Did Roman religion affect the Romans lives?

Answer 1

Religion in ancient Rome encompassed the religious beliefs and cult practices regarded by the Romans as indigenous and central to their identity as a people, as well as the various and many cults imported from other peoples brought under Roman rule. Romans thus offered cult to innumerable deities who influenced every aspect of both the natural world and human affairs. The establishment of these cults was credited to Rome's divine ancestors, founders, and kings, and to conquered nations and allies. Their temples provided the most visible and sacred manifestations of Rome's history and institutions.

Participation in traditional religious rituals was considered a practical and moral necessity in personal, domestic and public life. Romans could offer cult to any deity or any combination of deities, as long as it did not offend the mos maiorum, the "custom of the ancestors," that is, Roman tradition. Good relations between mortals and the divine were maintained by piety; this meant the correct offering of ritual and divine honours, especially in the form of sacrifice. In return, the gods were likely to benefit their worshipers. Impieties such as religious negligence, superstition and self-indulgence could provoke divine wrath against the State.

The priesthoods and cult maintenance of major deities, like the highest offices of state, were regarded as the traditional preserve of the patricians, the hereditary elite whose privileges were said to have been chartered by the founding father Romulus himself. Early in the history of the Republic, however, many priesthoods were opened to plebeians, along with political office. Some Romans, both patricians and noble plebeians, claimed divine ancestry to justify their position among the ruling class, most notably Julius Caesar, who asserted his descent from the goddess Venus. Cult to Roman household deities was served by the paterfamilias and his familia, a broader term than the English word "family" that included kin, slaves, and others under the protection of his household. Some deities were served by women, others by freedmen and slaves. Rome's mystery cults were open only to initiates who were bound not to reveal the rites; little is known of them.

As Rome extended its influence and presence throughout the Mediterranean world, it encountered and absorbed deities and practices by seeking (and often finding) their equivalence to its own or acknowledging their role in local identity and tradition. Some were officially embraced, others tolerated and a few might be condemned as alien hysteria, magic or superstition. Attempts were made periodically to suppress religions that seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity; the Dionysian mysteries provoked unseemly exhibitions of enthusiasm and wild behaviour, Christianity was superstition, or Atheism, or both; and druidism was thought to employ human sacrifice. Judaism was merely tolerated.

Many of Rome's own cult practices were explained or justified by myths, while others remained obscure in origin and purpose. All provided sources for theological and philosophical speculation on the nature of the divine and its relationship with human affairs. Even the most skeptical among Rome's intellectual elite such as Cicero acknowledged the necessity of religion as a form of social order despite its obvious irrational elements. Religious law offered curbs to personal and factional ambition, and political and social changes must be justified in religious terms. Religion played an essential part in the political rivalries and civil wars of the Late Republic; it was also central to their settlement. Julius Caesar's heir Augustus claimed his principate as a restoration of peace, tradition and religious rectitude. His institution of the Imperial cult showed pious respect for tradition, and fostered religious unity and mutual toleration among Rome's newly acquired provinces. Traditional religious practice remained the core of Rome's foundation, development and continued success. Religious novelty remained a source of fascination and mistrust.

By late antiquity, numerous foreign cults had gained vast popularity in the farthest reaches of the Empire, including the mystery cult of the syncretized Egyptian goddess Isis, and deities of solar monism such as Mithras and Sol Invictus, found as far north as Roman Britain.

The era of Christian hegemony began with the conversion of Constantine I. In 391, Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Theodosius I, to the exclusion of all other cults. Beginning with the patristic writers of the 4th century, the diverse traditional religions practiced throughout the Empire were condemned collectively as "pagan", and were gradually transformed, absorbed or suppressed.

Despite the Christianization of empire, many forms of traditional religious practice, particularly festivals and games (ludi), which could be divorced from specific theological implications, retained their vitality through the 4th and 5th centuries. Rome's religious hierarchy and many aspects of ritual influenced Christian forms, and many pre-Christian beliefs and practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions.

Answer 2

The Roman religion was certainly influential in the development of Christianity. For one thing, the holiday that became Christmas was originally a Roman holiday-- the Saturnalia, the birth of the Sun. This popular pagan holiday was celebrated on December 25th, and eventually, the church picked it up, turned it into the birthday of Jesus (the birth of the Son), and began to celebrate it as a Christian holiday.

other comments from contributors:

Which one? The Roman religion before the 4th century is different from that after the 4th century. Either religion is a pantheistic religion with scores of lesser gods and goddesses.

In the 4th century, many aspects and doctrines of Christianity were added to the Roman pantheon. Those we understand as "saints" today in some sects referred to as Christian remain as a pantheon of lesser gods and goddesses.

---------------

It's easy to say the Roman religion was influential in the developmnet of Christianity until one stops long enough to compare the two. The Roman pantheon has 2 religions within the scope of this question: The pre-4th century Roman pantheon, the post-4th century Roman universal (Latin:Catholic) religion and then there's Christianity.

The Latin suffix "-ian" means 'follower of', or 'man of'. Christ-ian means 'Follower of Christ'. The Roman pantheon has nothing to do with Christ, so the delineation ends there.

The Roman religion was a state religion with a College of Pontiffs at its head. The College of Pontiffs (Latin: Pontifex; high or chief priest; archbishop or pope) consisted of the Pontifex Maximus followed by 3 or 5 pontifices. During the reign of Julius Caesar the pontiffs had assumed full control of the state religious system. In 313 A.D. Emporer Constantine assumed the title Pontifex Maximus. The title was changed to pope as the language changed.

The pre- and post-4th century Roman pantheons are essentially the same. There is no "which one". Call the pantheon of gods and goddesses "saints", add or change some names here and there, absorb all the religions of the empire into one, strip away the "Jewishness" and all the parts that might challenge the state's supremacy, call it a church and the old becomes new.

Revamp Saturnalia, the Roman celebration of Saturn, the fertility holiday to call life back to the greens, and call it Christmas. Change the Ephesian spring fertility celebration of Eostre into a celebration of death and rebirth, and call it Easter.

The names of our months are from Roman gods and the names of our days of the week are from Norse and planets.

The result is that one of the oldest religions in the known world is referred to with a new name, packaged with a "new" image and passed off as something it isn't.

Answer 3

Yes, they did. The Romans were deeply religious. They believed that natural disasters were signs of the wrath of gods who had not been honoured. Therefore it was important to honour the gods by giving them offerings (sacrifices). They also practiced divination to read the signs of the omens of the gods.

Answer 4

The pagan religion of the Romans has had no influence on western civilisation. It died out. The Romans have shaped the religious makeup of western civilisation by giving Christianity to it.

Christianity developed from a religion among a small group of Jews (who lived in Judea, which was part of the Roman Empire) into a mass religion in the Roman days. It spread around the Roman Empire. It became the religion of the masses and then state religion. Catholic Christianity and Orthodox Christianity developed during the Late Roman Empire. They were originally called Latin or Western Christianity and Greek or Eastern Christianity respectively. The former was the main religion in the western part of the Roman Empire and the latter was the main religion in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.