Roman Religion
The life of a Roman citizen was centered upon religion. Religion to the Romans was a very public and civil affair. "We Romans" said Cicero "owe our supremacy over all other peoples to our piety and religious observances and our wisdom in believing that the spirit of the gods rules and directs everything (Cowell 180.)" Rome acquired many beliefs through cultural diffusion. As Rome conquered territories and nations, the beliefs of the conquered people would fuse with the Roman beliefs. Romans would not suppress a god or belief of the conquered people for fear that the God suppressed would curse the empire. Romans saw religion as a duty to the state and to the community, not for the love of gods or the willingness to surrender themselves to the gods. The Roman state religion was the supreme religion of the empire. The state religion allowed all other religions to be practiced as long as the belief did not interfere with the state beliefs. Many eastern religions and practices were widely accepted by Roman soldiers and poorer classes because it offered personal salvation no matter what social status one belonged to. The eastern religions did not conflict with Roman beliefs either. Christianity and Jud
The state religion was a very public and civil deed. Other religions practiced by Romans were private and practiced only in private. All homes had shrines and altars committed to the gods and deities which Romans worshiped on a daily basis. Although temple worship was not required, temples were still built in Rome and the surrounding empire. The temples often housed statues and art gained from conquered countries such as Greece. The temples housed the Senate Treasury of Rome at one time and Roman citizen's possessions. Roman Senate carried out meeting sometimes in temples. No recorded services were held in mass numbers in the temples. The temples were more of monuments or temples to the gods. Christianity was the most widely and largest accepted of the eastern religions introduced into the Roman Empire. The beliefs were brought to Rome by the disciples of Jesus Christ. Christianity appealed to believers because of its promotion of kindness, mercy, love and good will towards people no matter what class they belonged to. The belief of salvation for any soul who believed in Christ appealed to the lower classes more so than the upper classes. This is because in most other religions practiced inside the empire, only the upper class was able to get to heaven and receive salvation of their soul. In the beginning Christianity was accepted by Rome. Soon Christianity was suppressed by the Roman State because Christians had to renounce all other beliefs in order to receive the benefits of being a Christian. When the event abolishment of Christianity took place, Christians had already established themselves in the empire. This deep rooting into the Roman followers allowed Christianity to persist through the harsh consequences of practicing and renouncing all other religions including the state religion of the Roman Empire. When a Christians was caught practicing they were persecuted for political reasons rather than religious reasons. The political stand point of Rome was to not allow any religion to practice without recognizing the Roman State religion as the foremost important religion. The state religion of Rome was polytheistic and involved paganism. The state religion included many of the Greek derived Etruscan gods and goddesses. As trade and overtaking of Greek land occurred, Romans not having much in mythology surrounding their gods, the Romans adopted many Greek myths to support their gods. In addition, Rome acquired gods and deities from nations they traded with and conquered. There were three main gods as there were in Greco beliefs. Jupiter was the father of the gods, Juno was the queen of the gods and Jupiter's wife and Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and war. There were
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Approximate Word count = 1834
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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