Roman mythology

Roman mythology can be considered as two parts. One part, largely later and literary, consists of whole-cloth borrowings from Greek mythology. The other, largely early and cultic, functioned in very different ways from its Greek counterpart.

Decline of the Roman religion

The distinctions among philosophy, religion, cult and superstition that would be made by an educated Roman of the 1st century BC can be read in Lucretius, a philosopher following Epicurus. Most educated Romans were Stoic in the outlook on life.

Related Topics:
1st century BC - Lucretius - Epicurus - Stoic

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The transference of the anthropomorphic qualities of Greek gods to Roman ones, and perhaps even more, the prevalence of Greek philosophy among well-educated Romans, brought about an increasing neglect of the old rites, and in the 1st century BC the religious importance of the old priestly offices declined rapidly, though their civic importance remained. Many men whose patrician birth called them to these duties had no belief in the rites, except perhaps as a political necessity. Nevertheless, the positions of pontifex maximus and augur remained coveted political posts. Julius Caesar used his election to the position of pontifex maximus to influence the membership of the priestly groups. The mass of the uneducated populace became increasingly interested in foreign rites being practiced by soldiers and traders in the cosmopolitan centers.

Related Topics:
1st century BC - Julius Caesar

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A thorough reform and restoration of the old system was carried out by Emperor Augustus, who himself became a member of all the priestly orders. Even though the earlier ritual had little to do with individual morality, being mainly a businesslike relation with unseen powers in which humans paid proper service to the gods and were rewarded by security, it had promoted piety and religious discipline and thus was fostered by Augustus as a safeguard against internal disorder. During this period the legend of the founding of Rome by the Trojan hero Aeneas became prominent because of the publication of Virgil's Aeneid.

Related Topics:
Augustus - Aeneas - Virgil

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In spite of the reforms instituted by Augustus, the Roman religion in the empire tended more and more to center on the imperial house, and Augustus himself was deified after death. Such deification began even before the establishment of the empire, with Julius Caesar. The emperors Augustus, Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus were also deified, and after the reign (AD 96-98) of Marcus Cocceius Nerva, few emperors failed to receive this distinction.

Related Topics:
96 - 98 - Marcus Cocceius Nerva

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Under the empire, numerous foreign cults grew popular and were widely extended, such as the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis and that of the Persian god Mithras, initiatory religions of intense personal significance similar to Christianity in those respects. Despite desultory persecutions, usually at times of civic tensions beginning with Nero, and more throrough persecutions beginning under Diocletian, Christianity steadily gained converts. It became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Constantine I, who ruled as sole emperor from AD 324 to 337. All cults save Christianity were prohibited in AD 391 by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I. Destruction of temples and desecration of the fanes began immediately, with the sacking of the Serapeum in Alexandria as an encouraging example.

Related Topics:
Isis - Persian - Mithras - Nero - Diocletian - Constantine I - 324 - 337 - 391 - Theodosius I - Serapeum

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