12 Roman gods. Pantheon of ancient Roman gods

Mars, Latin, Greek Ares is the Roman god of war and patron of Roman power, the son of Jupiter and Juno.

Unlike, who was the god of frantic war among the Greeks and did not enjoy special honor, Mars was one of the most revered Roman gods, only Jupiter stood above him. According to Roman myths, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Therefore, the Romans considered themselves his descendants and believed that Mars loved them more than all other peoples and ensured their victories in wars. In archaic times, Mars was also revered as the god of the harvest, fields, forests and spring. This is evidenced by a number of surviving prayers of farmers and the name of the first month of spring (March).

The wife of Mars was the goddess Neria (Nerio), about whom it is only known that Mars had to kidnap her. But Romulus and Remus were born to him by the Vestal Rhea Silvia, daughter of the Latin king Numitor. In battles, Mars was constantly accompanied by Pallor and Pavor, “Pale” and “Terror”, corresponding to the satellites of Ares and Phobos. As his forefather, the Romans called him by the name Mars Pater or Marspiter, and as the god of war, bestowing victory, he was called Mars Victor. Mars showed his favor towards Rome already in ancient times, dropping his own shield from the sky to guard the city. By order of King Numa Pompilius, eleven exactly the same shields were subsequently made so that an attacker who would try to steal the shield of Mars would not be able to identify it. All year these shields were kept in the sanctuary of Mars in the Forum. Only on March 1, on the birthday of God, his priests (salia) carried them around the city in a solemn procession, accompanied by dancing and singing. The sacred animals of Mars were the wolf, the woodpecker, and the symbol was the spear.

"Mars and Rhea Silvia", Rubens

The Romans honored Mars with special festivals. In addition to the salii processions, these were, in particular, horse competitions (equiria), held annually on February 27 and March 14. However, the most important festival was the so-called “Suovetavrilia”, which took place every five years after the end of the next census of the Roman population (census). It consisted in the fact that around the Romans, who had gathered on the Campus Martius and lined up in battle formation, a pig, a sheep and a bull were paraded three times, which were then sacrificed to Mars. With this sacrifice, the Roman people cleansed themselves of all sins and ensured themselves the help and protection of Mars for the future.

In addition to Mars, the Romans knew and honored other gods of war: in ancient times, this was primarily Mars, who was later identified with the founder of Rome, Romulus; They also revered the goddess of war. Later, under Greek influence, they transferred some properties to their goddess Minerva, and as a result, she also became the goddess of war. However, the cult of Mars as the god of war decisively prevailed until the fall of ancient Rome.

"The Battle of Mars and Minerva", Jacques Louis David

In honor of Mars, the Romans built several temples and sanctuaries in their city. The oldest of them stood on the Campus Martius (on the left bank of the Tiber), where military exercises, censorship reviews and public meetings took place, at which in ancient times the issue of declaring war was decided. The sanctuary of Mars in the Forum was also considered very ancient. Going to war, each commander came to the sanctuary, shook his shields at Mars, asked God for help and promised him a portion of the spoils of war. The most magnificent temple was dedicated by Emperor Augustus to Mars the Avenger (Mars Ultor) in memory of the retribution that befell the murderers of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar. The temple was consecrated in 2 AD. h. in the new Forum of Augustus, several damaged columns and the base of a temple statue have survived from it. The Campus Martius in Rome disappeared as a result of development already during the Empire. At the end of the 1st century. n. e. Emperor Domitian ordered a stadium to be built in its place, the contours of which correspond to the current Roman Piazza Navona. (Centuries later, new Fields of Mars emerged in Paris, St. Petersburg and other cities - even Detroit).

"Venus, Mars and the Graces", Jacques Louis David

Mars has long died along with the rest of the ancient gods, but, unfortunately, humanity brings more and more victims to him: Mars is the most famous and still living symbol of war. Already in ancient times, Mars passed from mythology to astronomy as the “bloody planet”. In 1877, American astronomer A. Hall discovered two satellites of the planet Mars, Deimos and Phobos, the existence of which was foreseen by Swift 150 years before this discovery. Many ancient statues and images of Mars have been preserved, and in modern times even more were created (see article “Apec”).

In a number of cities, the place of military reviews was called the Champs of Mars:

“I love the warlike liveliness
Amusing Fields of Mars..."
- A. S. Pushkin, “The Bronze Horseman.”

The Romans evolved. Initially, there was a polytheistic religion - paganism. The Romans believed in many gods.

Structure and main concepts of ancient Roman religion

Like any other polytheistic faith, Roman paganism did not have a clear organization. In fact, it is a collection of a large number of ancient cults. The ancients were responsible for various aspects human life and natural elements. Every family revered rituals - they were performed by the head of the family. The gods were asked for help in household and personal matters.

There were rituals that were carried out at the state level - they were different times carried out by priests, consuls, dictators, praetors. The gods were asked for help in battles, intercession and assistance in battle with the enemy. Fortune telling and rituals were given a large role in resolving state issues.

During the reign, the concept of “priest” appeared. He was a representative of a closed caste. The priests had enormous influence on the ruler; they possessed the secrets of rituals and communication with the gods. During the empire, the function of pontiff began to be performed by the emperor. It is characteristic that Rima were similar in their functions - they just had different names.

The main features of the religion of Rome

Important characteristics of Roman beliefs were:

• great influence of foreign borrowing. The Romans often came into contact with other peoples during their conquests. Contacts with Greece were especially close;
• religion was closely connected with politics. This can be judged based on the existence of the cult of imperial power;
• characterized by the endowment of divine qualities to such concepts as happiness, love, justice;
• the close connection between myth and beliefs - defines, but does not distinguish the Roman religion from other pagan systems;
• a huge number of cults and rituals. They differed in scale, but covered all aspects of public and personal life;
• The Romans deified even such little things as returning from a campaign, the first word of a baby, and much more.

Ancient Roman pantheon

The Romans, like the Greeks, represented the gods as humanoid. They believed in the forces of nature and spirits. The main deity was Jupiter. His element was the sky, he was the master of thunder and lightning. The Great Games were held in honor of Jupiter, and a temple on Capitol Hill was dedicated to him. The ancient gods of Rome looked after various aspects of human life: Venus - love, Juno - marriage, Diana - hunting, Minevra - craft, Vesta - home.

In the Roman pantheon there were father gods - the most revered of all, and lower deities. They also believed in spirits that were present in everything that surrounds a person. Researchers believe that spirit worship was present only in early stage development of the religion of Rome. Initially, Mars, Quirin and Jupiter were considered the main gods. During the emergence of the institution of priesthood, tribal cults arose. It was believed that each class and noble family patronized by a certain god. Cults appeared among the clan of the Claudians, Cornelians and other representatives of the elite of society.

