Roman State Religion

State Religion

The official state religion was established by Rome's second king, Numa Pompilius.
He made himself the priest king, and the head of state religion.
He fixed festival dates and created the role of priests to supervise state religion.
There are three different types of priests:
- Pontifices, who administered Roman religion.
- Flamines, who were responsible for running the temples of specific gods.
- Augurs, who carried out divination.
State religion was badly damaged during the years of civil war of the Roman republic.
However, it was restored during the reign of Augustus who wanted to ensure the Romans would be at 'peace with the gods'.
He restored the roles, rituals, and temples that had been established by Pompilius over 500 years beforehand.
Roman state religion was intended to ensure that the gods favoured decisions made by the state.

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Pontifex Maximus (chief priests) were the head of state religion in Rome.
After Augustus' decision to restore state religion, emperors took the Chief Priests' role.
This was either because they were worried about a rival assuming this powerful position or they wanted the prestige that went along with having this position.
This also emphasised the link between politics and state religion, until Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
The Pontifex Maximus were in charge of Vestal Virgins and 16 other priests.
This religion was generally referred to as the 'Imperial Cult' which regards emperors and members of their families as gods.
On his death, Julius Caesar was officially regarded as a god, Divius Julius.
In 29BC, the first Roman emperor, Augustus, allowed the culturally Greek cities of Asia Minor to set up temples to him which was the first instance of Roman emperor-worship, and continued through the Imperial period.
Worship of living emperors was acceptable in areas, but not in Rome and Italy.
There, an emperor was usually declared a 'divus' only on his death, and was subsequently worshipped (especially on anniversaries, like that of his accession) with sacrifices like any other gods.

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Roman gods were worshipped in Rome's many temples.
At one end of the Forum was the Temple of Vesta (Goddess of family, hearth, and family) and home to the Vestal Virgins.
Next door was the Priests' house and nearby was the Temple of Saturn.
On the Palatine Hill, over a dozen temples have been identified including to the God Viriplaca, a goddess who acted as a marriage guidance counsellor.

On the Capitoline Hill, the 'Great Gods' had their centre, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, associated with Juno and Jupiter.
These gods were offered animal sacrifices at times of national crisis or during festival days.
The people believed that these sacrifices would protect the city.

However, on most days, these temples would be closed and would only be carried out by priests.
For most normal Roman people, religion was something done at home.

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At the centre of the Roman state religion were the VV.
VVs were 6-10 years old, whose parents had surrendered their legal control over them.
6 VVs served for 30 years and had to pledge to remain virgins.
A VV who lost her virginity would be buried alive in an underground chamber.
When VVs finished their service, they could get married and have children.
The writer Cicero echoed the official attitude when he said: "If the gods did not hear the Vestal Virgins' prayers, the state would not survive."
Their function was to keep the sacred flame in the ToV alight and they took turns doing this.
Nero's visit: "Suddenly all his limbs began trembling. He was frightened by the Goddess." (Tacitus)

The office carried great prestige for the VV and their families.
The only women allowed to ride in carriages were the emperor's wife and the VVs.
In court, they did not swear an oath and had splendid banquets.
They were supported by the state, and given special seats at public events.
They wore a stola (a special kind of tunic) to easily identify them.

Despite the danger of the fire setting the temple alight, only water from one spring could be used.
One virgin had to carry this water in a jar and place it into a marble tank.
If she put the water down along the way, it would lose its holiness.

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16 pontifices (priests) oversaw the organisation of religious events.
They kept records of proper religious procedures, the dates of festivals, and days of special religious significance.
Pontifices were in charge of organising and carrying out sacrifices on festival days or in times of crisis.
Flamines were dedicated to one type of god e.g. flamendialis served Jupiter.
Pontifices also gave advice to magistrates on religious matters.
Divination was carried out by augures:
- Signs from animals: inspecting of bird flights/entrails of sacrificed chickens. Any abnormal size/colour was a bad omen.
- Inanimate objects: a divine power would guide the fall of dice/knucklebones.
- Unusual natural events: storms, earthquakes, or meteorites were thought to herald great political changes.

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