Chapter 8 ROME - KING OF CITIES Growth of the territory of Rome. - Roman forum. - Imperial forums. - Metamorphoses of the city. - Circuses and amphitheatres. - Roman theatres. - Baths and aqueducts. Roman housing: houses and rented apartments At the basis of ancient civilization as a whole, both Greek and

Chapter 9 Temptations of the City Public life. - Entertainment in the stadium. - Roman games. - People's Theatre: performances and mimes. - Equestrian competitions. - Gladiator fights. - Pleasure from baths, pleasure from food. - The temptations of the urban life of Horace, who has reached

III. Roman masks It is well known that the influence, in the literal sense of the word, that Greek culture had on Rome. Philosophy, reading circle, theater, architecture. But Greek culture, grafted onto the Latin stem, was not popular, but elitist. Only in privileged

Mars, lat., greek Ares is the Roman god of war and the patron of Roman power, the son of Jupiter and Juno.

Unlike, who was among the Greeks the god of violent war and did not enjoy special honor, Mars was one of the most revered Roman gods, only Jupiter stood above him. According to Roman myths, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Therefore, the Romans considered themselves his descendants and believed that Mars loves them more than all other peoples and provides them with victories in wars. In archaic times, Mars was also revered as the god of harvest, fields, forests and spring. This is evidenced by a number of surviving prayers of farmers and the name of the first month of spring (March).

The wife of Mars was the goddess Neria (Nerio), about whom it is only known that Mars had to kidnap her. But Romulus and Remus were born to him by the Vestal Rhea Sylvia, daughter of the Latin king Numitor. In battles, Mars was constantly accompanied by Pallor and Pavor, "Paleness" and "Horror", corresponding to the satellites of Ares and Phobos. As their forefather, the Romans called him Mars Pater or Marspiter, as the god of war, who gives victory, he was called Mars Victor. Mars showed his benevolence to Rome already in ancient times, dropping his own shield from the sky to protect the city. By order of King Numa Pompilius, eleven exactly the same shields were subsequently made, so that an attacker who would take it into his head to steal the shield of Mars would not be able to identify it. All year these shields were kept in the sanctuary of Mars in the Forum. Only on March 1, on the birthday of the god, his priests (salias) carried them around the city in a solemn procession, accompanied by dancing and singing. The sacred animals of Mars were the wolf, the woodpecker, the spear was the symbol.

"Mars and Rhea Silvia", Rubens

The Romans honored Mars with special festivities. In addition to the processions of the Salii, these were, in particular, horse competitions (ekvirii), held annually on February 27 and March 14. However, the most important celebration was the so-called “suovetavrilia”, which took place every five years after the end of the next census of the Roman population (census). It consisted in the fact that around the Romans, who had gathered on the Field of Mars and lined up in battle formation, a pig, a sheep and a bull were escorted three times, which were then sacrificed to Mars. By this sacrifice, the Roman people cleansed themselves of all sins and secured the help and protection of Mars for the future.

In addition to Mars, the Romans knew and honored other gods of war: in ancient times it was first of all, who was later identified with the founder of Rome, Romulus; they also revered the goddess of war. Later, under Greek influence, they transferred some properties to their goddess Minerva, and as a result, she also became the goddess of war. However, the cult of Mars as the god of war decisively prevailed until the fall of ancient Rome.

"Battle of Mars and Minerva" by Jacques Louis David

In honor of Mars, the Romans erected several temples and shrines in their city. The oldest of them stood on the Field of Mars (on the left bank of the Tiber), where military exercises, censor reviews and public meetings were held, at which in ancient times the issue of declaring war was decided. The sanctuary of Mars in the Forum was also considered very ancient. Going to war, each commander came to the sanctuary, shook the shields of Mars, asked God for help and promised him part of the spoils of war. The most magnificent temple was dedicated by Emperor Augustus to Mars Avenger (Mars Ultor) in memory of the retribution that befell the murderers of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. The temple was consecrated in 2 AD. h. on the new forum of Augustus, several damaged columns and the base of the temple statue have been preserved from it. The Campus Martius in Rome disappeared as a result of development already during the time of the empire. At the end of the 1st c. n. e. Emperor Domitian ordered the construction of a stadium in its place, the contours of which correspond to the current Roman Piazza Navona. (Centuries later, new Fields of Mars sprang up in Paris, St. Petersburg, and other cities—even Detroit).

