Characteristics of Roman Religion

I did not have much background knowledge of the Roman Religion before discussing it in class, so I found it to be very interesting.  The Roman Religion is highly based upon power and trust and can easily be compared to many religions today.  There are many different similarities and differences between the Roman Religion and the religion that I believe in.

One characteristic which was very popular among many of the passages that we read was that of exact performance of ritual actions and words.  This is something that is done or said that has to be very specific and to the point, otherwise if something is done just a little bit wrong then the process has to start over or it doesn’t happen at all.  This is shown very well in passage seven where it is discussing what should be done in order to have a good harvest.  The first thing that is required is to sacrifice a certain pig to Ceres before some certain grains are stored.  Then, there are different types of rituals to be done to Janus, Jupiter, and Juno, such as offering incense, wine, wafers, and also the entrails of the pig.  Another passage that exact performance was displayed well was passage one.  It discusses the process one has to go through in order to get rid of his ancestors’ ghosts.  This process has to be repeated nine times and then the duty has been done.

Another idea that seemed to appear very often within these passages was that of do ut des, meaning “I give so that you give”.  The Romans believed that if they did something great for the Gods or something that the Gods wanted them to do, then they would receive what they asked for from the Gods.  This is portrayed well in passage five where the Romans are asking to be kept safe in the war for five years and in return they will sacrifice many things for the Gods.  Passage six is asking  Jupiter to “preserve the Fisian city, preserve the town of Iguvium”, and if the offering is “amiss, or neglected, or omitted, or held back, or at fault, or if in thine offering there be any blemish”, then Jupiter can destroy the city, the citizens, and anything else he wishes. 

I found that there were a few ties between some of these characteristics.  The first being between exact performance of ritual actions and words and do ut des.  With exact performance, one must perform very specific actions or words in order to get what they are asking for.  Therefore, they are giving in order to get, which is what do ut des is all about.  Passage one and Passage seven display this very well, where one must give up their time to perform a ritual in order to have what they want, whether it be a good harvest or excluding ancestral ghosts from one’s life.  Another tie between characteristics is that of do ut des and sacrifice.  Since do ut des is giving in order to get, one has to sacrifice something of importance in order to get something that is important to them.  In passage seven, one must sacrifice a pig in order to get a good harvest.  Sacrifice is also tied to exact performance in passage four.  In this passage, nothing violent can be done before an annual ceremony takes place.  If there is something violent done, that person must give an ox to Jupiter.

Through reading these passages, I feel that I have learned a great deal about Roman Religion that I never knew before.  I can see that there are many differences and similarities between my religion and the Roman Religion.

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This work has been submitted by Lindsay McCann for Issues and Ideas 402 at Monmouth College.