We know that the ancient Greeks hada massively entertaining set of gods and goddesses . So it ’s no wonder that when Rome conquered Greece , they replaced their own thudding pantheon with renamed versions of Zeus , Athena , and the others . But not all papist gods were Grecian copy — here are a few of the more important ones .
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1 ) Janus
Despite Rome ’s wholesale acquisition of the Greek pantheon , perhaps their most important deity was uniquely their own . Janus was the god of beginnings and endings , transitions , doors , basically anything that had two different but complementary functions — typify by the fact he had two faces . Janus was so important he remain a part of the Roman pantheon even after they had co - opted the Greek gods , and arguably stay their most of import deity , receive the mass of the worship for significant beginnings and ending like birth , marriage , days , season , death , etc . Since he presides over offset , he had to be revere first in all major religious ceremonies ; this also made him the god of omens , and the Romans eff omens and trying to divine the future . Even though Jupiter was the king of the gods after the great Greek pantheon acquisition , Janus was the door between heaven and earth , and had been since the commencement of clock time — which in effect intend Janus could have metaphorically locked Jupiter in his room . He did n’t , of course , but he could have .
2 ) Quirinus
When Rome was founded , it was near a group of the great unwashed called the Sabines . Some of the Sabines were immerse into Rome peacefully — some were very much not — but they bring Quirinus with them , a god of warfare , before the Romans took Ares and redubbed him Mars . By the first century B.C. , somehow Quirinus had become the divine configuration of Rome ’s legendary father Romulus , make believe him a reasonably big slew . He efficaciously became the god of the Roman state ; as the republic turned into an imperium , and the empire grew , he was finally supplanted by Jupiter and the other formerly Greek God .
3 ) Mithras
While Rome apparently love borrowing faith from their Hellenic neighbors , Mithra was one of the few divinities that came to the imperium from somewhere else . Original a Persian god , Mithra start to be worshipped by soldier in the Imperial armies , but as part of a cult — they had unavowed rituals and prayers and temple , although it does n’t seem like there were any crazy rage leaders or villainous dealings . They just worshipped Mithra and hung out and refuse to tell other the great unwashed about it , almost like a ball club .
4 ) Lares
Not all God involve adoration from the bulk ; every papistic household had a diverseness of smaller , more personal gods that they worshipped at a phratry altar mighty in their home . Among the most of import were the Lares , the gods of the family , which included the spirit of their ancestors . manifestly , as part of the family themselves , they had a vested interestingness in keeping their descendents well-chosen and protect , and the descendant had effective reasonableness to keep them quenched . They were offer of small item of food and grain and wine every sidereal day , but more elaborated rituals were held for important family events like weddings and births .
5 ) Dis Pater
Originally a god of Din Land - base rich — which is to say prolific soil , precious mineral , etc . — Dis Pater finally turned into a god of the Scheol because anything valued in the priming was consider the treasure of the Hell . It ’s kind of a eldritch association to move from God of Gems and Stuff to God of the Place People Go When They Die , which is likely why he was take over into Pluto , nee Hades , when the Greek god came over . Pluto was a much more impressive , impose god of the Hell .
6 ) Orcus
The Etruscan were a group of multitude living near Rome that got absorb / conquered betimes in Rome ’s account . As such , Orcus is believe to have been the Etruscan god of expiry and the hereafter , alongside Rome ’s Dis Pater . Eventually , Orcus came to stage the more vicious , grotesque aspects of the afterlife , and became reckon as a satanic tormentor of the damned ; between that preeminence and the fact that he was mostly worshipped on farms rather of in the cities , he continued to exist as a divinity long after Dis Pater had vanish into Pluto . Fun fact : Orcus is the descent of the name of J.R.R. Tolkien ’s malevolent Orcs .
7 ) Liber
The stemma of Liber is mostly unknown — he was emphatically worship in Italy for quite some fourth dimension , and was unite by his distaff companion Libera — but he was a major god in the papistic pantheon . He was the god of virile richness , the passage to maturity , the amplitude of harvest time and the usual man — a weird conflation of right wing , humanness , fertility , and partying . Perhaps “ liberty ” is the best Christian Bible for it . Rome devoted a whole month to celebrating him — the Liberalia festival — in which of course of study a gargantuan penis was troop about , ostensibly to protect the crops , as penis are wo nt to do . Eventually Liber was supervene upon by the Hellenic god of wine , Dionysis , rename Bacchus , but adoration of Liber go along , evolving into cults with outrageously unsavory reputation for sexual free - for - alls and occasional slaying .
- Divus Julius
Going into all the reasons why Julius Caesar was deified while he was still reign Rome would be incredibly complicated , but you need to get it on two thing : 1 ) Caesar had been a acquaintance to the common citizenry of Rome incessantly , and they fuck him even before he brought an end to a horrible civic state of war and rule the country , and 2 ) Caesar ’s willingness to be honored , including have a calendar month named after him , a priest dedicate to him , countless statues , etc . , was a primary rationality why many people in the Senate need him stagnant . But after the murder , Marc Antony helped get Julis officially recognized as a deity , which hold him more or less a godlike authorization to punish Caesar ’s murderers and take over , although that also got super - complicated thanks to Julius ’ nephew Octavian . Julius Caesar ’s deity was primarily a political move , first by him , and go on by his successors to legitimize their power .
9 ) Divus Augustus
Julius ’ nephew Octavian did not make the same mistakes his uncle had . Even when he defeated Mark Antony and became emperor butterfly , he refused to be vote divine honors while he was alive — and since he ruled for over 40 years , that was quite a long clock time . Even when the “ savages ” of Rome ’s furthest provinces specifically bespeak to be allowed to worship their Emperor as a god , Augustus did not need to follow in his uncle ’s step . But he also did n’t want to offend his new subject . As such , he essentially tell apart them to worship the flavor of Rome itself , and hey , if they hap to mention him too , no biggie . But he refused to allow any pretense of divinity in the more traditional Roman portion of the imperium . He also helped mend countless synagogue and festival , thus worshipping every god he felt he should ; between that , and the fact that he ruled for 40 fairly peaceful , implausibly prosperous years , when he pass in 14 AD both the common people and the senate were more than happy to hold him an official god .
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