Religion in the Roman home and the Penates who looked

after the food cupboard.

Empire
Children learned from a very early
age to watch closely as their parents
BELIEFS OF THE FIRST ROMANS
offered prayers. Each family
The religious beliefs of the first
believed that it was necessary to
Romans arose out of the people who
offer suitable sacrifices so that the
worked the land. This was at a time
gods would act in the interest of the
when Rome was no more than one
family.
of the many small farming
communities located in the plain
The second form of religious
of Latium.
practice was public. This was
in the hands of priests.
The peasants or
Priests, acting on behalf of
farmers greatest fear
the people made every effort
was that nature through
to please the gods so that
flood, drought, gales or
they would work on their behalf.
whatever, would destroy the crops.
They had no doubt that the goal of
The attitude of the Romans towards
nature was the work of spirits or
the gods was a mixture. On the one
divine powers (numina) and that this
hand they were feared and many
was something beyond man’s
Romans would spend a great deal of
understanding.
time making sacrifices and offerings,
to win their favor.
Although early Romans believed
the numina had no form,
On the other hand, some Romans
there gradually
found it difficult to genuinely
developed a belief
believe in the existence of the
that some gods
gods although they still
possessed a human form.
worshipped them.
Eventually they believed
that all gods had
However, religion for the Roman
something like human
did not provide them with a code or
form.
set of laws on how to lead their
lives. They did not look to their
.
religion for a guide to tell them what
FORMS OF WORSHIP
to do in their lives.
There were two main forms of
religious worship; worship within the
By the time of Augustus, the only
family and public worship
real importance of the old religion
Each morning the family would pray
was as a means of binding people
to the goddess of fire, Vesta, and to
together as one nation. Showing
other numerous spirits who were
respect for the old Roman deity was
asked to work on behalf of members
a way of showing respect for the
of the family. These included Janus
state. The old religion had little
who guarded the entrance of the
meaning to ordinary people.

FOREIGN GODS
As the Romans began to conquer
other people they started to absorb
and accept their beliefs. The
Romans would adopt the god of a
captured city and add it to their own.
When foreigners settled in Rome, the
Romans encouraged them to bring
their gods with them. There was a
freedom of worship within the Roman
Empire provided that the people also
respected the Roman deities.
CAESAR IS MADE GOD
The Romans did not go to the
temples to attend a service or to
worship. They made offerings and
sacrifices at shrines and would
worship the gods at special festivals.
Although there were priests, they
were nearly always people who held
important positions, the priesthood
being one of many duties.
The chief priest was the emperor and
soon temples were dedicated to him.
The final dedication came when the
emperor was looked upon as a god
and each Caesar was considered
divine.
Everyone in the Roman Empire was
expected to honor the “divine nature”
of the emperor. It was looked upon
as a way of showing loyalty to the
state.
JUDAISM
There were many Jews in the
Roman Empire. Most were in
Palestine but there were large
communities in Alexandria and in
Rome itself.
The religion of the Jews, Judaism,
was a recognized religion like many
others. The Jews believed they were
the chosen people of God, and their
religion was for
Jews only. As
monotheists the
Jews could not
honor the Roman
gods and
goddesses or
the “divine
nature” of the
emperor. The
emperors Augustus, and
Claudius recognized this and
excused the Jews from doing so.
By the 60’s B.C., Palestine was a
Roman province within the empire
and there began a long history of
conflict between Jews and Romans.
The Jews always wanted to regain
their independence and be ruled by
their own King.
Out of this need for freedom arose a
belief that was written about before
Roman rule. The belief was that a
king would come and lead them to
freedom. It grew into a strong
expectation in Palestine for this
“Messiah” (anointed one) to come
and free them from Roman rule.
This made for a bad relationship
between the Jewish province of
Syria and the Romans.
THE MESSIAH
Out of this belief for a coming Messiah,
Christianity was founded by Jesus
Christ and grew in Palestine. As a
Jew, Jesus accepted the Jewish Law,
called the Torah, as a guide to the
way people should live their lives.
However, he brought new ideas that
extended the Ten Commandments,
Jewish Law, and made them more
meaningful to the people who were
considered outcasts and ordinary.
NEW TEACHINGS
Jesus preached two main
teachings: people must
love God above
everything and they must
love each other.
Jesus claimed that he was the awaited
Messiah and he taught a religion
based on love. Unlike the Roman
religion that was an expression of
loyalty to the state, Jesus preached
that God was supreme and while your
loyalty was to God you should also
respect the state. He preached that
people should “render unto Caesar
what is Caesars’ and unto “God what
is God’s.
The teachings of this new religion also
asked followers to share their worldly
goods. Jesus preached that wealth
and position were not important.
This set the Christians apart from the
Romans for the Romans considered
status in society very important.
Roman status was determined by a
person’s wealth.
The Christians did not recognize the
Roman gods and so did not take part
in the many festivals of the Romans.
This angered the Romans who
believed that Christian treatment of the
state gods would harm the empire.
CLASHES WITH JEWS AND
ROMANS
It was soon clear that followers of
Jesus were going to clash with both
the Jews and the Romans.
The Jews had expected a Messiah
who would lead them against the
Romans in battle and free them from
their rule.
Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah,
however, was more
concerned that people
should live a good life while
learning to love others as
themselves no matter what
the circumstances. He spoke of
freedom not in this world but in the
world after death.
This angered the Jews that were
governing Syria and with the Romans
help, they put Jesus on trial and found
him guilty of treason to the state of
Rome. They crucified Jesus and
buried him. On the third day after
Jesus’ death, Christians believe that
he came back to life and then
ascended into heaven.
This belief in the resurrection of
Jesus and that he was the Messiah
caused the people who believed in this
to break away from Judaism and start
their own religion and eventually were
called Christians.
The Christians along with the Jews
now could not worship the emperor as
a god and this together with other
factors led to clashes with the Roman
government and the eventual
destruction of Jerusalem and the
persecution of the Christians.
DIRECTIONS
This is what you do.

• Using a compass draw 3
intersecting circles similar to
but larger than the ones
below.
• Label the circles in the way
shown.
• You will then have an area in
which to place statements that
apply to:
o Only Roman religion
(R)
o Only Judaism (J)
o Only Christianity (C)
o Roman and Jewish (R
and J)
o Roman and Christianity
(R and C)
o Judaism and
Christianity (J and C)
o All three ( R, C, and J)
• You will find on this page
some statements about
religious beliefs. Some are
true statements about Roman,
Jewish, and Christian Beliefs;
some are not.
• Study each statement and
relate it to each of the three
religions.
• Decide each time whether the
statement is true of that
particular religion.
• Place the number of the
statement in the part of Venn
Diagram you think
appropriate.
Example:
Consider statement 3. This
statement is true of the Roman
religion and of Christianity but it is
not true of Judaism. Number 3
would, therefore, be placed in the
section where the Christian circle
overlaps with the Roman circle but is
outside the Jewish Circle.
1. monotheistic
2. Welcomed all nations into the
religion
3. Believed that Jesus Christ
was the Son of God
4. polytheistic
5. Accepted some of the beliefs
of other religions.
6. Provided members of the faith
with a code of behavior for
living a good life.
7. honored the emperor as a god
8. believed in a Messiah
9. A new religion
10. A religion that was practiced
in the Roman Empire.