum period of service was thirty years, many Virgins remained so for the duration of their lives. Junica Torquata in particular served for a full sixty-four years of her life. It was unsurprising that the majority of Virgins kept their oaths, as the punishment for betrayal was very high. Also, the man with whom the Virgin was with would be buried alive in a tomb of concrete!
The formation of the Vestal Virgins may come as a surprise to many people. The gender issue is prominent here, as it is with the use of the Sibyls for prophecy and divination. The women of ancient Rome were rarely considered worthy of taking an important job; although, the Vestal Virgins took an important position within religious activities. However, Roman women never took on jobs as “rulers” as they may be called. The Vestal Virgins were not the Pontifex Maximus. Women were never allowed to take the most important job, even within religion. The pantheon itself included goddesses; however, none of the three main gods were women – Jupiter, Neptune and Mars. The goddesses were always their wives and daughters. From this, it is obvious that although the Vestal Virgins were considered to have important jobs, they would never be as important as their male colleagues.
Prophecy and Divination
This type of religion had close connections with the worship within the temples. A body of sixteen official augures (such as Cicero) interpreted omens for the state. The categories of divinatio, or observation, came under three headings;
- signs from animals or humans
- inanimate objects
- unusual natural events
The first of these concerned the study of both the flight of birds or other creatures, or the entrails of animals. Any colour or size defects could suggest a bad omen. Human movements were also studied closely. The second, the study of inanimate objects, was the belief that divine power guided the fall of dice, knucklebones or the opening or books. Lastly, unusual natural events such as earthquakes and storms, and unnatural births, would suggest political instability or change within the empire.
Unofficially, soothsayers would use these methods for private advice. Individuals could also seek the help of prophets and prophetesses. One type of these were the sibyls, who spoke in strange tongues and noises which were then interpreted for ordinary people to consult. The Sibyls were considered so important, their works were often written down for official use.
The “prophets”, like the Sibyls or their translators obviously held a great deal of power over their clients, and even the state of Rome. Whatever they predicted was usually believed to be true, particularly if they had correctly predicted happenings before. This meant that they could twist the truth to however suited them – perhaps predicting simple things, such as pay rises, or larger things such as the assassination of an emperor.
Superstitions were also often a big part of divination. Astrologers also read the stars to predict what would happen in future months;
“Thrasyllus made calculations based on the position of the stars and their relation to each other.”
Tacitus
Some emperors were very taken by the idea of astrologers, and welcomed them to Rome, often having official astrologers. However, some emperors also threw astrologers out of the empire because they believed they were a threat to the official religion.
Curses and spells also had great influence. Curses would be tossed into sacred springs and hung on walls, often with very violent descriptions written by rejected lovers.
“O gods of the underworld, break and smash her bones, choke her, arourarely-oth, let her body be twisted and shattered, phrix, phrox.”
Particular places for these to be thrown were in the spring at Aquae Sulis, where it was believed that the goddess Sulis would read the curses and afflict the people they were cursing with deadly diseases or even kill them.
Women who may write these when rejected in love often became sorceresses. They created magic potions and spells, which could be used prophecy and medicine. The standard ingredients we have come to know as parts of “witches potions” were actually used in Roman times by sorceresses. For instance, they may have used frog’s intestines, owl feathers and snake bones.
Emperor Worship and Household Gods
As mentioned previously, once the emperors were created, state-religion changed. Julius Caesar was one of the first emperors to be deified and worshipped, causing a temple to be built for him in the Roman Forum. His son Augustus, the next emperor then became a divi filius, or “god’s son”. This was the closest thing the citizens had on earth to the gods, and therefore emperors were almost worshipped while still living. The emperors grew to accept this, recognising that divinity would strengthen their power throughout the state. The deification of emperors quickly became the usual thing, causing Vespasian’s dying words;
“I think I’m turning into a god!”
Only a few of Rome’s emperors were not deified, such as Caligula and Nero. These few emperors had been officially condemned by the state for their criminal acts, so terrifying and damaging to the empire that they were not considered worthy by any means of worship.
