Read complete books and articles on: Roman Mythology

Roman Religion - the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome. The spirits were held in awe and were placated with offerings and prayers.

Origins and Development

The indigenous Italic religion, which was the nucleus of the religion of ancient Rome, was essentially animistic. It depended on the belief that forces or spirits, called numina (sing., numen), existed in natural

Roman Religion - the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome. The spirits were held in awe and were placated with offerings and prayers.

Origins and Development

In the beginning of the historical period, when Italy was dotted with small agricultural communities, the family and the household were the basic religious units. Everything vital to the continuance of human life had its numen and appropriate rite. For the perpetuity of the family, the Italian farmer made offerings to the genius of the family. For the safety of the household he worshiped Vesta, the guardian spirit of the hearth fire; the lares and penates, guardians of the house; and Janus, guardian of the door. To protect the boundaries of his property he honored Terminus. To insure an abundant harvest he held various festivals throughout the year. To placate the spirits of the dead he made offerings to the lemures, to the manes, and to the deities of the underworld. In performing these religious ceremonies the head of the family acted as the priest and was assisted by his sons and daughters.

When these families coalesced into tribes and then a state, the family cult and ritual formed the basis of the state cult and ritual. Vesta had a community hearth, the penates a community storeroom, Janus a holy door in the Forum. Rome, which was theoretically one family, was ruled by its king, who as such was head of the family and chief priest. The king was assisted in his duties by his "sons and daughters," the colleges of priests and priestesses. They elaborated and recorded the rituals necessary for the propitiation of the gods and regulated the state ceremonies and the ceremonial calendar. The official clergy included the pontifex maximus, the rex sacrorum [king of the sacred rites], the pontifices, the flamens (see flamen), and the vestal virgins.

Influence of Greek and Middle Eastern Culture

In the earliest period of Roman state religion, Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were the supreme triad. The Romans, however, tolerant of new gods and religions (provided that no harm was done to the state as such), adopted many foreign gods. Under the influence of the Etruscans and other Italic communities, new gods began to appear about the 7th cent. b.c. A wider and much more significant influence, however, was that of the Greek and Middle Eastern cults from about the 3d cent. b.c. Old Roman deities were equated with the Greek gods and accordingly endowed with their attributes and myths. Such important cults as the worship of Dionysus and Apollo were brought to Rome. Greek philosophy, particularly that of the Epicureans (see Epicurus) and the Stoics (see Stoicism), began to influence Roman religious thought.

In the last two centuries of the republic—when the old basis of Roman religion had lost much of its importance, and when the state had grown so massive and distant that its ceremonies failed to satisfy the populace—religious feeling rapidly degenerated. The people, needing a new and emotionally more satisfying religion, turned toward the religious mysteries and the Middle Eastern cults. The most prominent were those of the Great Mother (see Cybele), Isis and Osiris, Sol, and Mithra. Old Roman worship had been controlled, impersonal, and concerned with matters of the everyday world. The new cults, which centered around the individual, promised personal salvation and blessed afterlife. It was in this religious air that Christianity took root and eventually triumphed.

Bibliography

See W. R. Halliday, Lectures on the History of Roman Religion (1922); F. Altheim, A History of Roman Religion (1938); H. J. Rose, Ancient Roman Religion (1959).

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13 of the Best Books and Articles on: Roman Mythology

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Roman Historical Myths: The Regal Period in Augustan Literature » Read Now
by Matthew Fox. 276 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

This book offers a sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the best-known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods, including Cicero, Livy, Virgil, Propertius, and Ovid. Looking at these writers' use of narrative, Fox uncovers an uneasy tension between the...
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This book offers a sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the best-known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods, including Cicero, Livy, Virgil, Propertius, and Ovid. Looking at these writers' use of narrative, Fox uncovers an uneasy tension between the desire for accurate historical representation and the legendary character of traditional stories. In this way, the accounts of Rome's regal period in both prose and verse bear witness to the uncertainties and upheavals at the end of the republic.
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2.