At the state level, Saturnalia was celebrated - in honor of agriculture. They held grand celebrations and thanked the patron for the harvest.

Social struggle in society led to the formation of a triad of gods or “plebeian triad” - Ceres, Liber and Liber. The Romans also identified heavenly, chthonic and earthly deities. There was a belief in demons. They were divided into good and evil. The first group included the Penates, Lares and Geniuses. They kept the traditions of the house, the hearth and protected the head of the family. Evil demons - lemurs and laurels interfered with good ones and harmed humans. Such creatures appeared if the deceased was buried without observing the rituals.

Gods Ancient Rome, the list of which includes more than 50 different creatures, have been objects of worship for many centuries - only the degree of influence of each of them on the consciousness of the people has changed.

During the empire, the goddess Roma, the patroness of the entire state, was popularized.

What gods did the Romans borrow?

As a result of frequent contacts with other peoples, the Romans began to incorporate foreign beliefs and rituals into their culture. Researchers are inclined to think that all religion is a complex of borrowings. Main reason This is why the Romans respected the beliefs of the people they conquered. There was a ritual that officially introduced a foreign deity into the pantheon of Rome. This ritual was called evocation.

The ancient gods of Rome appeared in the pantheon as a result of close cultural ties with conquered peoples and active development own culture. The most striking borrowings are Mithra and Cybele.

Table “Gods of Ancient Rome and Greek correspondences”:

Mythology of Ancient Rome

In all pagan cultures, myths and religious beliefs are closely related. The themes of Roman myths are traditional - the founding of the city and state, the creation of the world and the birth of the gods. This is one of the most interesting aspects of culture to study. Researchers using the mythological system can trace the entire evolution of Roman beliefs.

Traditionally, legends contain many descriptions of miraculous, supernatural events that were believed in. Of such narratives, features can be distinguished: political views people who are hidden in the fantastic text.

In the mythology of almost all nations, the theme of the creation of the world, cosmogony, comes first. But not in this case. It mainly describes heroic events, the ancient gods of Rome, rituals and ceremonies that must be performed.

The heroes were of semi-divine origin. the legendary founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus - were the children of the warlike Mars and the Vestal priestess, and their great ancestor Aeneas was the son of the beautiful Aphrodite and the king.

The gods of Ancient Rome, the list of which includes both borrowed and local deities, has more than 50 names.

Gods of Ancient Rome

Introduction

Like the Bible, the myths and legends of antiquity had a huge influence on the development of culture, literature and art. Back in the Renaissance, writers, artists, and sculptors began to widely use themes from the tales of the ancient Romans in their work. Therefore, myths gradually became an integral part of European culture, as, in fact, did the masterpieces created based on them. “Perseus and Andromeda” by Rubens, “Landscape by Polyphemus” by Poussin, “Danae” and “Flora” by Rembrandt, “The Meeting of Apollo and Diana” by K. Bryullov, “The Abduction of Europa” by V. Serov, “Poseidon Rushing Across the Sea” by I. Aivazovsky and etc.

I. What did the Romans believe?

The ancient Roman religion was radically different from the Greek. The sober Romans, whose wretched imagination did not create a folk epic like the Iliad and the Odyssey, also did not know mythology. Their gods are lifeless. These were vague characters, without pedigree, without marital and family ties, which united the Greek gods into one big family. Often they did not even have real names, but only nicknames, like nicknames that defined the boundaries of their power and actions. They didn't tell any legends. This absence of legends, in which we now see a certain lack of creative imagination, was considered by the ancients to be an advantage of the Romans, who were reputed to be the most religious people. It was from the Romans that the words came and subsequently became widespread in all languages: religion - the worship of imaginary supernatural forces and cult - meaning in a figurative sense “to honor”, ​​“to please” and involving the performance of religious rituals. The Greeks were amazed by this religion, which did not have myths discrediting the honor and dignity of the gods. The world of the Roman gods did not know Kronos, who mutilated his father and devoured his children, did not know crimes and immorality.

The ancient Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, completely absorbed in the daily affairs of their humble lives. Lowering his head to the furrow that his wooden plow plowed, and to the meadows where his cattle grazed, ancient roman I had no desire to turn my gaze to the stars. He did not honor either the sun, or the moon, or all those celestial phenomena that, with their mysteries, excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples. He had had enough of the secrets contained in the most mundane, everyday affairs and in his immediate surroundings. If one of the Romans had walked around ancient Italy, he would have seen people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and skins of animals whose blood irrigated the ants growing under them, hills surrounded by special veneration , stones anointed with oil.

Everywhere some kind of deity seemed to appear, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a person.

According to the Roman, human life in all, even the smallest, manifestations was subject to power and was under the tutelage of various gods, so that man at every step depended on some higher power. Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power was increasingly increasing, there were an innumerable number of less significant gods, spirits who looked after various actions in life and economy. Their influence concerned only certain aspects in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, raising livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the child's mouth for the first cry, Kunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby's food, Potina and Edusa taught the child to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched over the transfer of him from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the child's bones grew together correctly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduk and Domiduk led the child when he left the house for the first time.

All these deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to assert with complete certainty that he knew the real name of the god or that he could distinguish whether he was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also maintained the same caution and said: “Jupiter the Most Good, the Greatest, or if you wish to be called by some other name.” And when making a sacrifice, he said: “Are you a god or a goddess, are you a man or a woman?” On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is no name, but only an evasive formula: “To God or goddess, husband or woman,” and the gods themselves had to decide who owns the sacrifices made on this altar. Such an attitude towards the deity was incomprehensible to the Greek. He knew very well that Zeus was a man and Hera was a woman, and did not doubt it for a second.

The Roman gods did not descend to earth and did not show themselves to people as willingly as the Greek gods. They stayed away from a person and even if they wanted to warn him about something, they never appeared directly: in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of temples, or in the silence of the fields, sudden mysterious exclamations were heard, with the help of which God gave a warning signal. There has never been any intimacy between God and man.

Odysseus arguing with Athena, Diomedes fighting with Aphrodite, all the quarrels and intrigues of the Greek heroes with Olympus were incomprehensible to the Roman. If a Roman covered his head with a cloak during a sacrifice or prayer, he probably did this not only in order to concentrate more, but also out of fear of seeing the god if he chose to be nearby.