Official state religion ended here. The demands for the average Roman citizen were few, and many people chose to worship household gods for their own protection. Vesta was the central figure for this worship, but below her came the Lares and Penates. They were the spirits of the household and store cupboard, and ensured in personal happiness within the home. Within each family there was also a genius or family god, who guarded each family separately. The genius was often represented by a serpent and was worshipped at the family shrine, or lararium in the atrium.
The Faith of the Romans
Roman religion differed greatly to the Christian religion and many of the religions with which we are accustomed today. As we base our religious beliefs on faith, and a personal relationship with our god/gods, Romans simply went through life aiming to maintain the peace by simply going along with what they were told to do. Religion was almost compulsory, but a part of life which did not really cause a problem or changes in anyone’s life. The religion of Rome was not a chosen one, but simply a tradition passed down, and superstitiously kept by the majority of the Roman people.
One minority was the aristocracy; they decided that a simple religious practice was not enough, and consulted Greek philosophers and the like about their lives. They would often attend lectures in Athens – paid for, of course, by the money taken from the poorer population. The choices made at the conferences would give you an image of yourself to be projected to everyone.
The exceptions to this case were the few cults and mystery religions around Rome. Their existence was created for people who wanted personal relationships with their God/Gods; these people took their religion as a way of life, rather than simply a part of life applied to keep the peace. Many people would follow the Roman religion, and also follow mystery cults, to keep peace and stay lawful but also have personal religious lives.
The above may explain why Jews were tolerated by the Romans, but Christians were not. Jews were following the laws brought to them by the Jewish nation of many years, while Christians were forgoing their roots and following new laws brought about by beliefs. The Roman religion was very similar to Judaism; all the laws and rules of their religion had been passed down from their roots, and simply reflected the past.
New Religions
The new religions extended the progression of Roman religion to splitting up the citizens of the Roman Empire. There were five major new religions or forms of worship that became known in the latter years of the state.
Firstly came Christianity. The religion was first brought to official notice in A.D. 64, during Claudius’ reign. It was at this time that Paul visited Rome:
“The Christians at Rome had heard about us and came out to Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae to meet us. When Paul saw them he gave thanks to God and took courage.”
St. Luke
Christians met secretly, believing themselves to be a privileged group of people, brought together in a close relationship with God. It was not until Nero’s reign that the final persecution took place – the Great Fire of Rome. There are many theories about the fire and how it began, although it is generally believed Nero caused it. It was not until two centuries after the fire that Christianity became the official religion of Rome, when Constantine became a Christian himself.
Secondly was the worship of Isis. A brief description of the religion may go something like this;
“They worshipped Isis, daughter of the heavenly stars, with these manmade lights. Then came the sound of beautiful music on pipes and flutes, and a chosen chorus of youths, dressed for the festival in white clothes, sang a lovely hymn…”
Apuleuis
This new religion came to Rome from Egypt, a new part of the Roman Empire. This religion, instead of destroying the old beliefs, was simply added to them. The Roman people were attracted to the myth due to it’s tales of love and sacrifice, and death and resurrection. Isis was believed to be the wife of Osiris and daughter of Ra. It was believed that when her husband was killed, she covered the world looking for his body parts. When she found them and reunited them, he was resurrected and Spring came. The festival was therefore celebrated on 5th March. There were a number of cult objects, which were found in the festival. There was a sacred dress, and a sacred rattle. The ceremony would have included hymns and readings not unlike today’s church services except for the inclusion of a sacrifice!
Another religion like the worship of Isis was that of Mithras. This Persian god was particularly popular with the army, having titles such as “victorious” and “warrior”. His worship was, of course, only allowed for men and consisted of secret rites. Together, initiates and followers would eat meals and undergo severe ordeals. The ordeals would take place in caves similar to that where Mithras supposedly killed the bull. This is similar to other mystery religions, where initiates only could worship and were not allowed to tell non-initiates of what went on. These took away the belief in ghosts and superstition:
“Today not even children, except those so small they get into the baths free, believe the nonsense about ghosts, underground kingdoms and rivers, with black frogs croaking in the Styx, and thousands of corpses rowed across in a tiny boat.”
