Ancient Roman religion

form of Indo-European polytheism practised in the Roman civilization

thumb|Apotheosis of Venice (1585) by Paolo Veronese, a ceiling in the [[Doge's Palace]] thumb|The Apotheosis of Cornelis de Witt, with the Raid on Chatham in the background

mother of Romulus and Remus

devotion to a deity, person or thing

Ancient Roman ceremony

in ancient Roman religion, an individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing

ancient roman religious building

household gods in Roman tradition

type of religious offering, obejct displayed or deposted in a sacred place

collection of prophecies used in Rome

thumb|280px|The Jerash nymphaeum

building in Pompei, Italy

philosophical dialogue by Cicero

implicit religious values of a nation

collection of oracular utterances in Greek hexameter, containing Hellenistic/Roman mythology with Jewish, Gnostic and Christian stories

worship of deceased and deified emperors in ancient Roman religion

atmosphere of character of a location; source of inspiration

ancient shrine in the Roman Forum, known for an inscription in old Latin

in Roman religion, the trio of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, worshipped in the temple on Capitoline Hill in Rome (for the archaic triad of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, use Q3182384)

priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae

The Comitium () was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Forum was later lost in the city's growth and development, but was rediscovered and excavated by archaeologists at the turn of the twentieth century. Some of Rome's earliest monuments, including the speaking platform known as the Rostra, the Columna Maenia, the Graecostasis, and the Tabula Valeria, were part of or associated with the Comitium.

thumb|upright=1.5|, as a virtue of the emperor Antoninus Pius, represented by a woman offering a sacrifice on the reverse of this [[sestertius]] thumb|200px|Flavia Maximiana Theodora on the obverse, on the reverse Pietas holding infant to her breast. '''''' (), translated variously as "duty", "religiosity" or "religious behavior", "loyalty", "devotion", or "filial piety" (English "piety" derives from the Latin), was one of the chief virtues among the ancient Romans. It was the distinguishing virtue of the founding hero Aeneas, who is often given the adjectival epithet wikt:pius#Latin| ("religi

thumb|Patera from Georgia (country)|Georgia, likely depicting [[Fortuna (2nd century AD, Georgian National Museum)]] In the material culture of classical antiquity, a patera () or phiale ( ) is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation (omphalos, "belly button") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, in which case it is sometimes called a mesomphalic phiale. It typically has no handles, and no feet.

The '''''' were shades or spirits of the restless or malignant dead in Roman religion, sometimes used interchangeably with the term (from Latin , 'mask').

archaeological site in Rome, Italy

bronze tables containing inscriptions in Italic languages

Roman Sibyl

allusive term for a coin placed in the mouth of the dead to pay Charon to ferry them to the underworld

thumb|400px|Egyptian Drachm of Antoninus Pius (dated year 2 of his reign or 139 AD) showing his portrait and [[Tyche holding a rudder while reclining on couch for lectisternium (35 mm, 25.45 g)]]

status in Roman law

formal pool built by the Romans near a spring or well in the Roman Forum.

thumb|upright=1.75|Chariot races, as depicted on this 2nd-century relief, were among the ludi presented at Roman religious festivals Ludi (Latin for "games"; plural of ludus) were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people (populus Romanus). Ludi were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the major feature of, Roman religious festivals, and were also presented as part of the cult of state.

thumb|227x227px|Romans sacrificing a pig, a sheep, and a bull during a suovetaurilia Lustratio was an ancient Greek and ancient Roman purification ritual. It included a procession and in some circumstances the sacrifice of a pig (sus), a ram (ovis), and a bull (taurus) (suovetaurilia). The name is the source of English "lustration" (a purification).

thumb|300px|Map (1926) of the western end of the Roman Forum: the Volcanal is indicated between the [[Arch of Severus and the stairs of the Temple of Concord, just northwest of the Umbilicus and Rostra.]]

hymn performed by the Salii priests of Ancient Rome

work by Cicero

In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovate (, ) are used as technical terms for ancient Celtic bards, prophets and philosophers. The terms correspond to a Proto-Celtic word which can be reconstructed as . They are sometimes also used as English equivalents to later Celtic terms such as Irish "prophet, seer".

Roman divinity of grain supply to the city of Rome

thumb|CIMRM 641: Tauroctony scene on side A of a two-sided Roman bas-relief. 2nd or 3rd century, found at Fiano Romano, near [[Rome, now on display in the Louvre. In the upper corners are Helios with the raven, and Luna.]]

thumb|upright=1.2|A lituus (reverse, right, over the patera) as cult instrument, in this coin celebrating the pietas of the [[Roman Emperor Herennius Etruscus.]] thumb|upright=1.2|A lituus is shown on the reverse and to the right on this ancient coin. The word lituus originally meant a curved augural staff, or a curved war-trumpet in the ancient Latin language. This Latin word continued in use through the 18th century as an alternative to the vernacular names of various musical instruments.

hymn by Horace

In ancient Roman religion, the devotio was an extreme form of votum in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to chthonic gods in exchange for a victory. The most extended description of the ritual is given by the Augustan historian Livy, regarding the self-sacrifice of Decius Mus. The English word "devotion" derives from the Latin.

modern movement reviving traditional Roman religion

Latin inscription on funerary items

large ancient Roman temple in Rome, Italy

class of Roman deities

religious chant of the Arvales Brethren

archaeological monuments dedicated to Jupiter common in Roman Germania

work by Marcus Tullius Cicero

thumb|Sacrificial altar of dea Vagdavercustis dedicated by Titus Flavius Constans in Cologne 165 AD Vagdavercustis is a Germanic goddess known from a dedicatory inscription on an altar found at Cologne (Köln), Germany. The stone dates from around the 2nd century CE and is now in a museum in Cologne.

right|thumb|200px|A Totenpass in the form of an inscribed metal leaf was sometimes rolled up and inserted into a necklace capsule, as shown in this 2nd-century Fayum mummy portraits|funerary portrait from Egypt.

An aretalogy (), from ἀρετή (aretḗ, “virtue”) + -logy,or aretology (from ancient Greek aretê, "excellence, virtue") in the strictest sense is a narrative about a divine figure's miraculous deeds where a deity's attributes are listed, in the form of poem or text, in the first person. The equivalent term in Sanskrit is ātmastuti. There is no evidence that these narratives constituted a clearly defined genre but there exists a body of literature that contained praise for divine miracles. These literary works were usually associated with eastern cults.

essay on the study of magic in the Greco-Roman world

Ancient roman ritual food

A sacellum is a small shrine in ancient Roman religious contexts. The word is a diminutive of sacrum (neuter of sacer, "belonging to a god"). The numerous sacella of ancient Rome included both shrines maintained on private properties by families, and public ones. A sacellum might be square or round.

Permitted religion in ancient Roman law

In ancient Roman religion, a ' (plural '; ) is a vow or promise made to a deity. As the result of this verbal action, a is also that which fulfills a vow, that is, the thing promised, such as offerings, a statue, or even a temple building. The is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion, a bargaining expressed by , "I give that you might give."

eternal flame in ancient Rome

place of refuge in antiquity