In ancient Rome, all knowledge about the gods essentially boiled down to how they should be revered and at what moment to ask for their help. A thoroughly and precisely developed system of sacrifices and rituals constituted the entire religious life of the Romans. They imagined the gods to be similar to praetors (Praetor is one of the highest officials in Ancient Rome. Praetors were in charge of judicial affairs.) and were convinced that, like a judge, the one who does not understand official formalities loses the case. Therefore, there were books in which everything was provided and where one could find prayers for all occasions. The rules had to be strictly followed; any violation negated the results of the service.

The Roman was constantly in fear that he had performed the rituals incorrectly. The slightest omission in prayer, some non-prescribed movement, a sudden hitch in a religious dance, damage to a musical instrument during a sacrifice was enough for the same ritual to be repeated again. There were cases when everyone started over thirty times until the sacrifice was performed flawlessly. When making a prayer containing a request, the priest had to be careful not to omit any expression or pronounce it in an inappropriate place. Therefore, someone read, and the priest repeated after him word for word, the reader was assigned an assistant who monitored whether everything was read correctly. A special servant of the priest ensured that those present remained silent, and at the same time the trumpeter blew the trumpet with all his might so that nothing could be heard except the words of the prayer being said.

Equally carefully and carefully they carried out all kinds of fortune telling, which among the Romans were of great importance in social and privacy. Before each important task, they first learned the will of the gods, manifested in various signs, which priests called augurs were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, a sudden sneeze, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an attack of epilepsy in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but occurring at an unusual or important moment, acquired the significance of a divine omen. The most favorite was fortune telling by the flight of birds. When the Senate or consuls had to make any decision, declare war or proclaim peace, promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the augurs with the question of whether the time had been chosen for this. The Augur made a sacrifice and prayed, and at midnight he went to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, facing south, looked at the sky. At dawn, birds flew by, and depending on which direction they flew from, what they were like and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would succeed or fail. Thus, finicky chickens ruled a powerful republic, and military leaders in the face of the enemy had to obey their whims.

This primitive religion was called the religion of Numa, after the second of the seven Roman kings, who was credited with establishing the most important religious principles. She was very simple, devoid of any pomp, and knew neither statues nor temples. In its pure form it did not last long. The religious ideas of neighboring peoples penetrated into it, and now it is difficult to recreate its appearance, hidden by later layers.

Foreign gods easily took root in Rome, since the Romans had a custom, after conquering a city, to move the vanquished gods to their capital in order to earn their favor and protect themselves from their wrath.

This is how, for example, the Romans invited the Carthaginian gods to come to them. The priest proclaimed a solemn spell: “You are a goddess or a god who extends guardianship over the people or the state of the Carthaginians, you who protect this city, I offer prayers to you, I pay homage to you, I ask for your mercy, so that the people and the state of the Carthaginians leave, so that they leave their temples so that they leave them. Come join me in Rome. May our churches and city be more pleasant to you. Be merciful and supportive to me and the Roman people and to our soldiers the way we want it and how we understand it. If you do this, I promise that a temple will be built for you and games will be established in your honor.”

Before the Romans came into direct contact with the Greeks, who exerted such an overwhelming influence on their religious ideas, another people, closer geographically, discovered their spiritual superiority over the Romans. These were the Etruscans, a people of unknown origin, whose amazing culture has been preserved to this day in thousands of monuments and speaks to us in an incomprehensible language of inscriptions, unlike any other language in the world. They occupied the northwestern part of Italy, from the Apennines to the sea, a country

fertile valleys and sunny hills, running down to the Tiber, the river that connected them with the Romans. Rich and powerful, the Etruscans, from the heights of their fortified cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, dominated vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by honorary guards armed with bundles of rods with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a fleet and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them they borrowed writing and many religious ideas, which, however, they altered in their own way.

Not much can be said about the Etruscan gods. Among the large number of them, a trinity stands out above the others: Tini, the thunder god, like Jupiter, Uni, the queen goddess, like Juno, and the winged goddess Menfra, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. This is, as it were, a prototype of the famous Capitoline Trinity. With superstitious piety, the Etruscans revered the souls of the dead, as cruel creatures thirsting for blood. The Etruscans performed human sacrifices at the graves; gladiator fights, later adopted by the Romans, were initially part of the cult of the dead among the Etruscans. They believed in the existence of a real hell, where Harun, an old man of half-animal appearance, with wings, armed with a heavy hammer, delivers souls. On the painted walls of Etruscan graves there is a whole string of similar demons: Mantus, the king of hell, also winged, with a crown on his head and a torch in his hand; Tukhulkha, a monster with an eagle's beak, donkey ears and snakes on his head instead of hair, and many others. In an ominous line they surround the unfortunate, frightened human souls.

Etruscan legends say that one day in the vicinity of the city of Tarquini, when peasants were plowing the land, a man with the face and figure of a child, but with gray hair and a beard like an old man, emerged from a wet furrow. His name was Tages. As a crowd gathered around him, he began to preach the rules of fortune telling and religious ceremonies. The king of those places ordered a book to be compiled from the commandments of Tages. Since then, the Etruscans believed that they knew better than other peoples how to interpret divine signs and predictions. Fortune telling was carried out by special priests - haruspices. When an animal was sacrificed, they carefully examined its insides: the shape and position of the heart, liver, lungs - and, according to certain rules, predicted the future. They knew what each lightning meant, and by its color they knew which god it came from. Huge and complex system The haruspices turned supernatural signs into a whole science, which was later adopted by the Romans.

II. Cult of the dead and household deities

The Romans called the spirits of ancestors manas - pure, good spirits. This name contained more flattery than actual faith in the goodness of the souls of the dead, which at all times and among all peoples aroused fear. Each family honored the souls of its own ancestors, and on the days of May 9, 11 and 13, Lemurias - festivals of the dead - were held everywhere. Then it was believed that on these days souls came out of their graves and wandered around the world like vampires, who were called lemurs or larvas. In each house, the father of the family got up at midnight and walked barefoot around all the rooms, driving away the spirits. After that, he washed his hands in spring water, put black beans in his mouth, which he then threw across the house without looking back. At the same time, he repeated the spell nine times: “I give this to you and with these beans I redeem myself and my loved ones.” Invisible spirits followed him and collected the beans scattered on the ground. After this, the head of the family washed himself again with water, took a copper basin and beat it with all his might, asking the spirits to leave the house.