Venus, Mars and the Graces, Jacques Louis David

Mars has long since died along with the rest of the ancient gods, but, unfortunately, humanity brings him more and more victims: Mars is the most famous and still living symbol of war. Already in ancient times, Mars passed from mythology to astronomy as a "bloody planet". In 1877, the American astronomer A. Hall discovered two satellites of the planet Mars, Deimos and Phobos, the existence of which was foreseen by Swift 150 years before this discovery. Many ancient statues and images of Mars have survived, and even more have been created in modern times (see the article "Apec").

In a number of cities, the place of military reviews was called the Field of Mars:

"I love martial liveliness
Amusing Fields of Mars ... "
- A. S. Pushkin, "The Bronze Horseman".

In ancient Rome, as in ancient Greece, religion consisted of cults of different gods. At the same time, the Roman pantheon had many deities similar to the Greek ones. That is, here we can talk about borrowing. This happened because Greek mythology was older than Roman mythology. The Greeks created colonies in Italy, when Rome did not even think about greatness. The inhabitants of these colonies spread Greek culture and religion to nearby lands, and therefore the Romans became the successors of Greek traditions, but interpreted them taking into account local conditions.

The most significant and revered in ancient Rome was the so-called council of the gods, corresponding to the Olympic gods of ancient Greece. The father of Roman poetry Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC) systematized the deities of Ancient Rome and introduced six men and six women to this council. He gave them Greek equivalents. This list was subsequently confirmed by the Roman historian Titus Livy (59 BC - 17 AD). Below is a list of this council of celestials, Greek counterparts are given in brackets.

Jupiter(Zeus) - the king of the gods, the god of heaven and thunder, the son of Saturn and Opa. The main deity of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The rulers of Rome took an oath to Jupiter and honored him annually in the month of September on the Capitoline Hill. He was personified with law, order and justice. In Rome there were 2 temples dedicated to Jupiter. One was built in 294 BC. e., and the second was erected in 146 BC. e. This god was personified by an eagle and an oak. Juno was his wife and sister.

Juno(Hera) - daughter of Saturn and Opa, wife and sister of Jupiter, queen of the gods. She was the mother of Mars and Vulcan. She was the protector of marriage, motherhood, family traditions. The month of June is named after her. She was part of the Capitoline triad along with Jupiter and Minerva. There is a statue of this goddess in the Vatican. She is depicted wearing a helmet and armor. Not only mere mortals, but all the gods of Ancient Rome revered and respected Juno.

Neptune(Poseidon) is the god of the sea and fresh water. Brother of Jupiter and Pluto. The Romans also worshiped Neptune as the god of horses. He was the patron saint of horse racing. In Rome, a temple was erected to this god. It was located near the circus Flaminius in the southern part of the Champ de Mars. The circus had a small hippodrome. All these structures were built in 221 BC. e. Neptune is an extremely ancient deity. He was a household god even among the Etruscans, and then migrated to the Romans.

Ceres(Demeter) - Goddess of harvest, fertility, agriculture. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ope and the sister of Jupiter. She had an only daughter, Proserpina (goddess of the underworld) from a relationship with Jupiter. It was believed that Ceres could not see hungry children. This brought her into a state of grief. Therefore, she always took care of the orphans, surrounded them with care and attention. Every year in the month of April, a festival dedicated to this goddess was held. It lasted 7 days. She was also mentioned during marriages and ritual ceremonies associated with the harvest.

Minerva(Athena) - the goddess of wisdom, the patroness of art, medicine, trade, military strategy. Often, gladiator battles were held in her honor. Considered a virgin. She was often depicted with an owl (the owl of Minerva), which symbolized wisdom and knowledge. Long before the Romans, this goddess was worshiped by the Etruscans. Celebrations in her honor were held from 19 to 23 March. This goddess was worshiped on the Esquiline Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome). A temple to Minerva was erected there.

Apollo(Apollo) - one of the main gods of Greek and Roman mythologies. This is the god of the sun, light, music, prophecy, healing, art, poetry. It should be said that the Romans, regarding this god, took the traditions of the ancient Greeks as a basis and, in practice, did not change them. Apparently, they seemed extremely successful to them, and therefore they did not change anything, so as not to spoil the beautiful legends about this god.

