81
See also: Beliefs for new societies 56–57 ■ The assimiliation of myth 78
■ Living the Way of the Gods 82–85
ANCIENT AND CLASSICAL BELIEFS
a direct influence on every aspect
of existence. They believed that
divine aid was key to successful
governance, and so worship, ritual,
and sacrifice were incorporated
into public ceremonies in order to
ensure the cooperation of the gods.
Public ceremonies also helped
to strengthen the authority of the
regime, and religious festivals,
often involving public holidays
and games, contributed to political
unity. Religious and state life
were interdependent, with priests
forming a part of the political elite
and leaders expected to perform
religious duties. In time, individual
rulers became associated, during
their lifetime, with a particular
god; some eventually became
regarded as gods—either by being
deified after death or even
achieving divine status while
they were still alive.
Cults and household gods
Various cults coexisted with the
religion of the state. Some were
devoted to a particular god—
often one outside the conventional
pantheon; sometimes the foreign
god of a conquered people was
invited to take up residence in
Rome. For most Roman citizens,
however, the local and household
gods, the lares and penates, were
the ones associated with everyday
life. They were so interested in
human affairs that their presence
was everywhere; they were open
to negotiation, and prayers to them
often took the form of bargains:
“I give so that you will give.”
The foundation of religion for
the Romans was the family. The
paterfamilias—head of the family—
was the spiritual leader and moral
authority, who held legal rights over
the property of the family and was
responsible for its members in
society. The home was sacred to
the Romans, and the heart of the
home was the hearth. The spirit of
the head of the household presided
over all the household gods,
including the penates, the deities
of the store cupboard, to whom
a portion of each meal was offered
on the flames of the hearth. ■The Roman gods had human
characteristics; they are often
depicted feasting, sleeping, or
engaging in bawdy drunkenness.At Rome as elsewhere,
in order to understand
the society of the gods,
we must not lose sight
of the society of men.
Georges DumézilThe lares
Constituting a bridge between
the public and domestic gods,
the lares were typically
guardian deities, whose
function was to protect the
livelihood of a particular area.
While many homes had a
shrine devoted to the local
lares, their scope was broader
than that of the household
penates, and shrines to the
neighborhood lares were often
placed at crossroads, a symbol
of home in its wider sense.
The lares are thought to have
evolved from earlier cults of
hero-ancestors, or the spirits
of ancestors buried in
farmland, with their role
as protectors of agriculture
and livestock. In the Roman
Republic, they came to be
the guardians of businesses,
transport, and communication.
Lares were closely associated
with local communities and
everyday public life, and
were very much gods of the
plebians (such as soldiers,
seafarers, farmers, and
traders), rather than of the
ruling class of patricians,
complementing the major
deities of the state religion.