On February 21st there was another holiday called Feralia, on this day a meal was prepared for the dead. Spirits do not demand too much; the tender memory of the living is more pleasant to them than abundant sacrifices. As a gift you can bring them a tile with a withered wreath, bread soaked in wine, some violets, a few grains of millet, a pinch of salt. The most important thing is to pray to them with all your heart. And you should remember them. Once during the war they forgot to hold Feralia. A pestilence began in the city, and at night souls came out of their graves in droves and filled the streets with loud cries. As soon as sacrifices were made to them, they returned to the land and the pestilence stopped. The land of the dead was Orc, like Hades among the Greeks - deep underground caves in inaccessible mountains. The ruler of this kingdom of shadows was also called. We do not know his image, since he never had one, just as he did not have any temples or any cult. However, on the slope of the Capitol, a temple of another god of death, Veiovis, was found, whose name seemed to mean the denial of the beneficial power of Jupiter (Jovis). Closely related to the spirits of ancestors are geniuses, representing the life force of men, and junos, something like guardian angels of women. Each person, depending on his gender, dreams of his own genius or his own Juno. At the moment a person is born, genius enters him, and at the hour of death he leaves, after which he becomes one of the manas. A genius watches a person, helps him in life as best he can, and in difficult times it is useful to turn to him as the closest intercessor.

Some, however, believed that when a person is born, he receives two geniuses: one inclines him to good, the other directs him to evil, and depending on which of them he follows, a blessed fate or punishment awaits him after death. However, this was more a theological teaching than a universal faith.

On birthdays, everyone made a sacrifice to their genius. The genius was depicted as a snake or as a Roman citizen, in a toga, with a cornucopia.

The same family of patron spirits includes the Lares, who take care of the field and the peasant’s house. In Rome there was no cult more popular than the cult of the Lares. Everyone in their home prayed to them and revered these good gods, as they attributed to them all the success, health and happiness of the family. When leaving, the Roman said goodbye to them; When returning, he greeted them first of all. Since childhood, they looked at him from their chapel (in essence, it was a special cabinet in which images of lars were stored. They called it lararium), installed near the hearth, were present at every dinner, and shared their joys and sorrows with everyone at home. As soon as the family sat down at the table, the mistress of the house first of all separated a portion to the laras; on special days dedicated to the laras, a wreath of fresh flowers was sacrificed to them. At first a purely family cult, the cult of the Lars later spread to the city, its sections and the entire state. At street intersections there were chapels of local lars, and local residents treated them with great respect. Every year in the first days of January the local lar holiday was celebrated. This was a great joy for the common people, as comedians and musicians, athletes and singers took part in the celebration. The holiday was fun, and more than one jug of wine was drunk for the health of the Lars.

In the same chapel near the hearth, beneficent deities, the penates, also lived along with the lares. They took care of the pantry.

In order to understand the primary cult of the Lares and Penates, it is necessary to imagine the most ancient Roman house, a farmer's hut with one main room - the atrium. There was a fireplace in the atrium. They cooked food on it, and at the same time it warmed the household, who gathered mainly in this room. There was a table in front of the fireplace, around which everyone sat while eating.

At breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Penates placed a bowl of food on the hearth in gratitude for the household wealth, of which they were the guardians. Thanks to this sacrifice, all dishes also became sacred, and if, for example, even a crumb of bread fell to the ground, it should be carefully picked up and thrown into the fire. Since the state was considered a large family, there were also state penates, honored in the same temple with Vesta.

Related to the very name of the Greek Hestia, Vesta was the personification of the family hearth. She was revered in every home and in every city, but most of all in Rome itself, where her temple was, as it were, the center of the capital, and therefore of the entire state. The cult of Vesta was the oldest and one of the most important. The temple, together with the grove, was located on the slope of the Palatine Hill near the Forum, right next to Via Sacra - the sacred road along which triumphal processions of victorious leaders passed. Forum - a square, a market, generally a place where a lot of people gathered; center of economic and political life. In Rome such a center

became the Roman Forum (Forum Romanum). Nearby was the so-called atrium of Vesta, or the monastery of the Vestals. Nearby was the dwelling of the high priest - the Regia, or “royal palace”. It was called the “royal palace” because the king (Rex) once lived there, and being the high priest, he was also the immediate head of the Vestals.

The temple itself, small and round, resembled in its appearance the primitive clay huts of the ancient, still rural inhabitants of Rome. It was divided into two parts. In one the eternal flame of Vesta burned; this part was accessible to everyone during the day, but men were not allowed to enter there at night. The other part, like the “holy of holies,” was hidden from human eyes, and no one really knew what was there. Some mysterious shrines were kept there, on which the happiness of Rome depended. There was no statue of Vesta in the temple itself; it was located in the vestibule, modeled after the Greek Hestia.

Six Vestal Virgins served in the temple. They were chosen by the high priest (Pontifex Maximus) from the best aristocratic families. The girl entered the monastery between the ages of 6 and 10 and remained there for thirty years, maintaining her innocence and renouncing the world.

For the first ten years she was taught all sorts of rituals, for the next ten years she served in the temple, and for the last ten years she taught new students. After thirty years, the Vestal Virgin could leave the monastery, return to life, get married and start her own family. However, this happened extremely rarely - according to everyone’s belief, a vestal virgin who left the temple would not find happiness in life. therefore, most of them preferred to remain in the monastery until the end of their days, enjoying the respect of their friends and society.

The main task of the Vestals was to maintain the eternal flame on the altar of the goddess. They watched over it day and night, constantly adding new chips so that it would never fade away. If the fire went out, it was not only the crime of a careless vestal, but also foreshadowed an inevitable misfortune for the state.

Rekindling the fire was a very solemn procedure. They made fire by rubbing two sticks against each other, that is, in the most primitive way, dating back to the Stone Age and now found only among peoples lost in the far corners of the earth, where civilization has not yet reached. The cult of Vesta strictly preserved the forms of life of ancient Italy, therefore all the tools in the temple - a knife, an ax - had to be bronze, not iron. The Vestals had no right to leave the city; they were obliged to always remain close to the sacred fire. The priestess, through whose fault the fire went out, was thrown to death. An equally severe punishment befell a Vestal Virgin who violated her vow of chastity. She was placed in a tightly closed palanquin (covered litter) so that no one could see or hear her, and was carried through the Forum. As the palanquin approached, passers-by stopped silently and, bowing their heads, followed the procession to the place of execution. It was located near one of the gates of the city, where a dug hole was already waiting, large enough to accommodate a bed and a table. (Vestals who broke their virginity at dinner were walled up alive in an earthen rampart near the Collin Gate in the eastern part of the city.) A lamp was lit on the table and some bread, water, milk and olive oil were left. The lictor opened the palanquin, and at this time the high priest prayed, raising his hands to the sky. (Lictors are servants, as well as honorary guards of senior officials; they were armed with fasces (a bunch of rods) with axes stuck in them.)

