culture blamed the Greeks for Rome’s new vices,
including a taste for luxuryand homosexual practices.Roman Religion
Every aspect of Roman society was permeated with reli-
gion. The official state religion focused on the worship
of a pantheon of gods and goddesses, including Jupiter,
Juno, Minerva, and Mars. As Rome developed and
came into contact with other peoples and gods, the
community simply adopted new deities. Hence, the
Greek Hermes became the Roman Mercury. Eventually,
a complete amalgamation of Greek and Roman religion
occurred, giving the Romans and the Greeks essentially
a single “Greco-Roman” religion.
Roman religion focused on the worship of the gods
for a very practical reason—human beings were thought
to be totally dependent on them. The exact performance
of ritual was crucial to establishing a right relationship
with the gods. What was true for individuals was also
valid for the state: it also had to observe correct ritual
to receive its reward. The rituals were performed by a
college of priests or pontiffs, who thus bore the respon-
sibility for maintaining the right relationship between
the state and the gods. If the rituals were performed
correctly, the Romans would obtain the “peace of the
gods.” No doubt the Roman success in creating an
empire was a visible confirmation of divine favor. As Cic-
ero, the first-centuryB.C.E. politician and writer, claimed,
“We have overcome all the nations of the world, because
we have realized that the world is directed and governed
by the gods.”^1
Just as the state had an official cult, so did families.
Because the family was regarded as a small state within
the state, it had its own household cults, which included
Janus, the spirit of the doorway, and Vesta, goddess of
the hearth. Here, too, proper ritual was important, and
it was the responsibility of thepaterfamilias(pay-ter-
fuh-MIL-ee-uss) as head of the family to ensure that
religious obligations were properly fulfilled.
Religious festivals were an important part of Roman
religious practice. There were two kinds: public festivals
ordained and paid for by the state and private festivals
celebrated by individuals and families. By the mid-
second centuryB.C.E., six public festivals were celebrated
annually, each lasting several days. The practice of hold-
ing games also grew out of religious festivals. The games
were inaugurated in honor of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
(JOO-puh-tur AHP-tuh-muss MAK-suh-muss) (“best and
greatest”), the patron deity of Rome, but had become
annual events by 366B.C.E. In the late republic, both thenumber of games and the number of days they lasted
were increased. Originally, the games consisted of cha-
riot racing in the Circus Maximus; later, animal hunts
and theatrical performances were added. In the empire,
gladiatorial contests would become the primary focus
(see Chapter 6).The Growth of Slavery
Slavery was a common institution throughout the an-
cient world, but no people possessed more slaves or
relied so much on slave labor as the Romans eventually
did. Before the third centuryB.C.E., a small Roman
farmer might possess one or two slaves who would
help farm his few acres and perform domestic chores.
These slaves would most likely be from Italy and beRoman Religion.The Romans considered the proper worship
of the gods an important key to success. Pictured here is a
second-centuryC.E. Roman statue of Jupiter. Statues of Jupiter
were found in major Roman temples.(Historical Museum, Stara Zagora,
Bulgaria//DEA/A. Dagli Orti/Getty Images)106 Chapter 5The Roman RepublicCopyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
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