Diana(Artemis) - the goddess of hunting, nature, fertility. She, like Minerva, was a virgin. In total, the gods of Ancient Rome had 3 goddesses who took a vow of celibacy - these are Diana, Minerva and Vesta. They were called girl goddesses. Diana was the daughter of Jupiter and Latone, and was born with her twin brother Apollo. Since she patronized hunting, she wore a short tunic and hunting boots. She always had a bow, a quiver and a diadem in the form of a crescent. Deer or hunting dogs accompanied the goddess. The Temple of Diana in Rome was erected on the Aventine Hill.

Mars(Ares) - god of war, as well as the protector of agricultural fields in the early Roman period. He was considered the second most important god (after Jupiter) in the Roman army. Unlike Ares, who was treated with disgust, Mars was respected and loved. Under the first Roman Emperor Augustus, a temple to Mars was built in Rome. During the Roman Empire, this deity was considered the guarantor of military power and peace and was never mentioned as a conqueror.

Venus(Aphrodite) - the goddess of beauty, love, prosperity, victory, fertility and desires. The Roman people considered her their mother through their son Aeneas. He survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed to be the ancestor of this goddess. Subsequently, in Europe, Venus became the most popular deity of Roman mythology. She was personified with sexuality and love. The symbols of Venus were the dove and the hare, and of the plants, the rose and the poppy. The planet Venus is named after this goddess.

Volcano(Hephaestus) - the god of fire and the patron of blacksmiths. He was often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer. This is one of the most ancient Roman deities. In Rome there was a temple of Vulcan or Vulcanal, built in the 8th century BC. e. on the site of the future Roman Forum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. The festival dedicated to Vulcan was celebrated every year in the second half of August. It was this god who forged lightning for Jupiter. He also made armor and weapons for other celestials. He equipped his forge in the mouth of the volcano Etna in Sicily. And the golden women, whom God himself created, helped him in his work.

Mercury(Hermes) - the patron of trade, finance, eloquence, travel, good luck. He also acted as a conductor of souls to the underworld. Son of Jupiter and Maya. In Rome, the temple of this god was located in the circus, located between the Avetine and Palatine hills. It was built in 495 BC. e. A festival dedicated to this god was held in mid-May. But he was not as magnificent as for other gods, since Mercury was not considered one of the main deities of Rome. The planet Mercury was named after him.

Vesta(Hestia) - a goddess extremely revered by the ancient Romans. She was the sister of Jupiter and was identified with the goddess of the home and the family hearth. In her temples, the sacred fire was always burning, and the priestesses of the goddess, the virgin vestals, supported it. It was a whole staff of female priestesses in ancient Rome, enjoying unquestioned authority. They were taken from wealthy families and were required to remain celibate for 30 years. If one of the Vestals violated this oath, then such a woman was buried alive in the ground. Celebrations dedicated to this goddess were held annually from June 7 to 15.

Introduction

Like the Bible, myths and legends of antiquity had a huge impact on the development of culture, literature and art. Even in the Renaissance, writers, artists, sculptors began to widely use the plots of the legends of the ancient Romans in their work. Therefore, myths gradually became an integral part of European culture, as, in fact, the masterpieces created based on them. “Perseus and Andromeda” by Rubens, “Landscape by Polyphemus” by Poussin, “Danaë” and “Flora” by Rembrandt, “Meeting of Apollo and Diana” by K. Bryullov, “Abduction of Europe” by V. Serov, “Poseidon rushing across the sea” by I. Aivazovsky and others

I. What did the Romans believe?

Ancient Roman religion was fundamentally different from Greek. The sober Romans, whose poor imagination did not create a folk epic like the Iliad and the Odyssey, also did not know mythology. Their gods are lifeless. These were indefinite characters, without a pedigree, without marital and family ties, which united the Greek gods into one large family. Often they did not even have real names, but only nicknames, as if nicknames that define the boundaries of their power and actions. They didn't tell any legends. This lack of legend, in which we now see a certain lack of creative imagination, was regarded by the ancients as the virtues of the Romans, who were reputed to be the most religious people. It was from the Romans that the words went and subsequently became widespread in all languages: religion - the worship of imaginary supernatural forces and cult - meaning figuratively “honor”, ​​“appease” and involving the performance of religious rites. The Greeks were struck by this religion, which did not have myths that discredit the honor and dignity of the gods. The world of the Roman gods did not know Kronos, who mutilated his father and devoured his children, did not know crimes and immorality.

