Why Did Romans Worship Gods?

[Incitatus]

Did the Romans worship the Gods out of fear or for respect from other Romans. I think this is a good issue of debate. This could explain a lot. I have read in some sources they openly blasphemied, does this show fear (NO!!!!!!!!) ?

[Lost_Warrior]

I would guess it was a mixture of both. To them, even the slightest little thing was a sign from the Gods. To them, the Gods were right there with them, in every aspect of life. There was no escaping them, or them leaving whichever spin you want to put on that the gods were always there.

 

I believe there was definitely an element of fear there, as you can see by the accounts of plagues and floods and anything else being taken as signs that the Gods were angry. But there was also a healthier respect shown in many of their traditions.

[Ursus]

I'm not sure it was so much either, though certainly pious Romans both respected and feared the gods they belived in.

 

But it was done largely for expectation of gain. They thought the gods helped grow their crops, grant victory in battle, and heal diseases, etc. Paganism has a certain mercantalist aspect to it. You believe gods xyz have some kind of power over the universe, so you want to get on their good side. If you're on their good side, you supposedly gain their favor. If you're on their bad side, they ignore you - or worse, harm you.

 

If a sect of Romans were faithful in offerings to a certain deity, but something bad happened to them regardless of their placations, it was assumed the deity had not lived up to his side of the relationship, and the followers were free at that point to take all the cult objects of the deity in question and defile them in anger. This sometimes happened. This is probably the "blasphemy" you speak of. But blasphemy is really the wrong term ... it's more like dissastisified customers breaking a contract and smearing the business reputation of the CEO concerned.

[Segestan]

In Ancient times; Every Tree, rock, brush , animals etc; all elemental things were composed of a in there essence of a soul, a conscious being. It was a common occurance that these ethereal souls played actual roles in the daily lives of mortals. They could aid or terrorize a person.

One of the Acts of Christ coming into the world was that the mortal live was no longer accessable to those in the ethreal condition.

Faith or non faith these ideas alone , they then became the motivating causes of human acts.

 

regards,

[Zeke]

Well, on the part about blasehmony. The Romans didn't nessarily get rid of their gods, the simply thought that the reasons the gods hadn't responded to their sacrfices that they needed to offer more. So they just kept offering till they got their way, sensible in my opinion......teaches the gift of giving, and the loving of your suppeiors.

 

Zeke

[Incitatus]

Thanks. But, would a roman pretend that something was a sign from the Gods just so everyone would look up to them and give them a sense of power.

[P.Clodius]

Yes absolutely. Scipio Africanus used religeon alot to envoke the impression he was/his actions were blessed by the gods. Also, Caesar made a great deal of the "fact" he could trace his ancestory all the way to Venus.

[DecimusCaesar]

For Publius Claudius Pulcher it had the opposite affect; When he threw the sacred chickens off the boats before the battle of Drepana, no doubt the Romans considered his defeat as a sign of displeasure from the Gods.

 

Although the Gods weren't angry enough to kill him after this blasphemous act, the outraged people of Rome certainly bayed for his blood and he was brought to trial for Perduellio ( which If I remember correctly was to do with sacrilege) .

By the way, Did he Kill himself afterwards?

[P.Clodius]

Not that I recall. I do remember one anecdote about his wife some years later who complained about the unruly crowds and stated something along the lines that she'd wished her husband had gotten rid of more romans than he had.

[Quintus Artemis Sertorius]

When you are talking about roman religion and gods, i think you have to clarify which gods you mean. are we speaking of the imported gods most people are familiar with? for instance jupiter apollo, saturn, venus..magna mater, etc. these are all gods that the romans adopted from outside. or are you talking about the real roman spirits like the lares and the numen. the gods without a face or body or even a name. from what i have seen, the romans may take an almost flippant attitude towards the imported gods, but when it came to the numen, the romans were dead serious, as these were the gods responsible for the proper functioning of all objects, the health and wealth of the family, and the very essence of Rome.

[Incitatus]

i was talkinf about numen!.

[Quintus Artemis Sertorius]

from what i've read, the numen were scrupulously attended to. to break a "contract" with the imported pantheon was one thing, but to do the same to the numen was tantamount to an invitation for destruction. once read something about if a roman shouted the secret name of roma out loud, then the numen called Quirinus would actually destroy the city and every citizen in it. of course there were probably those who didn't really put a whole lot of stock in this, but even the unbelievers were careful about making the numen mad. the numen are supposed to be much older than the pantheonic gods.

[Incitatus]

Yes, ive heard all that too. Part of what youre saying is tho that they tended to them out of fear not respect!!

[Tobias]

If a 21st century scientist or some very learned person were to go back to Roman times and witness some of the "miracles" performed by the gods or signs of the gods, i'm sure they'd be able to give a plethora of logical scientific reasons as to how they happened i.e. the eruption of Vesuvius. But, were they to try to explain to devout Romans that these weren't signs of the gods, at best they'd get a "prove it" attitude in reply. The Romans knew no better, and they reasoned that they must happen for some reason. Thus, obviously the gods must make these things happen!

So, the Romans reason that there are all powerful gods out there contorlling everything. Something bad happens, the gods are angry, we need to placate them. That is their reasoning. So the Romans worshipped because as was said above; both fear and respect. Slightly similar perhaps to Catholicism in medieaval times; you conform or you're a heretic

[Zeke]

I think religion is a matter of opinion really, for as I see it everything in science happens because of a higher spirtual power.

 

Example: Lets say there is an Earthquake, ussually Earthquakes happen in one same spot because the plates of the Earth Surface are moving together. Yet WHY do the plates move? Suppsoadly the Earth isn't alive so why would it need to move? Does it just move out of randomness, in my opinion NOTHING, NOTHING at all it moves out of randomness, everything has a deeper meaning in the end. Thats why you always have to asked the word:

 

"WHY"

Because after you ask a certain amount of "Whys" you will come to the conlcusion that it can't be explained by our primitive minds but something more. Science is simply showing us how things work, yet WHY do they things work the way they do? Couldn't they have worked a different way? Why couldn't pigs have had wings insteand of birds, Why didn't they evolve in such a way so they could have wings, these pigs.

 

The essence of every question in the end goes back to the gods, every inch of the universe, every sound and light partical and every atom that swirls in a never ending rotation is being watched by the gods. Were not nessarilly controled by the gods, but everything always has a purpose or a deeper meaning, all you got to do is stop and ask yourself. "Why?" ANd you will find a religion very fast when you begin to run out of answers to all the whys you asked.

 

I hope that makes sense.

 

Also to add many things have been made up in order for man to manipulate others, and I don't disagree that most likely Caeser made up lies about himself that he was descended from Venus. But I prefear those lies much more to others ones conducted by other religions. And in the end those lies could be real so you got to ask yourself what your going to have to believe in.......

 

Will you beilieve that Moses died on Mont Sainai at the age of 122?

Will you believe that the Budda found a special kind of enlightenment under a tree?

Will you believe that a man named Jesus was accually the son of a god?

Or will you believe in the divintiy of the Roman Empire whos influences spread far and wide?

 

All a matter of choice.

 

My favorite Why question by the way is

 

"Why does history always repeate itself?"

 

Zeke