Having finished the prayer, he brought out the condemned woman, covered with a cloak so that those present could not see her face, and ordered her to go down the stairs into the prepared recess. The ladder was pulled out and the niche was walled up. Usually the Vestal Virgin died within a few days. Sometimes the family managed to slowly free her, but of course such a liberated vestal was forever removed from public life.

The Vestals were highly respected. If one of them went out into the street, lictors walked in front of her, as if they were in front of high officials. Vestals were given places of honor in theaters and circuses, and in court their testimony had the force of an oath. A criminal led to death, meeting one of these white-clad maidens, could fall at her feet, and if the Vestal proclaimed pardon, he was set free. The prayers of the Vestal virgins were given special meaning. They prayed daily for the success and integrity of the Roman state. On the ninth day of June, the solemn feast of the Vestalia, the Roman matrons made a pilgrimage to the temple of Vesta, carrying modest sacrifices in earthenware. On this day, the mills were decorated with flowers and wreaths, and the bakers had noisy fun.

III. Gods. Ancient Italic deities

The powerful ruler of the sky, the personification of sunlight, thunderstorms, storms, who in anger threw lightning, striking with them those who disobeyed his divine will - such was the supreme ruler of the gods, Jupiter. His abode was on high mountains, from where he looked out over the whole world, the fate of individuals and nations depended on him. Jupiter expressed his will with peals of thunder, the flash of lightning, the flight of birds (especially the appearance of an eagle dedicated to him); sometimes he sent prophetic dreams in which he revealed the future. The priests of the formidable god, the pontiffs, performed especially solemn ceremonies in those places where lightning struck. This area was fenced off so that no one could walk through it and thus desecrate the sacred place. The earth was carefully collected and buried along with a piece of flint - a symbol of lightning. The priest erected an altar at this place and sacrificed a two-year-old sheep. To Jupiter, the powerful protector who bestows victory and rich military spoils, a temple was erected on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where commanders returning from victorious campaigns brought the armor of defeated leaders and the most valuable treasures taken from their enemies. Jupiter simultaneously patronized people and sanctified their relationships. He cruelly punished oathbreakers and violators of the customs of hospitality. In honor of this highest god of all ancient Latium, general festivities were held several times a year - at the beginning of sowing and the end of the harvest, during the grape harvest. The Capitoline and Big games with equestrian and athletic competitions. The most important days of the year - the Ides of each month (13-15th) - were dedicated to the greatest and visionary Jupiter, who controls the destinies of the world and people. The name of Jupiter was mentioned in every significant matter - public or private. They swore by his name, and the oath was considered inviolable, for the quick-to-death and irritable god inexorably punished the wicked. Since the main features of the Italian Jupiter were very similar to the image of the supreme deity of the Greeks, Zeus, with the increasing influence of Greek culture, elements of Greek mythology merged into the Roman religion. And many legends associated with Zeus were transferred to Jupiter. His father began to be called Saturn, the god of crops, who first gave people food and ruled them during the golden age, like the Greek Kronos. Thus, the wife of Saturn, the goddess of the rich harvest Ops, began to be considered the mother of Jupiter, and since when addressing the goddess it was prescribed to touch the earth, her image naturally merged with the image of the goddess Rhea, the wife of Kronos.

Especially colorful were the celebrations in honor of Saturn and his wife - Saturnalia, which began on December 17 after the end of the harvest and lasted seven days. During these celebrations, people sought to revive the memory of the golden age of Saturn’s reign, when, in the words of the Roman poet Ovid, “spring stood forever” and “the Earth brought a harvest without plowing,” “safely living people tasted sweet peace.” And indeed, on the days of Saturnalia, people spent their time in carefree fun, games, dances, and feasts. They gave gifts to their loved ones and even freed slaves from work, seated them at the table and treated them, believing that they were paying tribute to the equality that once existed between people.

in the discipline "Culturology"

on topic: “Roman gods”

Introduction

1.Religion of ancient Rome

2.Heroes of Roman myth

Conclusion

List of used literature

There is still a widespread idea that ancient Roman culture is not original, because the Romans tried to imitate the unattainable examples of classical Greek culture, adopting everything and creating practically nothing of their own. However, the latest research shows the original nature of the culture of Ancient Rome, because it represents a certain unity that arose as a result of a combination of the original with borrowed cultural innovations. We should not forget the essential point that the ancient Roman and ancient Greek cultures were formed and developed on the basis of the ancient civil community. Its entire structure predetermined the scale of basic values ​​that guided all its fellow citizens in one way or another. These values ​​included: the idea of ​​the significance and original unity of the civil community with the inextricable connection between the good of the individual and the good of the entire collective; the idea of ​​the supreme power of the people; the idea of ​​the closest connection between the civil community and the gods and heroes who care about its welfare.

At an early stage of development during the transition from a primitive communal system to a class society, religion played an exceptional role in the private and public life of the Romans. The Roman religion never had a complete system. The remnants of ancient beliefs coexisted in it with religious ideas borrowed from peoples at a higher level of cultural development.

In the Roman religion, as in other Italian cults, vestiges of totemism were preserved. This is evidenced by the legends about the she-wolf who suckled the founders of Rome. The wolf (in Latin wolf - lupus) was apparently associated with the Lupercalia festivals and the special Lupercal sanctuary dedicated to Faun, the priestly college of Luperci, etc. Other deities also had animals dedicated to them. The woodpecker, wolf and bull were animals dedicated to Mars, geese - to Juno, etc. It should be noted, however, that the features of totemistic cults, suggesting the identification of an animal with the progenitor of the clan, were not observed in the historical era in Rome. This stage of spiritual development had already been passed through by the Italic tribes.

Tribal cults played a significant role in Roman religion. Individual deities, patrons of clans, acquired general Roman significance and became the personification of various forces of nature.

In the process of historical development, the family became the primary social entity in Rome. This process is reflected in religion. Each family had its own shrines, its own patron gods, its own cult. The center of this cult was the hearth, in front of which the pater familias performed all the rites that accompanied any important matter, for example, in front of the hearth, the father of the family declared the newborn his child. Penates were considered the guardians of the house, caring for the well-being and well-being of the family. These good spirits are the inhabitants of the house. Outside the house, the family and its property were taken care of by lars, the altars of which were located on the borders of the plots. Each family member had his own "genius", which was considered an expression of strength this person, his energy, abilities, an expression of his entire being and at the same time his guardian.

