NationStates Jolt Archive

Jove, Saturn, Juno, Mars, Mercury, Chronos, etc. We still study them today in courses on ancient mythology and back then they were a cornerstone of the worlds largest Empire. But what the hell was the religion called? Surely back then they didn't call it "Romes religion", it must have had a name.

Anybody know?

Jove, Saturn, Juno, Mars, Mercury, Chronos, etc. We still study them today in courses on ancient mythology and back then they were a cornerstone of the worlds largest Empire. But what the hell was the religion called? Surely back then they didn't call it "Romes religion", it must have had a name.

Anybody know?

They didn't really name religions back then. In fact it wasn't until the Christians came along that religions began to get names.

Roman (Greek) mythology? Dammit, I took this in Latin last year.

At the time, the line between religion, culture and politics was much much thinner. They didn't really have a name for it, other than "our way of life". Today most people refer to it as "ancient Roman mythology".

It wasn't like a modern organised religon despite having a Pope like figure in the Pontificus Maximus... you prayed to whatever god was relevant to you at the time...

There maybe specific names in latin for a follower of each god... but I am hopeless with latin :)

Roman Paganism. I believe the pantheon might also be involved.

I'm pretty sure they didn't call it "that thing we stole from the Greeks", because they stole so many things from the Greeks and Etruscans... well, just about everything, really.

Darn, I was hoping I was wrong.

It's the main religion of my nation in the RP sections. It started as a cult, a history professor who got dissatisfied with his life and decided to exploit some people by reinventing the religion. He took all their money and disappeared, but it had grown big enough that it stayed alive even after the cult leader went bye-bye and it's grown to dominance over everything else.

Unfortunately I don't really like saying "And John, a strict Ancient Roman Mythology follwer, started to pray" when I could just say "And John, a XXX, started to pray"

Try "Roman Pagan", as Andaluciae suggested. It depends on what your defenition of "pagan" is though.

Pagani was the Roman word for "dweller in the country" and had nothing to do with religion.

The general state religion was called "Religio Romani" ... basically, "The Roman Religion". It was a larger and more grandiose way of worship than the standard at home worship of the "lares", with the pontifex maximus being head of the state religion. Much of its organization rested with four religious colleges, whose members were appointed for life and , with a few exceptions, were selected among distinguished politicians. The highest of these bodies was the Pontifical College, which consisted of the rex sacrorum, pontifices, flamines and the vestal virgins.

The flamines were priests to specific gods, such as the flamen dialis, which were priests of Jupiter.

The quindecemviri sacris faciundis were the fifteen members of a college for less clearly defined religious duties. Most notably they guarded the Sibylline Books and it was for them to consult these scriptures and interpret them when requested to do so by the senate. The Sibylline books being evidently understood as something foreign by the Romans, this college also was to oversee the worship of any foreign gods which were introduced to Rome.

Individual groups also had their specific religions, such as the Legions, who worshipped Mithras (Mithraism) and the Senate, who were primarily Hellenists.


That help?

So, the name was pretty much just The Roman Religion in Latin? At least it sounds better than Ancient Roman Mythology

So, the name was pretty much just The Roman Religion in Latin? At least it sounds better than Ancient Roman Mythology

Nod. The name was pretty simple, but the Roman Religion was intensley complex. They had more religious laws than even the Jews!

You can read the Sibylline Books here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/

Oh ... and don't forget to read the works of Virgil, Apuleius, Plotinus, Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Lucretius, Ovid, Petronius, Priapeia, and Emporer Julian.

Oh, I know all about the religion, it was pretty much just the name that I was confused over.

Oh, I know all about the religion, it was pretty much just the name that I was confused over.

Ah sorry ... 4 years of High School Latin and 4 semesters of Latin at University ... I tend to go overboard when discussing Romans. :)

Ugh...Latin.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ancient Rome (I'm personally fascinated with all things ancient and mythological). I'm actually reading the Aeneid right now (for fun) and love discussing the Monarchy, Republic, and Empire, but I hate that language like the plague. The Devils voice on Earth.

When I hear "Pagan," I think of... Well... Druids and vikings and christmas trees and SCOTLAND AND IRELAND WHEN THEY WERE HARD AND MEAN and not all soft and fluffy. Damn christians. They made the germans wimpy, and the Romans, and the Greeks, and the Celts, and the Vikings, and everyone else.

I'm not a pagan, by the way, only a history buff. It's a fact that the vikings were so much cooler before they were converted to Christianity.

I would call the roman religion... The Roman Religion? Or maybe Roman Mythology.

They didn't really think in those terms. Each god/goddess had a separate cult. They usually absorbed the gods of other cultures (oh, your god of this is the same as our god of that so they are different aspects of the same deity). They only really had problems with other religions that told them their cults were all wrong. Interestingly the ancient Greek gods were interpreted by some ancient philosophers as all being aspects of Zeus - a proto monotheism. Which was why they were more open to Christianity than the Romans.

Roman