Ursus

I agree with HB. The principate would have been immeasurably better without Tiberius. Of course, I blame Augustus for not picking Germanicus in the first place.

No problem, ladies. Maybe I'll do a few more essays on the principle deities of the empire.

My copy says copyright 1940. It is a bit dated, but as Plautus says it is an unabashed look at the mundane social conditions of the average Roman. In some respects they were so ... modern .... it is truly shocking.

Simply put, I'd bribe the Preatorians and the Senate to murder Tiberius. Then I'd look forward to a long and glorious reign as Emperor.

I know every time I see Stonehenge, I want to go over and kick some British butt. Those people have no business piling stones like that.

Brilliant! You are a Wizard! Wizards are spells-casters who study powerful arcane magic. While Wizards tend to be pretty fragile, some of those spells can pack quite a punch. Unlike Clerics, Wizards aren't as good at fixing people as they are at breaking them, so watch where you toss that fireball. Your most distinctive trait is your intelligence. You're probably well learned and logical, if perhaps a bit fragile. RP test

I don't know if there were pagans at Nicea, though I do think Constantine worshipped a solar god right up until his death bed. However, the beginnings of Christianity lay in the cities of the Hellenistic East. When Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul), a Hellenized Jew, began taking this formerly Jewish religion to Gentiles, he preached it in terms that Gentiles would understand. He identified Christ with the "logos" of Greek philosophy, the divine fire of the Stoics that permeated the universe and which had been personified as Zeus. Actually, this may have been already done by John the Apostle in the famous opening of his gospel: "In the beginning was the Word (Greek:"logos"). And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." John 1:1-2 To this were the images of a dying and rising god, a virgin mother, and a holy trinity. All of which were staples of Mediterranean paganisms, but which did not exist in Judaism proper. I think it's hard to deny that the Hellenized Jews of the East who were Christ's early followers were not completely Hebraic in thought, and may have very well been influenced by the paganisms of the Roman Empire.

One of the principle goddesses from the Near East was known in the Babylonian pantheon as Ishtar, and to the Phoenician peoples as Astarte. This goddess par excellence was responsible for the fertility of the earth and the sexuality of humanity. She was also an armed war goddess who ruled over the heavens, and was identified with the brightest star in the sky. To the Phoenician traders, she brought safety and prosperity to sailors. In the multi-cultural climate of the ancient Mediterranean, the Semitic goddess would be adopted into the Greek pantheon via the Phoenician trading colony on Cyprus. Ishtar-Astarte was remodeled as Aphrodite. Aphrodite means "foam born". An early Greek myth recounts how the severed genitals of the primal sky god Ouranos fell near the Island of Cyprus; there resulted a great foam, and from it lovely Aphrodite was blown to shore. Aphrodite was even older than Zeus in this recollection. Henceforth her principal epithet would be "Cyprian" or she from Cyprus. The truth behind the myth recounts how a very old Semitic goddess penetrated the Western mind via the Phoenician cult center at Cyprus. The Greeks already had a goddess of war, as well as a queen of Heaven, and various fertility goddesses. Thus in bringing Ishtar-Astarte into the pantheon as Aphrodite, the goddess lost all her domains except the one for which she would become immortalized: love and sexuality, and the seduction that goes with it. Aphrodite reigned in the Greek pantheon in this capacity for many centuries. Nonetheless her origins as a more potent Near Eastern divinity were never completely forgotten. She was sometimes called Urania, the Heavenly. She had power to tame wild animals, and was considered a protector of sea travelers. Finally her myths sometimes recount a vicious streak that was true to her origins as a Semitic war goddess. In Sparta, there was even a cult to an armed and warlike Aphrodite. Yet, it was as the goddess of love and seduction for which she was most honored in myth and cult. The story of Aphrodite's role in the Trojan War was immortalized by Homeric Epic. Her most infamous cult center was in the Greek polis of Corinth. There she had a great temple presided over by a band of "sacred prostitutes" who reputedly pleasured sailors as part of their cult duties. This apotheosis of sexuality would scandalize later Christian society. Even in Greek times some people found it base. In some ascetic mystical cults, love was recast less as a biological principle and more as a great cosmological force like gravity; it served as a power of attraction that united the cosmos and led souls upward into their final destinies. To this mysticism, some philosophers de-emphasized biological love in favor of spiritual love: a love for wisdom and civic concord, a love for one's fellow man and concern for the citizen body. In the Roman tradition, there was a goddess Venus. Venus means "charm" in archaic Latin. Venus was an Italic goddess who presided over persuasiveness and seduction in both the divine and mortal worlds. She was closely associated with springs, gardens and vineyards. Under increasing Greek influence, Venus was easily equated with the Greek goddess of seduction, and Venus assumed Aphrodite's mythology. As Aphrodite's descendant Aeneas fled Troy to found the Roman race, Venus was regarded as the grandmother of the Roman people and treated with special honor. The Roman Venus was regarded as the goddess of love and beauty as well, but unlike the bawdy Greeks, the Romans saw her as more stately. She was said to protect the morals of maidens and avert vice. She was thought to dispense divine favor to her favorites. Many warlords of the late Republic - including Sulla, Pompey and Caesar - honored Venus as a protector and benefactor. It was under Caesar that Venus worship began to assume its final form. The Julian clan claimed direct descent from Venus via Aeneas, and the ambitious and narcissistic Caesar dedicated a public cult to Venus to remind Romans of the fact. Venus Genetrix, or Venus the Progenitor, was honored as the divine ancestor of the Roman people and the Julian clan in particular. She was a goddess not only of love and beauty, but of motherhood and marriage and domestic life. She had powers over nature, and was eventually identified with the planet that bears her name, the brightest star in the sky. This manifestation of Venus had much in common with the Semitic goddess who had started the whole enterprise in the first place! Augustus Caesar, adopted ward of the Julian clan, associated the cult of Venus Genetrix with that of Mars Ultor, the other divine ancestor of the Roman race, and the avenger of Caesar's murder. Venus and Mars, as seen by the Julian clan, would then receive honors and become the major gods of the Roman Empire until the beginning of the Christian era. Even after Christianity, Venus would still be immortalized in art and poetry as the cultural symbol of love and beauty, and the awesome power of female sexuality.

