Religious Practice

1
Religious Practice Beliefs in Pompeii
Herculaneum
Priapus (Source 1)
2
A World of Polytheism

• The Romans worshipped many gods and adopted gods
  from every part of their conquered world.
• Like the Greek tradition, the Romans had the
  pantheon, which consisted of Jupiter, Juno,
  Minerva, Vesta, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars,
  Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan and Apollo.
• These were the chosen celestial 12.
• However like other Roman towns, Pompeii
  Herculaneums religious practice was different to
  others.

3

• Like the Greeks, Romans believed the bound
  between gods and mankind united the people in
  their community.
• Greek religion practice influenced all aspects of
  Roman society. E.g. Emperor Augustuss sister
  was married to Mark Antony, who left her for
  Cleopatra. Augustus sought revenge and after
  Augustus defeated Mark Antony, he dedicated his
  victory to the Greek god Apollo and as a result
  built a house beside his temple.

4

• Because of this all citizens were expected to be
  involved in religious rituals and were expected
  to behave in an appropriate manner so not to
  upset the gods.
• In times of misfortune and disaster, the people
  of the town were expected to win back the favour
  of the gods through prayer and sacrifices.

5

• Whole town religious festivals and ceremonies
  were major events in the societys calendar and
  were taken very seriously.
• In both Pompeii Herculaneum there were
  important priests who came from the towns
  important families.
• Their role was to oversee the organising and
  running of the festivals and celebrations.
• Women held priestess positions only in the cult
  religions.

6

• Like every other provincial town Pompeii
  Herculaneum were polytheist in faith
• Gods were worshipped in a variety of ways both in
  public and in the privacy of their homes, which
  was an extremely important practice in Roman
  society.
• Cicero
• The most sacred, the most hallowed place on earth
  is the home of each and every citizen.
• There are his sacred hearth and his household
  gods, there the very centre of his worship,
  religion and domestic ritual. (Source 2)
• In the houses of both towns there were small
  shrines called Lararia with small statues or
  painted images of the Lares household gods who
  protected the home and family

7
Household Lararium (Source 3)
8
Garden Shrines (source 4)
9

• Some houses had images of a genius who was the
  spirit of the paterfamilias master of the
  house.
• Each morning the master of the house would gather
  his family around the lararium, make an offering
  to the lare and say a prayer for the protection
  and prosperity of the household.
• However special celebrations occurred once a
  month and for births, marriages and special
  anniversaries.
• Archaeological diggings have discovered that when
  the eruption in 79AD occurred the majority of
  people took the lares from the lararium for
  protection.

10
Lararia
(Source 5)
11
Personal deities were important to individuals.
The ones below represented fertility, prosperity
and good fortune. (Source 6)
12

• Other household gods included the likes of Vesta
  goddess of the hearth, Panates guardian of
  the pantry.

13
Cult religions

• Cult following was common in Pompeii
  Herculaneum and this came from the adoption of
  foreign gods.
• Dionysos Greek god of fertility and divine
  intoxication was worshipped in the Roman world
  under the name of Bacchus- who is seen as a man
  covered in grapes, usually positioned at the foot
  of Vesuvius.
• This particular cult had mixed feelings.

14
HSC 2007

• Using the previous sources 1-6 and your own
  knowledge of other sources, describe what the
  evidence shows about religion in Pompeii and
  Herculaneum.