By looking at the Ovid’s Fasti, I find it very interesting that everything is tied up into four categories: piety, worship, antiquarianism, and patriotism. I think that all four of these factors practiced in the Roman Religion are similar to what is practiced in Christianity today.
First, piety and worship are recognizable through ritual, prayers, and sacrifice. They Romans were well known for having a worship or ceremony for just about any special event that you could think of. In Christianity, we have confirmation, where one is known to become an “adult”, or their own “individual”. I remember a section of the Fasti when a young boy put on a toga, and that was symbolic of him becoming a man. Also in the Fasti, Romans were known to have animal sacrifices as ceremonies, which we do not hold in the modern day Christian religion. In instances of piety, Romans held personal relationships with their Gods. They prayed to them and held a great respect for them, just as we do in modern times.
In the Roman Religion, antiquarianism was very important. It provides references to the early days of Rome. Antiquarianism offers us past information that can make the story seem more real and believable. As mentioned earlier, the Romans held a ceremony or feast or occasion for almost any special event. These events were backed up with a history which everyone believed in. This is similar to the Christian religion when we celebrate any type of holiday such as Christmas or Easter. We celebrate these holidays because of the history that they provide.
Patriotism played a major role in the lives of Romans. The Roman religion was pretty much their life and they were very involved in it. Today, we have a separation of church and state, but that was not the case in the Roman religion. Everything that they did revolved around the gods and their beliefs. They held a high respect for their emperors, and praised them in many different ways. Whether it was a special day that they worshipped an emperor or naming months after some of the emperors, their participation in the Roman religion shows the great deal of patriotism that they had.
After reading parts of the Fasti, it was clear that there are differences and similarities between the Roman religion and modern day Christianity. Piety, worship, antiquarianism, and patriotism may not be the vocabulary that is used today, but there are definitely different forms of each that are similar to practices that we have today.
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This work has been submitted by Lindsay McCann for Issues and Ideas 402 at Monmouth College.