Ancient Romans

[David19]

I've been interested in Rome, the Romans and their religion and something i found was that they seemed to adopt deities into their religion, for military/magical reasons according to this site http://www.thecrookedheath.com/passwordsnf.htm. I was wondering, did the Romans adopt or find the 'secret name' of every god of everyone they met like the Norse, Egyptian, Hebrew/Jewish, etc.

Thanks, hope that made sense.

[Zibblsnrt]

I'm kind of skeptical about the whole idea of every god having "secret names," to be honest. Not every religion's a mystery religion, and not every mystery religion is that secretive.

[Leomarth]

For the majority of time, Rome didn't care two bits about a conquered peoples religion. They let them have it, as long as they didn't cause trouble and still recognized the state religion.

[Poledra]

I think Zibblsnrt and David both have good points. Not every deity was adopted, only specific ones were adopted at specific times (eg Magna Mater). And in these cases, the worship was not necessarily secret so there was no "secret name" to discover. Deities such as Mithras, were more of a sidenote to the Roman religion since followers needed to be initiated into his worship and he was never part of the mainstream Roman religion. In this case then, people discovered the "secret name" (if there was such a thing) when they needed to in their initiation.

Poledra

[Morr]

The Romans were not into Mystery Religions.

Their lives pretty much consisted of honoring their Gods, conquering new lands, political intregues and getting their women pregnant hoping for boys.

I know this because I'm a Classical Studies Student and by studying this stuff for the 3rd year now -- Its pretty much what they did.

Its true, for most lands that they conquered, as long as the locals paid taxes and didnt revolt, The Romans let them keep their own Religions and rituals. They didnt butt into the Religous order much at all.

Rarely did they adopt Gods of different Religions, most, I think were Gaulish Gods that were adopted and Romanized more than anything.

[Little Billy]

The Romans were not into Mystery Religions.

Their lives pretty much consisted of honoring their Gods, conquering new lands, political intregues and getting their women pregnant hoping for boys.

I know this because I'm a Classical Studies Student and by studying this stuff for the 3rd year now -- Its pretty much what they did.

Its true, for most lands that they conquered, as long as the locals paid taxes and didnt revolt, The Romans let them keep their own Religions and rituals. They didnt butt into the Religous order much at all.

Rarely did they adopt Gods of different Religions, most, I think were Gaulish Gods that were adopted and Romanized more than anything.

Well, almost. Agricola did a royal job on the druids.

[Theres]

The Romans were not into Mystery Religions.
and yet many Emperors, even well into the Christian era, were initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis. so it's hard to condone a blanket statement like that.

[Toby Stimpson]

I think Rome as a State was not interested in mystery religions. I mean when you look at the Pantheon, they were more political than anything else and to hold a Secretive religion as a state religion would have reprecussions on the whole Political structure. on the other hand, Ropme was a state of many flavours, and there were many religions both secretive and non, mystery and mainstream...it was a very religious area. They even had a state title Pontifex Maximus, in ordewr to be charge of the Roman Pantheon and hold the best interests of the minds of all romans, whether they were part of the Cult of isis, or of Mithras, or a follower of Chris later on. I think there was certainly room for mystery religions within thje Roman world...a tactic we have seen over and over by conquerors.

Namaste

Tobias

[Morr]

and yet many Emperors, even well into the Christian era, were initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis. so it's hard to condone a blanket statement like that.


The Romans as one Unit taking over the world. As an Empire.

They did not really care for local mystery religions.

And Emparors only came in the latter Roman Empire age. Ie. Julius Caesar and onwards. Before that it was a republic. No Emparors or Caesars.

And if you take a good look at the Emparors that came after Octavianus Augustus Caesar -- Quite a few of them were not very trustworthy, nor sane. This was also AFTER Rome has reached its peak. From the death of Augustus onwards, it was a steep downfall.

And Christian Era is not the Roman Empire, that from my understanding, this thread is talking of. Its really difficult for me to call the Christian Emparors (of a dying Empire anyways) rulers of THE CLASSIC Roman Empire.

[Theres]

oh dear. well...

the Roman 'Empire' (ie; post-Republican) was only just beginning in the "Christian era". the golden days of the Roman Empire are generally considered to be during the reign of the first twelve Caesars (which does NOT include Julius himself, who was never an "Emperor"). not all of the Emperors of this time were nuts either. Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, etc all were competent leaders who expanded the Empire greatly during their reigns. during this time many of these Emperors chose to be initiated at Eleusis, although at least one was refused initiation.
the timeframe we're talking about here is up until roughly 200 CE. the Empire did not turn Christian for another hundred years, although the economy was certainly trashed by the end of third century CE.

but it wasn't just the occasional Emperor who believed this way. the mystery cults of Isis, Bacchus and other deities were going strong in Rome during this time too. strong enough, i think, that any claim that Romans were not interested in mystery religions is tentative at best, although i will concede that these mysteries were never a part of any official state religion.