The Myths of Greece & Rome » Read Now
by H. A. Guerber. 416 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Literature, Entire Library

...That Hera was not always represented in mythology as being cruel and implacable is shown...every four years; others, such as the Roman Minervalia and Quinquatria, every...
3.

The Mythology of Greece and Rome: Presented with Special Reference to Its Influence on Literature » Read Now
by Arthur Fairbanks. 418 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...influence of Greek and Roman mythology on later art as...one source. The Roman poets, finding practically no mythology of their own, continued...the names to a Roman form...
4.

Ancient Legends of Roman History » Read Now
by Ettore Pais, Mario E. Cosenza. 338 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...ANCIENT LEGENDS OF ROMAN HISTORY THE ORIGIN OF ROME. A POMPEIAN FRESCO RECENTLY FOUND Ancient Legends of Roman History BY ETTORE PAIS LL.D of...PURSUED IN THE STUDY OF THE...
5.

The Legacy of Rome: A New Appraisal » Read Now
by Richard Jenkyns. 486 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

If the grandeur that was Rome has long since vanished, the impact of the Eternal City can still be felt in virtually every corner of Western culture. Students of speech and rhetoric to this day study the works of Cicero for guidance. We find Roman Law setting the model for legal systems from the...
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If the grandeur that was Rome has long since vanished, the impact of the Eternal City can still be felt in virtually every corner of Western culture. Students of speech and rhetoric to this day study the works of Cicero for guidance. We find Roman Law setting the model for legal systems from the twelfth century to the present. And Latin itself, far from being a "dead language," lives on not only in the Romance languages, but also in English vocabulary and grammar. Rhetoric, language, law--these are just a small part of the great Roman influence that has lasted throughout the centuries. The Legacy of Rome has long been considered the standard introduction to the achievements of the Roman world. Now in a completely new edition, this classic work brings together the latest scholarship in the field from some of the world's leading classical scholars. Unlike the previous version, which focused on such narrow topics as commerce and administration, the new edition broadens the spectrum of influence, showing the impact, for example, of Roman literature, art, politics, law, and language on western civilization. Jasper Griffin, for instance, looks to the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, and Wordsworth, among others, to trace the lasting influence of the great Roman poet Virgil on the development of poetic forms such as the pastoral, epitomized by Virgil's Eclogues, and the epic poem, exemplified by the Aeneid. A.T. Grafton shows how Renaissance intellectuals such as Machiavelli and Guicciardini looked to Rome's past for political enlightenment, and found models of military strategy in the works of Tacitus and Livy. Editor Richard Jenkyns dispels the misconception of the Romans as purely imitative of the Greeks; he points out such uniquely Roman concepts as jurisprudence and citizenship, and architecture based on the round arch and the vault, as evidence of Roman innovativeness. Other contributors--George A. Kennedy, Robert Feenstra, and Nicholas Purcell--discuss the importance of the study of Roman rhetoric in preparing speakers for public life, the lasting influence of the Justinian code on Western legal development, and the impact on future civilizations of the romanticized notion of an imperial Rome and its magical ruins. Ranging from the pastoral tradition, to the development of the comedy, to the lasting influence of the Latin language, The Legacy of Rome provides a much-needed new appraisal of the richness of the great civilization which gave rise to a large part of Western heritage.
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6.

A Handbook of Greek Mythology: Including Its Extension to Rome » Read Now
by H. J. Rose. 365 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Literature, Entire Library
7.

Reading Epic: An Introduction to the Ancient Narratives (Chap. 5 "Beginning Epic in Rome") » Read Now
by Peter Toohey. 252 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Readers new to ancient epic are hampered in two ways: they do not know the ancient languages, and they are unfamiliar with the ancient world. This survey addresses the needs of these readers by offering guidance through the major classical writers of epic: it begins with Homer and concludes with an...
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Readers new to ancient epic are hampered in two ways: they do not know the ancient languages, and they are unfamiliar with the ancient world. This survey addresses the needs of these readers by offering guidance through the major classical writers of epic: it begins with Homer and concludes with an overview of the development of late ancient epic and of the interface between the epic and the novel.
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8.

Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable; The Age of Chivalry; Legends of Charlemagne » Read Now
by Thomas Bulfinch. 917 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, History, Literature, Entire Library

...the poets purpose as the legends of the Greek and Roman mythology. And if every well-educated young person is expected...by the Romans. Those which follow are peculiar to...
9.

The World of Myth » Read Now
by David Adams Leeming. 362 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh--these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization...
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Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh--these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization, representing common concerns that each society voices in its own idiom. Whether an Egyptian story of creation or the big-bang theory of modern physics, myth is metaphor, mirroring our deepest sense of ourselves in relation to existence itself. Now, in The World of Myth, Leeming provides a sweeping anthology of myths, ranging from ancient Egypt and Greece to the Polynesian islands and modern science. We read stories of great floods from the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Chinese, and Mayans; tales of apocalypse from India, the Norse, Christianity, and modern science; myths of the mother goddess from Native American Hopi culture and James Lovelock's Gaia. Leeming has culled myths from Aztec, Greek, African, Australian Aboriginal, Japanese, Moslem, Hittite, Celtic, Chinese, and Persian cultures, offering one of the most wide-ranging collections of what he calls the collective dreams of humanity. More important, he has organized these myths according to a number of themes, comparing and contrasting how various societies have addressed similar concerns, or have told similar stories. In the section on dying gods, for example, both Odin and Jesus sacrifice themselves to renew the world, each dying on a tree. Such traditions, he proposes, may have their roots in societies of the distant past, which would ritually sacrifice their kings to renew the tribe. In The World of Myth, David Leeming takes us on a journey "not through a maze of falsehood but through a marvellous world of metaphor," metaphor for "the story of the relationship between the known and the unknown, both around us and within us." Fantastic, tragic, bizarre, sometimes funny, the myths he presents speak of the most fundamental human experience, a part of what Joseph Campbell called "the wonderful song of the soul's high adventure."
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10.

Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero » Read Now
by David Adams Leeming. 272 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Literature, Entire Library

Leeming illustrates the various stages or rites of passage of the mythic universal hero, from birth to childhood, through trial and quest, death, descent, rebirth, and ascension. The arrangement of texts by themes such as "Childhood, Initiation and Divine Signs," "The Descent to the Underworld," and...
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Leeming illustrates the various stages or rites of passage of the mythic universal hero, from birth to childhood, through trial and quest, death, descent, rebirth, and ascension. The arrangement of texts by themes such as "Childhood, Initiation and Divine Signs," "The Descent to the Underworld," and "Resurrection and Rebirth" strip mythic characters of their many national and cultural "masks" to reveal their archetypal aspects. Real figures, including Jesus and Mohammed, are also included underlining the theory that myths are real and can be applied to real life. This edition is updated to include additional heroine myths, as well as Navajo, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, and African tales.
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11.

Fairytale in the Ancient World » Read Now
by Graham Anderson. 240 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Literature, Entire Library

In this, the first modern study of the ancient fairytale, Graham Anderson asks whether the familiar children's fairytale of today existed in the ancient world. He examines texts from the classical period and finds many stories which resemble those we know today, including:* a Jewish Egyptian...
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In this, the first modern study of the ancient fairytale, Graham Anderson asks whether the familiar children's fairytale of today existed in the ancient world. He examines texts from the classical period and finds many stories which resemble those we know today, including:* a Jewish Egyptian Cinderella* a Snow White whose enemy is the goddess Artemis* a Pied Piper at Troy.He puts forward many previously unsuspected candidates as classical variants of the modern fairytale and argues that the degree of violence and cruelty in the ancient tales means they must have been meant for adults.
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12.

