Everything you need to know about the Roman gods

Everything you need to know about the Roman gods

The “eternal city” is full of monuments, and works of art on every corner.
But Rome is not just this.
It is the place where kings and queens plotted for power and glory and deity influenced the activities of the ancient Romans.
Here you will find everything you need to know about the Roman gods and their story.

The Roman gods

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According to scholars, the ancient Romans took their divinities from Greece and from the Etruscans and other peoples. They made them their own and became devoted to them.  Cicero himself in his work “De Natura Deorum” established that:

“As much as we want to flatter ourselves, we will never succeed in persuading ourselves to surpass the Spaniards in number and robustness, the Gauls with our skills, the Carthaginians in shrewdness, the Greeks in the arts and sciences, while  people  believe that there are gods who rule and govern the universe “.

All these deities were divided into two classes: first the major deities ( aka dii maiorum gentium) and the minor deities (aka dii minorum gentium).

The minor deities

The minor deities were characterized by the presence of deified heroes.
Without forgetting the “almost men” and all the gods who belonged to the sea, rivers and rural ones. The first among the gods present were:
Hercules also known as Alcides, Aeneas, Romulus the creator of Rome, Castor and Pollux.
Other deified heroes were Faun, Pan, Silvanus, Vertunno, Pales, Flora, the Nymphs, Hymen and many others.

The major deities

The gods who formed the council known as “Numi” belonged to the major divinities and in addition, the chosen divinities participated in it.
Twelve were the divinities who participated as:
Jupiter, Juno, Minerva (Pallas), Vesta, Ceres, Neptune, Venus, Vulcan, Mars, Apollo, and Mercury.
The deities chosen instead were: Janus, Saturn, Pluto, Rhea, Bacchus, Moon, Sun and finally the Genius.

Virtues according to the Romans

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The Romans attached great importance to the virtues and affections of the soul.
They were celebrated: the mind, the virtue of honour, piety, faith and hope.
And also, for this reason, there were many temples.
Among these, we remember the temple of Concord, Clemenza, Quiet and Modesty. Without forgetting the temples of Peace and Happiness.
In addition, the Romans had divinities such as the deva Levana, Cunina, Potina, and Edusa who had the task of protecting children.
The goddess Vibilla who protected travellers, Locuzio who advised them to speak in time, Laverna goddess of thefts, Pollanza and Death itself.

The celebrations

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Both types of deities were celebrated by the Romans.
The holidays fell at certain times of the year and began to follow the Roman calendar with the help of officiants.

The Roman priests

For this reason, we can say that in addition to the two classes of Roman gods, there were also two classes of priests.
There were priests of all gods and those dedicated to a specific deity.
To the first class belonged: the pontiffs to whom the public and sacred functions were attributed, the augures who were patricians and who foresaw the future, the quindicemvirs, the arval brothers, the feciali, the Septemvri epuloni, the king of sacrifices.
At the second the Salii, the Flaminii, the priests of Hercules and Cybele, and the Vestals.  All these priests were divided into colleges.

The Flaminii and the Salii

Priests who cared for all the deities of the second class were called Flaminii.
The story goes that originally there could have been only three priests but over time they became four and finally nine.
Originally they were elected among the Patricians and eventually also among the Plebeians.
The major flaminii dealt with Jupiter, Mars and Romulus.

Mars was the only one who had in his “Numi” other priests known as Salii.
They were the keepers of the sword, spear and his shield.

Prayer in the temples

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The Romans often went to temples to pay homage to their deities.
Inside the temples,  sacrifices and prayers were made in front of the simulacrum.
It was typical to pray in a circle or to worship the deity by praying with the hand in front of the mouth.
Very often to request a blessing they would position themself in front of the altar but with their body positioned to the east, towards the sun.

The vote

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The vote was a very important thing for the Romans.
Once it was done it couldn’t be melted unless it melted and resolved on its own.
The Romans wrote their vows on wax tablets and hung them under the symbolic statue of their divinity so that he could read and give grace to the chosen one.

The sacrifices 

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