The genius of the father of the family was revered by everyone at home. This was genius familiae or genius domus. The mother of the family also had her own genius, who was called Juno. Juno brought the young wife into the house, she made the birth easier for the mother. Every house had many other deities protecting it. The god of doors Janus, who guarded and guarded the entrance to the house, acquired particular significance.

The family cared for their deceased ancestors. Ideas about the afterlife were not developed among the Romans. After death, the human spirit, according to the beliefs of the Romans, continued to live in the grave where the ashes of the deceased were placed by his relatives and to which they brought food. At first these offerings were very modest: violets, a pie dipped in wine, a handful of beans. The deceased ancestors, whom their descendants cared for, were good deities - metas. If the dead were not taken care of, they became evil and vengeful forces - lemurs. The genius of the ancestors was embodied in the father of the family, whose power (potestas) thus received religious justification.

Range of beliefs related to family life and tribal religion, as well as ideas about the afterlife, characterize the Roman religion as a fundamentally animistic religion. A feature of Roman animism was its abstraction and impersonality. The genius of the house, penates and lares, manas and lemurs are impersonal forces, spirits on which the well-being of the family depends and which can be influenced by prayers and sacrifices.

The agricultural life of the Romans was reflected in the worship of the forces of nature, but the original Roman religion was far from anthropomorphism; it was not characterized by the personification of nature in the form of deities endowed with human qualities, and in this respect it was the complete opposite of the Greek religion. Particularly characteristic of Roman animism were ideas about special mystical powers inherent in natural phenomena; these forces are deities (numina), which can bring benefit and harm to humans. Processes occurring in nature, such as the growth of a seed or the ripening of a fruit, were represented by the Romans as special deities. With the development of social and political life, it became customary to deify such abstract concepts as hope, honor, harmony, etc. Roman deities are thus abstract and impersonal.

From the many gods, those who became important for the entire community stood out. The Romans were in constant interaction with other peoples. They borrowed some religious ideas from them, but they themselves, in turn, influenced the religion of their neighbors.

One of the ancient Roman gods was Janus. From the deity of doors, the watchful gatekeeper, he became the deity of all beginnings, the predecessor of Jupiter. He was depicted as two-faced and subsequently the beginning of the world was connected with him.

The trinity appeared relatively early: Jupiter, Mars, Quirin. Jupiter was revered as the deity of the sky by almost all Italians. The idea of ​​the highest deity, the father of the gods, was associated with Jupiter. The epithet pater (father) was subsequently added to his name, and under the influence of the Etruscans. he turns into a supreme deity. His name is accompanied by the epithets “Best” and “Greatest” (Optimus Maximus). In the classical era, Mars was the deity of war, the patron and source of Roman power, but in distant times he was also an agricultural deity - the genius of spring vegetation. Quirin was his double.

The cult of Vesta, the guardian and protector of the home, was one of the most revered in Rome.

Borrowings from the cycle of religious ideas of neighboring tribes begin quite early. One of the first to be revered was the Latin goddess Tsaana - the patroness of women, the goddess of the moon, as well as annually born vegetation. The Temple of Diana on the Aventine was built, according to legend, under Servius Tullius. Relatively late, another Latin goddess began to be revered - Venus - the patroness of gardens and vegetable gardens and at the same time the deity of the abundance and prosperity of nature.

A great event in the history of Roman religion was the construction on the Capitol of a temple dedicated to the Trinity: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Tradition attributes the construction of the temple, created on the Etruscan model, to the Tarquins, and its consecration dates back to the first year of the Republic. From this time on, the Romans began to have images of gods.

Juno was also at first an original Italic goddess, she was considered the guardian genius of women, was accepted in Etruria under the name Uni, and upon returning to Rome, she became one of the revered goddesses. Minerva was also an Italic goddess adopted by the Etruscans; in Rome she became the patroness of crafts.

Along with the Capitoline Trinity, the veneration of other deities passed on to the Romans from the Etruscans. Some of them were initially patrons of individual Etruscan families, then acquired national significance. So, for example, Saturn was initially revered in the Etruscan clan of Satriev, then received general recognition. Among the Romans he was revered as the deity of crops, his name was associated with Latin word sator – sower. He was the first to give food to people and originally ruled the world; his time was a golden age for people. At the festival of Saturnalia, everyone became equal: there were no masters, no servants, no slaves. The legend that was subsequently created was, apparently, an interpretation of the Saturnalia holiday.

Vulcan was first revered in the Etruscan genus Velcha-Volca. In Rome, he was the deity of fire, and then the patron of blacksmithing.

From the Etruscans the Romans borrowed ritual and that peculiar system of superstitions and fortune telling, which was known as disciplina etrusca. But already in the early era they influenced the Romans and Greek religious ideas. They were borrowed from the Greek cities of Campania. Greek ideas about certain deities were combined with Latin names. Ceres (Ceres - food, fruit) was associated with the Greek Demeter and turned into the goddess of the plant kingdom, and also into the goddess of the dead. The Greek god of winemaking, wine and fun, Dionysus, became known as Liber, and the Greek Kore, daughter of Demeter, became Libera. The Trinity: Ceres, Liber and Libera were venerated according to the Greek model and were plebeian deities, while the temples of the Capitoline Trinity and Vesta were patrician religious centers. The veneration of Apollo, Hermes (in Rome - Mercury) and other deities passed from the Greeks to Rome.

The Roman pantheon did not remain closed. The Romans did not refuse to accept other gods into it. So, repeatedly during wars they tried to find out which deities their opponents prayed to in order to attract these gods to their side.

A number of holidays were connected with family and social life, with the remembrance of the dead, and with the agricultural calendar. Then special military holidays appear and, finally, holidays of artisans, traders, and sailors.

Simultaneously with the construction of the Capitoline Temple or shortly thereafter, games (ludi) began to be played in Rome, following the Etruscan model, which initially consisted of chariot races, as well as athletic competitions.

The most ancient stages of religious development were reflected in Roman religious rites and customs. A number of religious prohibitions go back to ancient taboos. Thus, during the service of Silvana (the deity of the forest), women could not be present; on the contrary, men were not allowed to attend the festivals of the Good Goddess (Bona dea). Some priestly positions were associated with a wide variety of prohibitions: the flamen of Jupiter could not look at armed army, wear a ring and a belt; violation of some prohibitions, such as the vow of celibacy by the Vestal Virgins, was punishable by death.

The basis of the Roman ethical canon, and the dominant feature that determines the heroism of a historical figure, is his willingness to act for the good of the state. The pathos of Roman culture is the pathos, first of all, of a Roman citizen.