Bandits in the Roman Empire: Myth and Reality » Read Now
by John Drinkwater, Thomas Grünewald. 230 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This wide-ranging and informative survey of 'outsider' groups in the Roman Empire will contribute greatly to our understanding of Roman social history.Examining men such as as Viriatus, Tacfarinus, Maternus and Bulla Felix, who were called latrones after clashing with the imperial authorities...
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This wide-ranging and informative survey of 'outsider' groups in the Roman Empire will contribute greatly to our understanding of Roman social history.Examining men such as as Viriatus, Tacfarinus, Maternus and Bulla Felix, who were called latrones after clashing with the imperial authorities, special attention is given to perhaps the best-known 'bandit' of all, Spartacus, and to those who impersonated the emperor Nero after his death. Topics covered include:* Whom did the Romans see as bandits (latrones) ? * What did they understand as robbery (lactrocinium) ?* How pressing was the threat that the bandits posed?* How did their contemporaries perceive the danger?We are shown that the term latrones was not just used to refer to criminals but was metaphorically and disparagingly applied to failed political rebels, rivals and avengers. The word also came to represent the 'noble brigands', idealising the underdog as a means of criticising the winning side. The author therefore presents 'the bandit' as a literary construct rather than a social type.
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13.

A Dictionary of World Mythology » Read Now
by Arthur Flagg Cotterell. 314 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Literature, Entire Library

"I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, sovereign of all things spiritual....I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me." With these words, Isis--the mother goddess of...
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"I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, sovereign of all things spiritual....I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me." With these words, Isis--the mother goddess of Egypt--reveals herself to her devotee, Lucius Apuleius, in his novel The Golden Ass. Just as this great goddess claimed to be universal, mythology itself exists in all cultures around the globe and extends back to the beginnings of human civilization. Plato first coined the term mythologia to mean merely the telling of stories which contain legendary figures. Since his time, and especially now with the resurgent interest in myths, mythology has come to hold greater significance and power as a crucial element of civilization as a whole. Written by a leading scholar of ancient civilizations, A Dictionary of World Mythology presents the powerful gods of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, the more mystical deities of Buddhist and Hindu India, and the stern spirits of the African and American continents together in one fascinating volume. Drawing upon hundreds of myths from around the globe, Arthur Cotterell not only reveals the vast differences in these civilizations, but also demonstrates the unity of mankind in its fundamental need for explanations of the unknown. Cotterell divides the chief myths of the world into seven main sections--West Asia, South and Central Asia, East Asia, Europe, America, Africa, and Oceania. Traveling through this vast array of legendary riches, we encounter Gilgamesh, the tyrannical, semi-divine king of Babylonia, who, according to the Gilgamesh Epic, rejected Ishtar and thus caused the ravaging of the earth by Anu, the bull of heaven, and the death of his lifelong friend Enkidu. We learn that Dharma--the term meaning the doctrine of duties and rights of each caste in the Hindu religion's ideal society--was an ancient Hindu sage who married thirteen of Daksha's daughters, and that, according to the Mahabharata, Daksha sprang from the right thumb of Brahma. From East Asian mythology, we discover Tsao Chun, the gentle Chinese kitchen god whose temple exists in a small niche near the cooking stove. Along with the well-known Greek and Roman deities, Europe has also brought us Dagda, the ancient Irish deity of life and death, who could, with one end of his staff, kill nine men and could, with the other end, restore them to life; and Balder, "the bleeding god" of Germanic mythology, renowned for his good looks and wisdom. According to Native American tribes living along the Xingu River in Brazil, a legendary nation called Minata-Karaia once existed with men who had holes in the top of their heads which produced high, loud whistles, and bunches of coconuts growing from their armpits. From Africa, Ogun, the Yoruban war god, descended by a spider's thread upon the marshy waste that existed prior to the formation of the earth. We also meet Papa, the ancestress of Hawaiian people, who functioned as Earth goddess and queen of the underworld, as well as mother of the gods. Each section contains an introduction highlighting the history, lifestyle, and ideology of the particular ancient civilizations, as well as the landscape in which they lived and the reasons why different mythologies arose in different lands.
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