The old gods

[Turb0!]

From what I have researched, the Romans were very religious long before instituting the it as a function of the state. Cato the censor writes about how the Romans used to have their own gods which permeated even the minute aspects of everyday life. Does anyone know what kind of role the old gods played as Rome evolved to incorporate more Greek and Eastern religious practices? I've been reading the The Religion of Numa by Jesse Benedict Carter and he (or she) says that even during the time of Augustus, people in the country were still honoring the old gods which were worshiped before the Republic, despite that their presence had disappeared in Rome itself. However, it isn't an up to date source, so I am hoping someone can shed some more light on this issue.

[Ursus]

There was a religion of the family and the farm before a state religion; the former influenced the latter.

 

Regarding the State religion, at the founding of the Republic the major gods were Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus and Vesta. The first three were served by major flamines (recruited from Patricians), the latter by the cult of the Vestal Virgins (selected among Patrician daughters). There was also a rex sacrorum, king of sacrifices, who seems to have taken over some of the monarch's former religious duties: among other things the rex made sacrifices to Janus, the god of beginnings.

 

The minor gods recognized by the state were served by minor flamines (Plebians could serve) and they were: Vulcan, Volturnas, Palatua, Furrina, Flora, Carmenta, Portunas, Falacer, and Pomona.

 

As you can see, most of these gods are local agricultural deities. I'm sure somewhere in the Latin countryside they still had cults among farmers and peasants, but by the late Republic many of the state cults from the monarchy had grown anachronistic, and even the deeply conservative Romans had often forgotten the withers and wherefores of many of their older cults.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Ursus

[Turb0!]

Regarding the State religion, at the founding of the Republic the major gods were Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus and Vesta. The first three were served by major flamines (recruited from Patricians), the latter by the cult of the Vestal Virgins (selected among Patrician daughters). There was also a rex sacrorum, king of sacrifices, who seems to have taken over some of the monarch's former religious duties: among other things the rex made sacrifices to Janus, the god of beginnings.

 

Thanks, Ursus. Great info as always. What confuses me about the original pantheon of the state religion is whether or not gods like Jupiter and Mars were derived from purely Roman sources, or if they were always modeled after their Greek counterparts from the very beginning. While it seems pretty clear that Quirinus and Vesta were Roman in origin, I have read that others came from either Greek or Etruscan influences even as far back as the founding of the Republic.

[Ursus]

The Romans were indeed influenced by Greeks and Etruscans from the very beginning.

 

 

However, Jupiter/Zeus and probably Vesta/Hestia are both modeled on Indo-European deities; The Greeks and Romans had these deities in common from their common IE origin.

 

Mars was common to all the Italic tribes and seems to have been an indigenous deity.