The most ancient Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, wholly absorbed in the daily affairs of their modest lives. Lowering his head to the furrow plowed by his wooden plow, and to the meadows in which his cattle grazed, the ancient Roman did not feel like turning his gaze to the stars. He did not honor either the sun or the moon, or all those celestial phenomena that excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples with their secrets. There were enough secrets from him, contained in the most everyday, everyday affairs and in the immediate environment. If one of the Romans went around ancient Italy, he would see people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and animal skins, whose blood irrigated the ant growing under them, hills surrounded by special reverence , stones anointed with oil.

Some kind of deity seemed to be everywhere, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a man.

According to the Roman, human life in all, even the smallest manifestations, was subject to the power and was under the care of various gods, so that a person at every step depended on some higher power. Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power was increasing more and more, there was an innumerable number of less significant gods, spirits, guarding various actions in life and economy. Their influence concerned only certain points in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, the cultivation of livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the baby’s mouth for the first cry, Cunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby’s food, Potina and Edusa taught the baby to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched the transfer from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the baby’s bones healed correctly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduka and Domiduka led the child when he left the house for the first time.

All these deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to claim with complete certainty that he knew the real name of the god, or that he could discern whether it was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also maintained the same caution and said: "Jupiter the Most Benevolent Greatest, or if you like to be called by some other name." And when he offered a sacrifice, he said: “Are you a god or a goddess, are you a man or a woman.” On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is no name, but only an evasive formula: “To God or goddess, husband or woman”, and the gods themselves had to decide to whom the sacrifices offered on this altar belong. Such an attitude towards the deity was incomprehensible to the Greek. He knew perfectly well that Zeus was a man, and Hera was a woman, and he did not doubt it for a second.

The Roman gods did not descend to earth and did not show themselves to people as willingly as the Greek ones. They kept away from a person, and even if they wanted to warn him about something, they never appeared directly: in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of temples, or in the silence of the fields, sudden mysterious exclamations were heard, with the help of which God gave a warning signal. There has never been closeness between God and man.

Odysseus bickering with Athena, Diomedes fighting Aphrodite, all the quarrels and intrigues of the Greek heroes with Olympus were incomprehensible to the Roman. If during a sacrifice or prayer a Roman covered his head with a cloak, he probably did this not only in order to concentrate more, but also out of fear of seeing a god if he chose to be nearby.

In ancient Rome, all knowledge about the gods was essentially reduced to how they should be honored and at what moment to ask them for help. A thoroughly and accurately developed system of sacrifices and rituals constituted the entire religious life of the Romans. They imagined the gods to be similar to praetors (The praetor is one of the highest officials in ancient Rome. Praetors were in charge of judicial affairs.) And they were convinced that, like a judge, the one who does not understand official formalities loses the case. Therefore, there were books in which everything was provided for and where one could find prayers for all occasions. The rules had to be strictly observed, any violation nullified the results of worship.

The Roman was always in fear that he had performed the rites not in the right way. It was enough for the slightest omission in prayer, some unprescribed movement, a sudden hitch in a religious dance, damage to a musical instrument during a sacrifice, so that the same rite was repeated anew. There were times when everyone started over thirty times, until the sacrifice was performed flawlessly. When making a prayer containing a request, the priest had to be careful not to omit any expression or pronounce it in an inappropriate place. Therefore, someone read, and the priest repeated after him word for word, the reader was given an assistant who monitored whether everything was read correctly. A special servant of the priest watched that those present kept silent, and at the same time the trumpeter blew with all his might on the trumpet so that nothing could be heard except the words of the prayer being said.

Just as carefully and carefully they made all kinds of divination, which among the Romans was of great importance in public and private life. Before each important matter, the will of the gods was first recognized, manifested in various signs, which the priests called augurs were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, sudden sneezing, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an epileptic seizure in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but which happened at an unusual or important moment, acquired the meaning of a divine omen. The most favorite was divination by the flight of birds. When the senate or consuls had to take any decision, to declare war or to proclaim peace, to promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the augurs with the question whether the time was right for this. The augur offered sacrifice and prayed, and at midnight he went to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, turning his face to the south, looked at the sky. Birds flew by at dawn, and according to which side they flew, what they were like and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would succeed or fail. Thus fastidious chickens ruled a mighty republic, and military leaders in the face of the enemy had to submit to their whims.

