Romans And Their Gods

by Robert Maxwell Ogilvie

Plates & PlansPrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionThe GodsPrayerSacrificeDivinationThe Religious YearPrivate ReligionThe PriestsReligion in the Time of AugustusConclusionList of Authors Cited in the TextSelect BibliographyIndex

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Roman History, Mythology

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to understand any people in the world, you have to be able to wrap your mind around that people's way of worship. Not just their mythology, their sacred writings, etc. but their religious practices, their priesthood or lack of it, their temples and sacrifices and all the things that this people do in order to express their religious feelings. In this book , Robert Ogilvie, professor of classics at Oxford, gives a short and excellent summary of the religious practices of the pagan Romans during the end of the republic and the beginning of the empire.

The Greek scholar Dionysius of Harnasus once said that nobody can understand the Romans unless they understand "pietas". Pietas is the core of Roman virtue. It is a little different than what Christians call piety. To Christians, piety is devotion to God through the practice of virtue, prayer and sacrifice. Pietas to the Romans was simply devotion; devotion to the Gods, devotion to one's family and devotion to Rome. This is why the pagan Romans were so adamant about persecuting the early Christians. The early Christians refused to worship the old gods, and the Emperor who was the embodiment of the Roman state. To the pagan Romans, this refusal was a rejection of all that they held dear. It was the anti-thesis of pietas.

Another interesting thing about the religious practices of the Romans was the sheer multiplicity of their gods. Even before you add in the foreign gods that the Romans introduced in the era of the empire, and the emperor worship, the Romans had a large pantheon of gods; state gods, local gods, household gods, gods of guilds, professions, etc. Early Christian apologists would mock the pagan Romans for the difficulty that they faced in deciding just which god would be most appropriate to pray for a particular intention. The Romans had a complicated religious calendar that involved them in festivals in every month of the year. The Romans also had a complicated system of temples and priesthoods that involved most of the Roman aristocracy in a game of status. Unlike the priesthoods of other ancient and modern religions, the priests and augurs of ancient Rome were actually professional aristocrats and politicians who held their religious offices as a sort of honorary title. Some of the priests in the ancient Roman religious system did not believe in the religious office that they held. Cicero, who was an appointed augur, wrote an entire work on how augury was bogus. Yet the Romans did not find such attitudes to be problematic. These men held their offices because of the worth of the office-holder, and not because of the office-holder's belief in his office.

While there were some vast differences between the pagan Roman practices and Judeo-Christian practices, there were many similarities that worked to make Christianity understandable to ancient Romans. Unlike other ancient religions, the Romans like the Jews did not practice ritual prostitution nor human sacrifice. In fact, when the Romans fought three bloody wars against the Carthaginians, the Roman commentators made great issue with the Carthaginian practice of both. The Romans ruthlessly persecuted the Celtic druids because of their practice of human sacrifice. The Romans found such things to be barbaric, which is why pagan Roman commentators likened the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist with a type of human sacrifice. This comparison served to portray Christians as the same type of barbarian that they held Celtic druids. One of the most important temples of Ancient Rome was the temple of Vesta, the Goddess of the hearth. The priestesses of Vesta were unique among ancient priestesses in that they were not prostitutes. They were actually virgins, and they were held out to be the female embodiment of Roman virtue.

Ogilvie augments his discussion of ancient Roman religious practices with quotations from Roman poets, orators and historians during the era of the late republic. His prose is very good and makes what could be a very dry discussion very interesting. He breaks down the various aspects of Roman religious practice and discusses them individually. In doing so, he makes the ancient Romans much more understandable to the modern mind. After reading this short work, the Roman mind becomes much more understandable. This book is indispensable to anyone interested in ancient Rome, its history, literature and life.

[Samuel Valentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. The first chapter, though informative, was a bit aimless, and, in parts, almost snarky. The tone is best summed up in the first sentence of the second chapter: "Gods, like dogs, will only answer to their names." But immediately following that, the book took on a focus and direction that made me really enjoy reading. Additionally, it was particularly helpful when it defined words that would have had a radically different meaning to the ancient Romans than their current usage, like prayer and piety, for example.

I give it five stars mainly for the sheer amount of information that it was able to pack into such a slim volume. And, with the references, it made me want to look up more.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, despite his decision to exclude 'eastern' religion (Mithras etc...) from the discussion. Essentially, then, a near-perfect short book about traditional Roman religion around the end of the Republic. Highly recommended if you're interested in this kind of thing, which, well, many people probably aren't.

[Annabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally sedate, occasionally interesting reading, especially as a footnote of sorts to the literature I've read on ancient Rome over the years. The kind of book I would never have understood, let alone picked up, if not for the material I've read over the past five years. Not that I fully comprehend everything that's written here, of course...

Current religions, myths and stories apparently took their cues from these gods of olde. J.K. Rowling came to mind by page 25, as it discusses the nefandi, the unmentionable spirits. "It is this kind of fear that lies behind the proverb 'Talk of the Devil and he will appear'" and "The Holy Name that is not uttered." In Harry Potter parlance, He Who Must Not Be Named.

[Stephen Bedard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to Roman religion. The focus is not so much on what they believed but on what they did.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very conservative representation of some main aspects of Roman religion in the late Republic and early Empire. While such propositions as are adduced by the author are well-substantiated, sources specified, few conclusions are drawn and very little insight offered. Still, it is a step up from a retelling of the (mostly) literary myths of the Roman pantheon and will serve as an introductory text to give readers a sense of the broad scope of what is known of Roman religious beliefs and practices.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nifty little booklet, practically a pamphlet, on Ancient Roman religion. Not much new there for the specialist like myself, but a really cool introduction for someone unfamiliar with the Romans and their religion(s).

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction, but somewhat outdated in its views of Roman religion generally

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ogilvie is a precise, but clear writer. He deftly covers this topic in this brief book. It had the material, and the insights I was looking for.