Traditional Roman Religion, Homework help Options

[WotWotius]

I've started to write an essay on the imprtance of traditional Roman relgion and am find it hard.
Do you have any pionters about what i have done so far...


How useful is the archaeological evidence in assessing the importance of traditional Roman religion in the city during the period 33BC-117AD?
Religion has always played a major role in all of the great civilisations; whether you are looking at a small Roman shrine, or a great Aztec temple, you will always find that religion has great. In this essay I will be looking at just how important traditional Roman religion to her citizens, and whether the remaining Roman religious buildings show this. So, what exactly did the Romans believe in?
Rome’s state religion was based on the Greek belief that there was a pantheon (collection) of gods living on top of the highest mountain in Greece, Mt Olympus. These gods (known as the Olympian Gods) were thought to be very much like humans: they argued, fell in love, had children and in many ways mirrored human characteristics. Each god had their own sphere of influence; for example, the God Neptune controlled the earth and sea with his trident, whereas the smith god Vulcan was said to cause volcanic eruptions when working on armour for other gods. Many temples to these gods were built in Rome. However, though people acknowledged that this was the official state religion of Rome, a lot of Rome’s citizens worshipped differently.
Many imported foreign religions gained popularity within Rome (e.g. Isis worship from Egypt, Mithraism from Mesopotamia and Cybele from Asia Minor), many of which had large followings. The native Italic and Etruscan gods (e.g. Vesta and Romulus) were still very popular, as they were among the first gods to be worshipped in Rome. A good example of a temple to an Italic god is the Temple of Vesta located in the Roman Forum which still remains (though only in parts) to this day.
The Romans also believed in deification: this was a process in which an individual is worshipped as a state god after their death. The individual was usually a great leader (e.g. Augustus, Trajan etc.) and temples were usually constructed to honour them. An example of a temple to a deified individual is The Temple of the Divine Julius Caesar located in the Roman Forum (today only the steps remain) Another aspect of Roman religion was the belief in local spirits from around the empire: these spirits were seldom proscribed as many Romans feared that the god may be real and that it would not do any harm to worship it. An example of a local spirit was the Celtic god Sol, located at the hot springs in Bath; upon discovering this god, the Romans built a temple to him.
The final category of gods and spirits which the Roman worshipped was the spirits inside their homes (e.g. Lares and Vesta). This practise, dating from the start of Rome’s founding, was probably done by all of Rome’s citizens (even emperors like Augustus) and involved giving offering to household shrines (usually containing small terracotta figurines); this was said to bless the house.
There is a great amount of evidence that show that all these religious rituals took place. However, do the ruins of Rome’s religious buildings show this? What actually remains today?
It is very probable that what remains in Rome is only a small fraction of what was actually there: many archive sources (e.g. Suetonius) mention numerous amounts of temples, which have absolutely no remains. The Temple of Jupiter Opitmus Maxiumus on the Capitoline Hill, probably one of the largest religious buildings constructed, does not even have the slightest scrape of physical evidence in the area where it used to lay; even though many historical sources mention its existence. Other temples that we know of but have no agrological evidence to support its existence is the temple to Juno on the Capitoline hill, the temple to Minerva in Neva’s Forum and despite how popular he was, not a single temple to Apollo survived.
All these temples’ disappearances was primarily due to Rome's sacking 410 AD, where by invading Visigoths looted and ransacked all these temples until nothing remained. Also over the years many medieval kings, popes and rulers of Rome have gradually stripped the temple of their worth, and because of this, the small fraction of temples that do remain are only the worthless skeletons of the former building.
Though they are not the complete structure, we can still learn a lot from these ruins: by looking at the remains of the city’s fora we can see just how important religion was to Rome. In the Forum Romanum there are many examples of temples like The Temple of Saturn, The Temple of Caster and Pollux (built on the site where it was reported that these twin sons of Jupiter led the Roman army into battle), The Temple of Vesta and The Temple of Vespasian (a deified emperor). These temples could have been constructed because the gods they are dedicated to may well have been popular. On the other hand, these temples may have possibly been constructed due to an emperor’s preference to a certain god, for example, the Temple of Venus Genetrix (which still remains in parts in Julius Caesar’s Forum), was built by Caesar not because of Venus’s popularity, but because he claimed decent from the God. Propaganda was another reason for an emperor to construct temple as it shows Rome’s citizens ‘who’s in charge’. The temple to Mars Ultar (the avenger) is a good example of propaganda as it was not built for the befit of the people of Rome (Mars was a deeply unpopular god), but was built to remind all Romans of Augustus’s victory at the battle of Philippi (42BC). So because not all temples were constructed to suit the needs of Rome’s population, temple remains do not show a great deal about how important traditional Roman religion was to an average citizen…they just show that worship took place. Furthermore the remains do not give much evidence about the practices that took place inside them nor do they describe what riches and wealth (e.g. Fixtures, decoration and statues) lay in them; we only know of them from historical writers such as Pliney the younger and Suetonius.
Also experts cannot be sure what the actual beliefs of an average Roman was as their houses, which contained many religious shrines, artefacts and offerings to household spirits (such as Lares and Vesta) have been destroyed. Only the small terracotta figures that have been excavated give some insight into religion within Roman homes.
I believe that the archaeological evidence within Rome supports the idea that traditional Roman religion was a major part of Roman life and was probably practiced daily, but we cannot be certain if the religion was appreciated by Romans citizens although we can certainly see emperor’s religious preferences. Furthermore, we are unable to see the whole picture of Roman religion as only a fraction of temples remain (and even they are in ruin!)

[Pertinax]

i spend as much time as I can searching for Roman artefacts, big or small , to record in some way-the one constant occurence throughout my visits to museums and preserved sites is the relentless solemnity of the dedication of altars to presiding deities. The soldiery constantly express themselves in tersely worded altar dedications, to a catholic range of deities, with a historical continuity in remote and obscure sites. These men are drawn from all over the Empire, Illyria, Sarmatia, Africa and Gaul yet the sheer weight of the finds is quite breathtaking to me. One thing that strikes me is that the Auxiliary Regiments are proud to show they are become citizens, yet they are in no way ashamed to honour deities specific to themselves.

excellent post WW , I hope this kicks some debate off

This post has been edited by Pertinax: Feb 1 2006, 09:12 PM

[Pantagathus]

Good work, though you might think of rearranging the beginning where you say that Roman polytheism was "based" on the Greek pantheon. Perhaps "Similar to" or "Influenced By" would be more appropriate.

As Pertinax said, the true scope of how obviously important religion was to the individual is attested in all the civic and domestic finds around the Empire.

However, since your essay asked about the city itself, the fact that most civic buildings were some sort of religious sanctuary is of course a dead giveaway.

May I suggest this as a wonderful guide if you don't already know of it: Topography of Ancient Rome

[Gaius Octavius]

The Pantheon still exists and there are temples around Naples that are mostly intact. Some may have originally been Greek, but the Romans used them. There is a church in Rome, San Clemente, which is situated on the foundation of a temple and still has some of the temple left. This can be seen easily. I am sure that this is the case throughout the empire and all can give clues as to the temples at Rome. I saw an altar to Mithras in an otherwise Roman god's temple. The altar was mostly complete. It may have been in San Clemente.
Then there is the evidence of coins.