An important component of Roman myth was the idealization of poverty and the condemnation of wealth. In a state that waged continuous wars, accumulated unheard-of treasures and made a person’s social advancement directly dependent on his qualifications, i.e. Because of his ability to enrich himself, the condemnation of money-grubbing should have looked like unnatural nonsense. It should have been, but apparently it didn't look that way. A high qualification was not only an advantage, but also the obligation of a person chosen by fate to give more to the state - the deprivation of a state-owned horse, for example, which required large expenses, was nevertheless perceived not as a relief, but as a shame.

From the moment the wealth of Rome became an obvious factor state life and until the very end of the Republic, laws were periodically passed making it mandatory to limit personal expenses. Their repetition shows that they were not fulfilled, but something forced them to be systematically accepted. Moralists and historians glorified the ancient heroes of Rome for their poverty; it was customary to say, in particular, that their land allotment amounted to seven jugers. Against the backdrop of estates with an area of ​​thousands of jugers, this looked like nothing more than an edifying fable; but when the colonies were withdrawn, as it turns out, the size of the plots provided was actually oriented towards approximately the same seven jugers, i.e. This figure was not fictitious, but reflected a certain norm - psychological and at the same time real.

Apparently, the repeatedly documented demonstrative refusals of commanders to use war booty for personal enrichment are indisputable - disinterestedness could, therefore, play the role of not only an ideal, but in certain cases also a regulator practical behavior– one was inseparable from the other.

It is clear that although Rome grew from a small city-state into a gigantic empire, its people retained the old ceremonies and customs almost unchanged. In light of this, it is not surprising that the shocking display of wealth caused by some Romans' use of lectica (stretchers) caused widespread irritation. It is rooted not so much in politics or ideology, but in those hidden, but indisputably living layers of social consciousness, where the centuries-old historical experience of the people, which has been outlived on the surface, has been molded into forms of everyday behavior, into unconscious tastes and aversions, into the traditions of life.

At the end of the republic and in the 1st century. AD Fantastic amounts of money circulated in Rome. Emperor Vitellius “ate” 900 million sesterces in a year, Nero’s temporary servant and Claudius Vibius Crispus was richer than Emperor Augustus. Money was the main thing life value. But general idea about what is moral and proper was still rooted in natural communal forms of life, and monetary wealth was desirable, but at the same time somehow unclean, shameful. Augustus's wife Livia herself spun wool in the atrium of the imperial palace, the princesses enacted laws against luxury, Vespasian saved pennies at a time, Pliny glorified ancient frugality, and eight Syrian lecticians, each of whom should have cost at least half a million sesterces, insulted the money laid down in time immemorial. but understandable to everyone ideas about what is decent and acceptable.

It's not just about wealth. The freeborn Roman citizen spent most of his time in the crowd that filled the Forum, the basilica, the baths, gathered in the amphitheater or circus, gathered for a religious ceremony, and sat around the tables during a collective meal. Such a stay in the crowd was not an external and forced inconvenience; on the contrary, it was felt as a value, as a source of acute collective positive emotion, for it galvanized a feeling of community solidarity and equality, which had almost disappeared from real social relations, insulted daily and hourly, but nested in the very the root of Roman life, which stubbornly did not disappear and, all the more, imperiously demanded compensatory satisfaction.

The dry and angry Cato the Elder melted his soul during the collective meals of the religious college; Augustus, in order to increase his popularity, revived the meetings, ceremonies and communal meals of the inhabitants of urban areas; the rural cult of the “good boundary”, which united neighbors, slaves and masters for several days in January, during a break between field work, survived and was preserved throughout the early empire; circus games and mass shows were considered part of the people's business and were regulated by officials. Attempts to stand out from the crowd and stand above it offended this archaic and enduring sense of Roman, polis, civil equality, associated with the morals of eastern despotism. The hatred of Juvenal, Martial, their compatriots and contemporaries for the upstarts, the rich, the proud, floating in open lectures above the heads of their fellow citizens, looking at them “from the heights of their soft pillows,” grew from here.

The situation is exactly the same with another side of the Roman myth. Wars have always been fought here and were of a predatory nature, treaties and the right of those who surrendered voluntarily to save their lives were often not respected - such facts have been witnessed more than once and do not raise doubts. But Scipio the Elder executed the tribunes who allowed the plunder of the surrendered city, and deprived the entire army of booty; the Roman commander, who achieved victory by poisoning wells in the lands of the enemy, was surrounded by general contempt until the end of his life; no one began to buy slaves captured during the capture of the Italian city. The successful commander considered it obligatory for himself to build for hometown water supply, temple, theater or library, cases of evasion of very onerous duties in city government have been noted only since the 2nd century. AD, and even then mainly in the Greek-speaking east. The glorified Republic was robbed, but the result of the Roman’s life, left for centuries, was cursus, i.e. a list of what he has achieved in the service of the same Republic, etc.

The work of Titus Livy “History of Rome from the foundation of the City” - richest source legends and reliable information about Roman history. This work can be considered almost an epic work, as it contains information about most historical figures known to this day. The book is replete with those pages that have forever entered the culture of Europe and which still touch the soul today: large, sharply outlined figures - First Consul Brutus, Camillus, Scipio the Elder, Fabius Maximus; scenes filled with deep drama - the suicide of Lucretia, the defeat and shame of the Romans in the Caudino Gorge, the execution of consul Manlius of his son, who violated military discipline; long-remembered speeches - the tribune Canuleus to the people, the consular (as a person who was once a consul was called in Rome) Flamininus to the Hellenes, the commander Scipio to the legions.

As an example, we can cite Titus Livy's description of the enmity between the Romans and the Sabines, caused by the abduction of women. One of the common epic stories describing the heroism of women who prevented a fight between two tribes: “Here the Sabine women, because of whom the war began, let down their hair and tore their clothes, forgetting women’s fear in trouble, bravely rushed straight under the spears and arrows to cut across the fighters , in order to separate the two systems, to appease the anger of those at war, turning with a prayer first to fathers, then to husbands: let them - fathers-in-law and sons-in-law - not stain themselves with unholy shed blood, do not defile the offspring of their daughters and wives with parricide. “If you are ashamed of the relationship between each other, if the marriage union disgusts you, turn your anger towards us: we are the cause of the war, the cause of the wounds and deaths of our husbands and fathers; “We’d rather die than live without some or others, as widows or orphans.” Not only the warriors, but also the leaders were touched; everything suddenly fell silent and froze. Then the leaders came out to conclude an agreement, and not only were they reconciled, but they made one state out of two. They decided to reign together and made Rome the center of all power. So the city doubled, and so as not to offend the Sabines, the citizens received the name “quirites” from their city Kurami. In memory of this battle, the place where Curtius’s horse, having got out of the swamp, stepped onto the hard bottom, was nicknamed Lake Curtius. The war, so sorrowful, suddenly ended in a joyful peace, and because of this the Sabine women became even more dear to their husbands and parents, and above all to Romulus himself, and when he began to divide the people into thirty curiae, he gave the curiae the names of Sabine women.”

