Roman Gods and State Religion

Religion as state business

Roman religion was not mainly a matter of private belief. It was public business, carried out by officials on behalf of the city, and its purpose was practical: keep the gods well disposed towards Rome, and Rome would prosper. That is why this topic is full of rites the state performed rather than doctrines people held. It is also why the two sources named here work so differently. One is a historian describing something the Roman state actually did. The other is a poet telling a story that cannot have happened. Both are useful, and knowing what each is useful FOR is the whole skill.

Words the Roman state used

Five terms that carry most of this topic. Use them precisely and the rest follows.

What each god was asked for

Twelve gods, grouped by the part of life a Roman would approach them about. Learn the sphere and the name follows.

When a source reports the impossible

You already know the rule this component runs on: a source is reliable FOR something, and the mark is in saying what. Here is the extension you need for this topic. Some of the sources report things that cannot have happened. That does not make them useless, and dismissing them is the commonest way to throw marks away. Ask a different question of them. Even an invented story had to be believable to the people it was written for, so it is strong evidence for what those people expected and what they valued, however weak it is as a report of events. Name the kind of source, say what its author wanted from an audience, then say what it is good evidence for and what it cannot settle. Never stop at calling something a myth.

Match each god to what Romans asked of them

Six couches, twelve gods

In 217 BC, after a heavy defeat, the Roman state held a rite in which images of gods were laid on couches in pairs and formally offered a meal. Livy records it. What does the state choosing that response tell you about Roman religion?

• That public ritual was believed to repair the relationship with the gods when things went badly
• That the gods were thought to need feeding in order to survive
• That religion in Rome was chiefly a private family matter
• That the defeat had been traced to one particular god

What Livy can and cannot settle

Select the TWO statements that are fair about using Livy as evidence here.

• He is strong evidence for what the rite involved and what it was for
• He was writing long afterwards and depended on earlier records
• He was present at the rite and describes what he saw
• A history written later can tell us nothing about Roman religion

Rank them by distance from the event

Put these four kinds of source in order, starting with the one closest to a record of something that happened and ending with the one furthest from it.

• A stone cut at the time to record one person and their career
• A history written generations later from earlier records
• A poem written to entertain, set in the city where its writer lived
• A myth in which gods walk about the countryside in disguise

Gods at speed

Five in a row, three lives. Name the god from the sphere.

Complete the state religion paragraph

Roman public worship existed to keep the gods well disposed towards the city, a settled relationship the Romans called the _____. When disaster struck in 217 BC the state responded with a _____, laying images of gods on couches in pairs and offering them a meal. The god who held the sky and stood behind the oaths of the state was _____, and the goddess whose fire the city kept permanently alight was _____.

Two strangers at a poor door

Jupiter and Mercury travel through the countryside in human disguise, looking for somewhere to stay. Door after door is shut against them. An old couple with almost nothing, Baucis and Philemon, take them in and give them the best they have. Now read it the way the extension asks. This obviously did not happen, so it settles nothing about events. But somebody wrote it for an audience who would find it satisfying, and that is the evidence. It shows Romans expected gods who might arrive unrecognised and who judged how they were treated, and it shows how highly hospitality to a stranger was valued. It is weak on what gods did and strong on what people thought gods were like. You will meet these lines again: they connect straight to the Component 04 set text.

Spot the true Roman religion facts

Tap the TWO statements that are true.

• Roman state religion was public business carried out in the name of the city
• A story that cannot have happened can still be good evidence for what people valued
• Livy was an eyewitness to the rite of 217 BC
• A Roman temple was a hall built to seat a congregation for worship

Judge each source on its own terms

Three students, three source problems. Choose the answer you could defend.

• A student writes that Jupiter and Mercury really did visit an old couple in the countryside, and cites Ovid for it. What should they say instead?
• A student needs evidence for how the Roman state responded to a national crisis. Which of these serves best, and on what grounds?
• For the Temple of Jupiter at Pompeii and for sacrifice, the specification supplies images and no written passage at all. What can an image settle?

Write the case for two very different sources

A friend has decided that Livy is the only one of these sources worth using, because the other one is "just a myth". Write the answer that puts them right.

• Explain what Roman state religion was for, and what the city wanted from its gods
• Name two gods and say what a Roman would approach each of them about
• Explain what Livy is good evidence for, and what his distance from 217 BC means you should say
• Explain how a story about gods in disguise can be evidence, and evidence of what
• Finish with the images of the temple and the sacrifice: say what they can add and what they cannot