This primitive religion was called the religion of Numa, after the second of the seven Roman kings, who was credited with establishing the most important religious provisions. She was very simple, devoid of any pomp, did not know any statues or temples. In its pure form, it did not last long. Religious representations of neighboring peoples penetrated into it, and now it is difficult to recreate its appearance, hidden by later layers.

Foreign gods easily took root in Rome, since the Romans had a habit, after conquering a city, to move the gods of the defeated to their capital in order to earn their favor and protect themselves from their wrath.

This is how, for example, the Romans invited the Carthaginian gods to themselves. The priest proclaimed a solemn incantation: “You are a goddess or a god who extends guardianship over the people or state of the Carthaginians, you who patronize this city, I offer prayers to you, I pay honors to you, I ask you for mercy to leave the people and the state of the Carthaginians, to leave their temples to be gone from them. Come to me in Rome. May our temples and city be more pleasant to you. Be merciful and supportive to me and the people of Rome and to our soldiers in the way we want it and understand it. If you do so, I promise that a temple will be erected to you and games will be established in your honor.

Before the Romans directly confronted the Greeks, who had such an overwhelming influence on their religious conceptions, another people, closer territorially, showed their spiritual superiority to the Romans. These were the Etruscans, a people of unknown origin, whose amazing culture has been preserved to this day in thousands of monuments and speaks to us in an incomprehensible language of inscriptions, unlike any other language in the world. They occupied the northwestern part of Italy, from the Apennines to the sea, - the country

fertile valleys and sunny hills, running down to the Tiber, the river that connected them with the Romans. Rich and powerful, the Etruscans from the heights of their fortress cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, dominated vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by honorary guards armed with bunches of rods with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a fleet and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them they borrowed writing and many religious ideas, which, however, they altered in their own way.

Little can be said about the Etruscan gods. Among a large number of them, a trinity stands out above the others: Tini, the god of thunder, like Jupiter, Uni, the queen goddess, like Juno, and the winged goddess Menfra, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. This is, as it were, the prototype of the famous Capitoline Trinity. With superstitious piety, the Etruscans revered the souls of the dead as cruel creatures, thirsting for blood. On the graves, the Etruscans performed human sacrifices, later adopted by the Romans, gladiator fights were at first among the Etruscans part of the cult of the dead. They believed in the existence of a real hell, where Harun delivers the souls - an old man of a half-animal appearance, with wings, armed with a heavy hammer. On the painted walls of Etruscan graves, a whole string of similar demons passes: Mantus, the king of hell, also winged, with a crown on his head and a torch in his hand; Tukhulkha, a monster with an eagle's beak, donkey ears and snakes on his head instead of hair, and many others. In an ominous string they surround the unfortunate, frightened human souls.

Etruscan legends report that once, in the vicinity of the city of Tarquinia, when the peasants were plowing the land, a man with the face and figure of a child came out of a wet furrow, but with gray hair and a beard, like an old man. His name was Tages. When a crowd gathered around him, he began to preach the rules of divination and religious ceremonies. The king of those places ordered a book to be compiled from the commandments of Tages. Since then, the Etruscans believed that they knew better than other peoples how to interpret divine signs and predictions. Fortune-telling was done by special priests - haruspices. When an animal was sacrificed, they carefully examined its insides: the shape and position of the heart, liver, lungs - and, according to certain rules, predicted the future. They knew what each lightning meant, by its color they recognized which god it came from. The haruspices turned a huge and complex system of supernatural signs into a whole science, which the Romans later adopted.

The Romans evolved. Initially, there was a polytheistic religion - paganism. The Romans believed in many gods.

Structure and main concepts of ancient Roman religion

Like any other polytheistic faith, Roman paganism did not have a clear organization. In fact, this is a collection of a large number of ancient cults. The ancients were responsible for various aspects of human life and natural elements. Rites were revered in each family - they were performed by the head of the family. The gods were asked for help in domestic and personal affairs.

There were rituals that were held at the state level - they were performed at different times by priests, consuls, dictators, praetors. The gods were asked for help in battles, intercession and assistance in combat with the enemy. Fortune-telling and rituals played a large role in solving state issues.

