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Lost_Warrior

Roman "blessings"

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Does anyone know of any common Roman "blessings", religious or otherwise, and their latin translations? I'm looking to use one or more in art projects; besides I thought it would be an interesting list to compile B)

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I don't really know any besides "Praise Fortuna" or something like that. The Romans being not very religious probley didn't have as many saying of that sort.

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The Romans being not very religious probley didn't have as many saying of that sort.

 

:wacko:

 

Sextus, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence!

 

I am now determined to find some because the Romans were indeed quite religious!

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The Romans being not very religious probley didn't have as many saying of that sort.

 

:wacko:

 

Sextus, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence!

 

I am now determined to find some because the Romans were indeed quite religious!

 

Ive got to go further , the found evidence from the Provinces shows an avalanche of religious offerings, portable altars, cult temples , constant small dedicative items-I think the worst that could be said is that they were promisciously religious .

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Ive got to go further , the found evidence from the Provinces shows an avalanche of religious offerings, portable altars, cult temples , constant small dedicative items-I think the worst that could be said is that they were promisciously religious .

 

But the trick still is finding a "Blessing" versus a "Prayer" :wacko:

 

Payer is of course much easier, starting with something as simple as do ut des - "I give so that you give" which I believe ususally accompanied the fulfillment of a vow.

 

For blessing I will offer the basic Stat Fortuna Domus - "good fortune to this house" which comes from Virgil. Just replace Domus with whatever you want to bless!

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I don't know the Latin, but I came across something that translated as "may the gods grant you all that you deserve."

 

Although, if you think about it, it could be a curse rather than a blessing depending on exactly what you deserve ....

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I don't know the Latin, but I came across something that translated as "may the gods grant you all that you deserve."

 

Although, if you think about it, it could be a curse rather than a blessing depending on exactly what you deserve ....

 

Yea, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Thanks Ursus! Does anyone know the latin?

 

and LOL yea, that could be a curse. A cleverly worded, insidious curse! :ph34r:

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I am now determined to find some because the Romans were indeed quite religious!

I've got to go further , the found evidence from the Provinces shows an avalanche of religious offerings, portable altars, cult temples , constant small dedicative items-I think the worst that could be said is that they were promisciously religious .

 

At the risk of carrying this thread far afield, I wonder how "religious" to call the Romans. An old, if somewhat biased view, was that the Romans were not very religious, just awfully superstitious. The new view seems to be to take every superstitious Roman behavior as evidence of profound religiosity.

 

Isn't there a valid distinction to make between religous blessings and superstitious behavior? For example, I don't really believe in any devils or evil spirits, yet I sometimes say "bless you" when someone sneezes--isn't it possible that many of the dedicatory items that have been found were offered in the same spirit?

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I'm sure that some of that was the case. There's the ingrained, learned behavior thing to. I say "bless you" when someone sneezes because it's expected. I really don't know the original reasoning behind it.

 

But as for the superstition thing, I think that alot of Roman "religion" was "superstition". They believed in the gods and various spirits, and while we would call many of their beliefs "superstition" from a modern standpoint, it WAS their religion. From their standpoint, our "superstition" was their "relgion".

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I'm sure that some of that was the case. There's the ingrained, learned behavior thing to. I say "bless you" when someone sneezes because it's expected. I really don't know the original reasoning behind it.

 

But this is rather my point--if we don't know the reasoning behind the artifacts, the artifacts don't tell us how religious the Romans really were.

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isn't it possible that many of the dedicatory items that have been found were offered in the same spirit?

 

I think you make a valid point Cato.

 

I like this quote as highlighting the point the Romans were very business like in their dealings with the gods:

 

But, in fact, the Romans didn't believe the gods would necessarily do what they wanted them to just becaused they prayed or sacrificed. The Roman relationship with the divine, instead was one of fides - a relationship of mutual trust, respect and responsibility. Thus, a Roman's prayer or vow didn't bind the gods to do as he wished. The gods could simply decline the offer. If they accepted, then the individual was obliged to offer what he had promised. Romans couldn't control their gods, but they could negotiate with them.

 

I've also read that the Romans weren't above threats directed to their gods.

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Romans couldn't control their gods, but they could negotiate with them.

 

Haggling with the gods has to appear on my top ten reasons for loving the Romans! Such a practical, no-nonsense approach to the non-sensory.

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I don't know about any blessings but didn't a lot of characters in 'Rome' say "I swear on Jupiter's stone" quite often. Did they really say this? You can't trust TV shows or films on historical accuracy though.

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