Juvenal
Why did the Ancient Roman Religion fade out in favour of the new Christianity?
As previously stated, Ancient Rome began to build it’s religion on the strong foundations of the past. The absence of a strong personal “faith” or relationship with a god/gods may have partially caused the downfall of this type of religion, often referred to as pax deorum. However, there were other reasons that the citizens of Rome changed their beliefs.
Christianity was first seen as just another cult, and was followed by a select group of people who had not simply split from Judaism, as could have been presumed. It was at Nero’s time that Paul first appealed to the emperor, encouraging many Romans to join this new religion. However, the religion gave Nero a good distraction from his political difficulties, allowing him to blame the majority of his problems on the Christians; like the Great Fire of Rome. The Christians may have been chosen for this task as they were unlike other pagan cults. They did not partake in festivals around the streets, and were very socially isolated, making them easy targets.
By the time of Pliny and Trajan, Christianity and it’s practices had become illegal, but it was usually simply individuals who tried to prevent Christianity from existing. Many of them would simply so to a magistrate and report the Christians, who could be punished for their beliefs and faith. The majority of officials simply saw Christianity as a superstition like any other religion;
“I discovered nothing but a perverse and exaggerated superstition.”
Pliny
Penalties for the beliefs could range from anything such as fines, or confiscation to exile, enslavement or even capital punishment, which was regularly handed out to non citizens i.e. slaves. However, it was not often that Christians were punished, as many, whether under force or by choice, would deny Christ when caught.
Eventually, persecution of Christians became a government policy during Decius’s reign. The persecutions, although obviously a negative occurrence for the Christian faith, assisted in the eventual post of official religion in Constantine’s reign, as it gave Christianity a very high profile throughout the Roman Empire. Everyone in the empire at this time was ordered to sacrifice to their gods following Roman laws, wherever you were in the empire. The only group that was exempt from this law was the Jews. Also, anyone who did not follow this law, would be punished. Certificates had to be obtained, proving you had committed the sacrifice.
The persecution of the Christians eventually failed, but whether it was the increased resolution in Christians or the growing power of Constantine is not known. It was probably a combination of both, giving the Christians more power either way. When the Emperor Galerius died, he signed an edict, later signed by Constantine, which gave the Christians the official right to worship as Christians. The same edict also allowed everyone religious freedom.
However, later in Constantine’s life, he refused to tolerate the pagan way of life, looting temples and persecuting pagans. This demonstrates that in fact, religious tolerance was always the main problem in Rome. The changeover from pagan to Christian began because of the lack of a “personal” belief or faith, which the evolving human needs. However, whichever religion was the “official religion” of the Roman Empire, there was never a great deal of religious tolerance, which greatly affected both the change from paganism to Christianity, and the final Christian religion.
Conclusion
It took a long period of time for the official religion of the Roman Empire to adjust to Christianity from its previous mythological and pagan centre. From this, it is obvious that the religion of Rome was a strong one, with many foundations and strongholds for both the authorities and the citizens to cling to.
In the case of the authorities, they probably clung to the myths and legends of the original religion simply for power. The cult of deifying the emperor was a great assistance to keeping the people of Rome under the emperor’s power. If believing he would later become a god, the superstitious citizens would easily succumb to following all of the emperor’s laws and rules, to ensure a wrathful god did not punish them many years later.
On the other hand, the citizens may have continued in their worship for two reasons. One, as mentioned above, to ensure a safe life from the wrath of the gods, and a healthy after life as well. Secondly, because they wished to follow the laws of state, which dictated that they should worship these gods. The majority of citizens would have worshipped simply to ensure their own survival in an empire that required its laws to be followed.
Mithras with stars beneath his cape
Bibliography
Websites:
- www.clubs.psu.edu/aegsa/rome/romec.html
- www.ghg.net/shetler/rome
- www.lamp.ac.uk/~noy/women.htm
- www.well.com/user/davidu/mithras.html
Books:
- These were the Romans by G. I. F. Tingay and J. Badcock
- Roman Society by David Taylor
- Cambridge Latin Course IIIB
- Religion and the Romans by Ken Dowden