During the reign, the concept of "priest" appeared. It was a representative of a closed caste. The priests had a great influence on the ruler, they possessed the secrets of rituals and communication with the gods. During the time of the empire, the emperor began to perform the function of the pontiff. It is characteristic that Rima were similar in their functions - they only had different names.

The main features of the religion of Rome

Important characteristics of Roman beliefs were:

• great influence of foreign borrowing. The Romans often came into contact with other peoples in the course of their conquests. Contacts with Greece were especially close;
• religion was closely linked to politics. This can be judged on the basis of the existence of a cult of imperial power;
• characteristic is the endowment with divine qualities of such concepts as happiness, love, justice;
• close connection of myth and beliefs - defines, but does not distinguish the Roman religion from other pagan systems;
• a huge number of cults, rituals. They differed in scale, but covered all aspects of public and private life;
• the Romans deified even such trifles as the return from a campaign, the first word of a baby, and much more.

ancient roman pantheon

The Romans, like the Greeks, represented the gods as humanoid. They believed in the forces of nature and spirits. The main deity was Jupiter. His element was the sky, he was the lord of thunder and lightning. In honor of Jupiter, the Great Games were held, a temple on Capitoline Hill was dedicated to him. The ancient gods of Rome took care of various aspects of human life: Venus - love, Juno - marriage, Diana - hunting, Minevra - craft, Vesta - hearth.

In the Roman pantheon there were father gods - the most revered of all, and lower deities. They also believed in spirits that were present in everything that surrounds a person. Researchers believe that the worship of spirits was present only at an early stage in the development of the religion of Rome. Initially, Mars, Quirinus and Jupiter were considered the main gods. At the time of the emergence of the institution of the priesthood, tribal cults were born. It was believed that each estate and noble family was patronized by a certain god. Cults appeared among the clans of Claudius, Cornelius and other representatives of the elite of society.

At the state level, Saturnalia was celebrated - in honor of agriculture. They organized grandiose festivities, thanked the patron for the harvest.

The social struggle in society led to the formation of a triad of gods or a "plebeian triad" - Ceres, Liber and Liber. The Romans also identified celestial, chthonic and earthly deities. There was a belief in demons. They were divided into good and evil. The first group included penates, lares and geniuses. They kept the traditions of the house, the hearth and protected the head of the family. Evil demons - lemurs and laurels interfered with the good ones and harmed the person. Such creatures appeared if the deceased was buried without observing the rituals.

The gods of Ancient Rome, the list of which includes more than 50 different creatures, have been objects of worship for many centuries - only the degree of influence of each of them on the consciousness of the people has changed.

During the empire, the goddess Roma, the patroness of the entire state, was popularized.

What gods did the Romans borrow?

As a result of frequent contacts with other peoples, the Romans began to incorporate foreign beliefs and rituals into their culture. Researchers tend to think that the whole religion is a complex of borrowings. The main reason for this is that the Romans respected the beliefs of the people they conquered. There was a ritual that formally introduced a foreign deity into the pantheon of Rome. This rite was called evocation.

The ancient gods of Rome appeared in the pantheon as a result of close cultural ties with the conquered peoples and the active development of their own culture. The most striking borrowings are Mithra and Cybele.

Table "Gods of Ancient Rome and Greek correspondences":

Mythology of Ancient Rome

In all pagan cultures, myths and religious beliefs are closely linked. The theme of Roman myths is traditional - the foundation of the city and the state, the creation of the world and the birth of the gods. This is one of the most interesting aspects of culture to study. Researchers on the mythological system can trace the entire evolution of the beliefs of the Romans.

Traditionally, legends contain many descriptions of miraculous, supernatural events that were believed in. From such narratives, one can distinguish the features of the political views of the people that are hidden in a fantastic text.

In the mythology of almost all peoples, the theme of the creation of the world, cosmogony, is in the first place. But not in this case. It mainly describes heroic events, the ancient gods of Rome, the rituals and ceremonies that must be carried out.

The heroes were of semi-divine origin. the legendary founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus - were the children of the militant Mars and the vestal priestess, and their great ancestor Aeneas was the son of the beautiful Aphrodite and the king.

The gods of ancient Rome, the list of which includes both borrowed and local deities, has more than 50 names.