Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/276

ROMAN RELIGION. 252 ROMAN RELIGION. consequent Iransfeieuce to the Konian deities of a large mass of Greek myths, whereby the orig- inal nature of the gods was more and more ob- scured. Moreover, the newly developing Roman literature was so thoroughly saturated with Greek thought even where it was not direct trans- lation, that it powerfully aided in popularizing Hellenic conceptions. With the coming of Cybele the orgiastic ele- ment was added to the attractiveness of the Greek ceremonial, and in spite of some efforts at restriction speedily exercised a destructive in- Huence, which reached its height a few years later when the orgies of the Bacchanalia called for the severest measures from the Senate. The tendency, however, was not to be cheeked, and the long wars in Asia Minor, the seat of strange cults, together with the growing disbelief in the old gods and the search for new superstitions among many belonging to the upper classes, fur- nished abundant material for its growth. Asi- atic, Egyptian, and even Semitic cults of farther east poured into Rome under the Empire until they had almost supplanted the old religion in the popular mind. The efl'ect of the transference of Greek myths to the State religion, and perhaps even more of the prevalence of Greek philosophy among the educated, was to bring about an increasing neg- lect of the old rites, and in the first century B.C. the old priestly offices declined rapidly, for the men whose birth called them to these duties had no belief in the rites, except perhaps as a political necessity, so that pontirt's, augurs, and such bodies became mere tools in the party strife. A thorough reform and restoration of the old sys- tem was carried out by the Emperor Augustus, who became himself a member of all the great priestly colleges, revived some that had become extinct, such as the Arval Brothers, and rebuilt temples which had fallen into ruin. With all this revival was joined the prominence given to Apollo as a patron god of the Emperor, through the erection of the splendid temple on the Pala- tine, the intrusting to its guardianship the State collection of oracles, including the Sibylline Books, and the joining Apollo and Diana with the Capitoline gods in the secular games. In spite of these reforms, the religion tended more and more to centre in the Imperial house, and this was stimulated by the deification of certain emperors, with the title diinis. At first the honor of reception among the gods of the Roman State after death was bestowed upon but few. The first was Julius Caesar, then follow Augustus, Claudius, Vespa,sian, and Titus, while after Nerva few emperors failed to receive this dis- tinction. This cult was more prominent at first in the provinces than in Rome, and it was out- side that the actual worship of a goddess Roma seems to have ari.sen. The personified Roma had appeared on coins and elsewhere, and had been the object of foreign dedications under the Re- public, but her reception among the State divini- ties was due to the erection of the great temple of Venus and Rome by Hadrian in a.d. 128. The forms of the Roman religion were natu- rally as varied as the origins of the numerous cults which it included. The early worship seems to have been marked by the simplicity to be expected from such a community as gave it birth. The first fruits of field or garden, or flocks, flowers, and wreaths, the coarse pounded grain, and cakes were the usual gifts, which on -some occasions took the form of a meal set be- fore tile god. Such oll'erings might be made by family or comnuinity at their own altars, and when made by the State dift'ered only in the size of the offering, so that public animal sacri- fices, especially of the larger animals, were more frequent. But if the offering was simplos the ritual was complex. The vessels and implements were prescribed and bespeak the primitive civ- ilization of the early worship. On some occasions at any r.ite the sacrificial knife was of flint, the vessels of clay, molded without the aid of the potter's wheel, and the victims nuist correspond exactly to the minute requirements of the law. The prayers and gestures of the priest were pre- scribed in detail and myst be repeated with the most scrupulous accuracy, so that it is easy to see the importance of the college of pontiff's in who.se charge were the books of rituak and with- out whose assistance few magistrates could have performed their religious duties. The Orwciis ritiis naturally was conducted according to the usages of the country from which the god had been brought, but the Hellenization brought the increase of Itidi, or games and spectacles, as part of the worship, and especially the institution of the supplicatio and lectisternium, wherein the gods were placed on couches beside prepared tables, and feasted for one or more days, while at the same time the people were summoned to visit the temples and pray, either in supplication if the celebration sought some gain, or in thanks- giving if a victory was the occasion. The lecti- sternium or banqueting of the god also took place in his temple on the day of its special festival, but in its extended form, when several gods were brought together into one place for the banquet, regularly formed part of a solemn act of purification and entreaty or of special thanksgiving. This whole structure rested on the Roman theory of a legal relation between men and gods. Worship is an ordinance of the State, estab- lished by the fathers and unalterably binding on the children ; and it is exactly the gods thus adopted at the founding of the State, the di indigetes, that have such a special position in the possession of a special hierarchy and the intricate ritual. To these old obligations new ones temporary or lasting were added from time to time by the vow public or private, in which the supplicant solemnly promised to pay to the god certain honors if his prayer was heard, and when uttered by a representative of the State in his official capacity this became binding on the whole community. For further details of the Roman religious system, see the articles on the individual gods and also Arval Bkothers; Augltbies .^•D Aus- pices ; FlAMENS ; LUPERCALIA ; PONTIFEX ; Salii ; SCOVETAURTLIA ; Ve.STA, Bibliography. The best condensed account of the subject is by Wissowa. "Religion und Kultus der Riinier," in Miiller's Hancrbiicli der klassi.ichen Altertumswissensclwft (Munich, 1902). Other works of value are: Preller, Rdmische Mytlwlogie (.3d ed., Berlin, 1881-83) : Marquardt, "Romische Staatsverwaltung," in Marquardt and Mommsen, Haiidhiirh der riiminchen Altcrtiinier (Leipzig, 188.5) ; Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldkulte (Berlin. 1877) ; id., Mythologische Forschmteien (Strass- burg, 1884) ; Usener, "Italische Mythen," in