What was one of the roman superstitions?

Answer 1

The Romans interpreted natural phenomena as signs from the gods which could be good omens or bad omens. They had priests called augurs who performed augury, the divination of the omens. They used signs for the sky, the fight of birds and the behaviour of several animals. The Romans believed that objects or living beings could possess special spiritual properties societies. A stone, trees, springs, caves, lakes, swamps, mountains, animals and furniture could be hosts to spirits (numina). Boundary stones were seen as containing spirits.

A black cat entering the house, a snake falling from the roof into the yard, or a beam of the house spitting were bad omens. So were to spill wine, oil or water. To meet a mule in the street carrying a herb called hipposelinum, which was used to decorate tombs, brought bad luck. You had to cross the threshold of a house with the left foot. It was believed that that you could stop yourself from having unpleasant thoughts by moistening a finger with saliva and rubbing it across the skin behind the ear.

The Romans believed in Werewolves (verspilles) and that some old women knew the art of changing into birds. Witches and vampires would sneak into house of a dead man to rob and mutilate his corpse. The bodies of the dead were watched over during the time before they were buried.

The Romans believed in the lemurs, spirits of the dead who roamed around dark places. Some houses were believed to be haunted, especially if someone had been murdered there. Nobody would go in them and some people did not even go near them. Children were told stories of nasty creatures who would come to eat them if they were not good. The Romans adopted Lamia a beautiful child-eating daemon and Mormo, a terrifying child-eating woman with donkey legs from the Greeks.

Marriages were scheduled on certain days and months so as not to have them come under a bad omen.