Thus, it is obvious that the Roman heroic epic was formed under the influence of the ideology of strengthening the state and the steady increase in the power of Rome.

At the end of the 5th century. Ancient Rome as a world empire ceased to exist, but it cultural heritage didn't die. Today it is an essential ingredient of Western culture. The Roman cultural heritage shaped and was embodied in the thinking, languages ​​and institutions of the Western world.

The Romans were originally pagans, worshiping Greek and to a lesser extent Etruscan gods. Later, the mythological period gave way to a passion for pagan cults. Finally, to complete the evolution, Christianity won the victory, which in the 4th century, after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern, took on the concrete contours of Catholicism. The most ancient religious ideas of the Romans were associated with agricultural cults of the deification of nature, the cult of ancestors and other magical rituals performed by the head of the family. Then the state, taking upon itself the organization and conduct of rituals, created an official religion, which changed the previous ideas about the gods. The ethic of citizenship became the center of Roman epic.

A certain influence of ancient Roman culture is visible both in the classical architecture of public buildings and in the scientific nomenclature constructed from the roots Latin language; many of its elements are difficult to isolate, so firmly have they entered the flesh and blood of everyday culture, art and literature. We are no longer talking about the principles of classical Roman law, which underlies the legal systems of many Western states and the Catholic Church, built on the basis of Roman administrative system.

1. Gurevich P.S. Culturology. - M.: Knowledge, 1998.

2. Erasov B.S. Social cultural studies: In 2 parts. Part 1 - M.: JSC “Aspect Press”, 1994. – 384 p.

3. History of Ancient Rome / Ed. V.I. Kuzitsina. – M., 1982.

4. Knabe G.S. Ancient Rome - history and modernity. – M., 1986.

5. Culture of Ancient Rome / Ed. E.S. Golubtsova. – M., 1986. T. 1, 2.

6. Cultural studies. Course of lectures ed. A.A. Radugina Publishing house “Center” Moscow 1998

7. Culturology /Ed. A. N. Markova M., 1998

8. Polikarpov V.S. Lectures on cultural studies. M.: “Gardariki”, 1997.-344 p.

9. Illustrated history of religions. T.1,2 - M.: Publishing house of the Valaam Monastery, 1992.

10. Ponomareva G.M. and others. Fundamentals of cultural studies. – M., 1998.

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Jupiter (lat. Iuppiter) - in ancient Roman mythology, the god of the sky, daylight, thunderstorms, the father of the gods, the supreme deity of the Romans. Husband of the goddess Juno. Corresponds to the Greek Zeus. The god Jupiter was revered on the hills, the tops of mountains in the form of a stone. The days of the full moon - the Ides - are dedicated to him.

The Temple of Jupiter stood on the Capitol, where Jupiter, along with Juno and Minerva, was one of the three most important Roman deities.

Janus

Janus (Latin Ianus, from Latin ianua - “door”, Greek Ian) - in Roman mythology - the two-faced god of doors, entrances, exits, different passages, as well as beginning and end.

One of the most ancient Roman Indian gods, together with the goddess of the hearth Vesta, occupied a prominent place in Roman ritual. Already in ancient times, various religious ideas about him and his essence were expressed. Thus, Cicero associated his name with the verb inire and saw in Janus the deity of entrance and exit. Others believed that Janus personified chaos (Janus = Hianus), air or the firmament. Nigidius Figulus identified Janus with the sun god. Originally Janus is the divine gatekeeper, in the Salian hymn he was invoked under the names Clusius or Clusivius (Closing One) and Patulcius (Opening One). As attributes, Janus had a key with which he unlocked and locked the gates of heaven. He used a staff as a gatekeeper's weapon to ward off uninvited guests. Later, probably under the influence of Greek religious art, Janus began to be depicted as two-faced (geminus).

Juno

Juno (lat. Iuno) - ancient Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter, goddess of marriage and birth, motherhood, women and female productive power. She is primarily the patroness of marriages, the guardian of the family and family regulations. The Romans were the first to introduce monogamy. Juno, as the patroness of monogamy, is, among the Romans, the personification of protest against polygamy.

Minerva

Diana

Diana - goddess of flora and fauna, femininity and fertility, obstetrician, personification of the Moon; corresponds to the Greek Artemis and Selene.

Venus

Venus - in Roman mythology, originally the goddess of flowering gardens, spring, fertility, growth and flowering of all fruit-bearing forces of nature. Then Venus began to be identified with the Greek Aphrodite, and since Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas, whose descendants founded Rome, Venus was considered not only the goddess of love and beauty, but also the ancestor of the descendants of Aeneas and the patroness of the Roman people. The symbols of the goddess were the dove and the hare (as a sign of fertility); the plants dedicated to her were poppy, rose and myrtle.

Flora

Flora - An ancient Italian goddess, whose cult was widespread among the Sabines and especially in Central Italy. She was the goddess of flowers, blossoming, spring and fruits of the field; in honor of her, the Sabines named the month corresponding to April or May (mese Flusare = mensis Floralis).

Ceres

Ceres (lat. Cerēs, gen. Cereris) - ancient Roman goddess, second daughter of Saturn and Rhea (in Greek mythology Demeter corresponds to her). She was depicted as a beautiful matron with fruit in her hands, for she was considered the patroness of the harvest and fertility (often together with Annona, the patroness of the harvest). The only daughter of Ceres is Proserpina, born from Jupiter.

Bacchus

Bacchus - in ancient Roman mythology, the youngest of the Olympians, the god of winemaking, the productive forces of nature, inspiration and religious ecstasy. Mentioned in the Odyssey. In Greek mythology, it corresponds to Dionysus.

Vertumnus

Vertumn (Latin Vertumnus, from Latin vertere, to transform) - ancient Italian god of the seasons and their various gifts, so he was depicted in different types, mainly in the form of a gardener with a garden knife and fruits. Sacrifices were made to him annually on August 13 (vertumnalia). Later Roman mythology made him an Etruscan god; but, as the etymology of this name shows, Vertumnus was a true Latin and at the same time common Italic god, akin to Ceres and Pomona, the goddesses of grain plants and fruits.