PS - I know less about the Celtic faith, but you can get ideas from here: http://www.imbas.org/articles/homeworship.html

Supplies for a Roman domestic altar are not that hard to find. First, find a space in your bedroom to use as an altar. A shelf, or the top of a dresser. Put a candle or oil lamp on top of it, a place to burn incense or scented candles, an offering dish, and a place to store incense. Put pictures of loved ones and items meaningful to you and your family. Most people put statues or figurines of their favorite gods on their altar. These can be hard to find for a cheap price. I can recommend a few sites, if you're interested.

The Emporium would be the only forum allowed for commerce and advertising. Advertisements in other forums would be deleted, and repeated abuse would result in banishment.

Thank you for the welcome addition, Lacertus. Is this an area you have some interest in?

There are topics on Roman paganism, they just don't get much traffic. I don't think half the membership is pagan, either. The majority of the membership seems to be agnostic or at least uninterested in religious topics. Feel free to post topics on early Christianity. I don't think people will cry about evangelism as long as the posts are kept to a historical and scholarly perspective.

How about this, then. A new forum entitled Emporium (or Marketplace or something). * At the top is a very big disclaimer waiving any liability on UNRV's part for transactions. Any dispute between buyer and seller is between those two parties only, UNRV and its staff cannot be held accountable for any mishaps. * There shall be no advertising of anything that might get UNRV in trouble (like pornography, or something) * There shall be a price for advertising to be determined by the admins. Either reciprocal links or a flat monetary rate. * Anybody advertising without having paid their fee, or without having permission from the UNRV staff, can be banned (because the self-promotion around here is becoming rather blatant). Sound reasonable?

I see a lot of people advertising various products on our forums. I'm all for business. But business works both ways. I think people who want to advertise their products on this site should be charged a reasonable fee. The Free Market is never free, after all. The proceeds from the advertising fees would go for the upkeep of UNRV.

The "polydemonism" of archaic Rome might be overstated. They always honored major gods like Jupiter and Mars. Though there is no denying that Roman Religion has a lot of shadowy and ill-defined spirits that exist alongside those deities.

I know of two or three off hand. www.societasviaromana.org is based out of Belgium I believe, which has different "colleges" to discuss various aspects of Roman life. Nice people from what I remember, it's been a while. www.novaroma.org is an organization which claims to be recreating the ancient Roman Republic. You will find some well-versed Romanophiles there. However, their claims to being the successor to ancient Rome are downright silly at times, IMO. www.roman-empire.net has some nice info on Rome, but I'm not sure if it has a functioning message board these days. Anyone interested in Roman paganism (which I realize is comparatively few) can check out http://religioromana.net

Augustus Magnus. The Most Holy and Reverent. ;-)

I would be an educated Greek aristocrat in the civil service of the Eastern provinces. Perhaps as a member of the local boule advising the Roman procurator. I would enjoy the riches and culture of the ancient East. And no matter the problems in the West, I would be content knowing that the East would go on.

Read it. I rather enjoyed it. I think it's a bit dated, but even so there is some good cultural stuff in there.

Aye, dispense with them.

Well, in my experience, the people who call themselves "Heathen" tend to revere Germanic/Northern European cultures. They use "heathen" as it's more true to their Germanic origins, rather than the Mediterranean "Pagan." Also, some people may call themselves "heathen" to differentiate themselves from a lot of New Age types who use the term Pagan. There is a debate in the alternative religions community about whether New Age types should call themselves "pagan" since their beliefs don't exactly match historical paganism. Since most New Age types seem to call themselves "pagan" regardless, some more traditional types call themselves Heathen to differentiate. But I don

As the local praetor I assure you of a fair trial. I've only ever recommended a few people to the consuls for banishment or crucifixion. And almost all of them have been non-citizens (or, rather, barbarians and forum trolls). In our reformed Empire, women have been franchised. As for Pontiffs, well, is the state religion Paganism or Christianity? Or would the college of Pontiffs be drawn from both? Or perhaps the religion of the reformed empire is simply capitalism. Heheheh.

Ok, guys, let's not get too carried away with this ... gifted actor. We do have people under 18 reading this stuff.

There are several people on this site who have "pagan" views or religions (myself included), and so far none have objected to the term, it's original context notwithstanding. Truth be told, I am something of a country bumpkin anyway. There is honestly a cow field behind my house. Moo.