Polytheistic Religion in Roman Empire

Patera

Libation bowl

Native deities linking to Roman ones

• Equated to Roman deities
  - probably because they had similar traits and functions
  - People possibly noticed that gods in different cultures and languages had similar traits and functions

Interpretatio Romana 

When the Romans identified foreign deities with their own
- based on shared characteristics, functions, or apperance

Apollo Grannus / Apollo

• Venerated as a spring god in Upper Germany, Gaul and Germany more widely
  - Springs had been linked to healing for much longer

Gods linked to springs in Britain

• usually under the protection of a single female goddess
  - e.g Sulis Minerva

• A soldier from Upper Germany set up an altar to Apollo next to a spring on Hadrian’s wall

Developments of Worship under Roman rule in Germany

• Black forest: Diana Abnoba

• Vosges (other side of the Rhine): Mercurius Vosegus

• 2 similar environments but associated with gods of different genders
  - likely that this was a pre-Roman practice that became visible under Roman rule

Example of a local god that has no known Roman equivalent

• Cernunnos
  - seen on the Gundestrup cauldron

Uffington White Horse

• Suggestions that it dates to the bronze age
  - needs maintenance or it will grow over
  - religious continuity over millennia

Romano-celtic temples

• Cultural links

• Maiden castle

• Kempten

• Hexagonal temple in Brittany

Roman attutdues to local religions and gods

• seems to adopt a laissez-faire approach
  - likely that they knew people were less likely to rebel if the Roman rulers didn’t majorly interfere

Egyptian religion under Roman rule

• Little difference between pre-Roman and during Roman rule

Spread of Cults from outside Rome

• Temple of Isis at Pompeii

• Dedication of Serapis (Greco-Egyptian Deity)
  - Temple at York

Mithras

• Only men could join the cult

• Only found in military areas

Exmaple of nature worship

• Healing Springs and Spring veneration
  - Found all over the empire
  - Manikaran (India)
  - Bath

• People threw coins into spring for healing
  - Pausanias writes of this at the Sanctuary at Oropos

Sulis Minerva

• British or Italian?
  - Dedications at Bath (including 14 stone dedications)
  - Inscriptions from the Terbbia Valley

• Most likely of pre-Roman origins