ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

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DIVINITIES OF THE COUNTRY AND FAMILY

In origin the Romans were only farmers very linked to the earth from which their surviving was depended, and they were aware of the soprannatural forces surround them. The change of the seasons, or the misteries of the born and grow was phenomena that they were not able to understand or control and for this they were scared about them.
Consequently it’s easy to understand how they began to believe in a “force” or “magical power” that they called Numen; Romans thought that the Numen was everywhere and that he shown in every life aspects: in agricoltural activities, in household duties, in the growing and education of children.

To try to understand better this quite vague power and to try to adress this power toward beneficial purposes, it was given to each of Numen’s actions a different name. In this way there was Vesta, Numen of the fireplace and Neptune, Lord of the running waters; Terminus who watched over the borders and Conso who protected the harvests and many others.
Usually this “spirits” or “magical powers” had beneficial influence; they lived in the house itself and, if propitiated with prays and sacrifices, they acted for the good protecting against the dark and dangerous forces.

The Numens

All this Numens were thought as shapeless entities, but as time passed, this idea changed , especially thanks to the influence of the Greek culture and of its mythology full of legends of Gods and Goddess anthropomorphous. In this way Jove (or Jupiter), Roman God of the Sky, was identified with Zeus, the father of the Olimpian Greek Gods, and Ceres, Roman Goddess of vegetation and fields was identified with the Greek Demeter.

The fields were not the only places protected by the Divinities; also the wildest zones (like the forests) were peopled by Gods and Goddess: for example there was Faunus who was the protector of shepherds and their animals; his fauns (spirits with human body and goat legs) lived with him in the forests and woods. Another forests God was Silvanus (whose name means literally “being of forest”), a spirit particularly damaging. Also Diana was a Goddess of the forests and mountains, the place sacred to her were usually in the woods, among the trees that grew along the sources; her worship was practiced especially by women. Diana was worshipped also as Goddess of the hunt and moon.

The family tutelary Divinities

In the centre of the Roman religion there was always the family; the family needed divine protection to gain success in the life of everyday and in work, and the person responsible of ensure to the family the help of the divinities was the Head of family who must perform the proper rites. This rites was done in the house itself, in front of a little temple in a corner of the main room that contained relics and little statues raffiguring the Lares, spirits of the ancestors that watched over their descendants; family prayed everyday its Lares making little offers of incence, food and wine.

Other house worshipped divinities by the family were the Penates who protected the penus (supplies store) and Vesta, Goddess of the fireplace.

Another point of the house protected in a particular way by Gods was the outside door of the house with all its parts (door-posts, architrave and the door itself with all its hinges: it was guarded and protected by several Numens).

To open and close a door, or cross the threshold, could have favourable or unlucky consequences according to the desire of the God Janus (whose name means “door”) who was always near every door, the ones of every house but also the ones of the city; in Rome Janus gained importance: in the forum it was erected a Temple sacred to him whose doors were always left open in war times and they were closed only in peace times. Janus was two-faced, and so depicted with a head composed by two faces that looked in opposite directions; the month sacred to him was January, when everything begins.

DIVINITIES OF THE CITY AND THE STATE

Although in origin it was only a small rustic community, Rome as time passed became a huge city, and as Rome grew in importance, so it grew its Divinities who in the begin were worshipped from the families and then became urban Divinities of the entire Roman State.

Vesta was one of them and was adopted as guardian of the sacred fire that protected Rome, but contrary to other Divinities, Vesta had never been represented by statues because she was conceived as the fire itself. Her Fire was enlight every year in March and guarded by her priestesses, the vestals. In the circular temple in which the fire burn there was a coffer in which were kept precious objects guarded by Penates. Vesta and the Penates were considered the guardians of the Roman State: the sacred Fire of Vesta was the fireplace of the city, and so of the entire State. If the fire would have out, Romans would have considered it as an omen of misfortune, so the perpetual Fire began to symbolize the Roman power and the temples sacred to Vesta began to be erected also in other cities of the State.

Besides Vesta, other Goddess of the Roman State were Juno, Minerva, Ceres, Diana and Venus, and Jove, Mars, Apollo, Mercury and Neptune were some of the greatest Gods.

The care of the worship of all these divinities was a duty of the State that provided to the temples and priests. people were involved in the festivities honoured to the various Divinities. During this festivities there were games in the circus and in the arena (athletic competitions, bigas races and Gladiators fight).

Main Divinities

JOVE: God of the Sky, he was the main God. He gave light, caused the rise and fall of the moon and controlled the aatmospherical phenomena. The thunderbolts were considered a particular sign of his presence and the objects burned by them were considered sacred. The symbols of Jove were the lightning-bolt and the eagle. Jove was also the God of Word, and he controlled that was respected the truth and justice; he guarded the laws (particularly the Romans ones...) and was considered Lord and Master of everything that could be considered Roman and defending of the Roman people.

JUNO: Wife of Jove, and so Queen of the Sky and bringer of light. She protected the begin of every month and the born in general, and so she was the tutelary Goddess of all women. Among the most important festivities sacred to Juno, there was the matronals, celebrated the first day of March. Juno was also the Goddess who protected weddings and June, the month sacred to her, was the best month to get married.

MINERVA: daughter of Jove, queen of wisdom and arts and protected the artists, the teachers and the scolars. Her festivity was in March: Scolars had one day of holyday and teachers received their annual reward because this celebration signed the end of the old school year and the beginning of the new one.

MARS: the most important after Jove. The month of March take its name from this God. Mars had links both with agricolture and war. In the beginning people prayed Mars to obtain blessing to the fields and animals; probably it was associated with war because both the agricoltural year and the period of wars began in spring, during the month of March. Mars’ symbols were the wolf, the woodpecker and the lance. When a war begin the God was invoked and a sacred shield was beated with a lance to call Mars.

VENUS: it’s origin are quite obscure and we don’t know when and how she was identified with the Goddess of Love, anyway she was very important in Roman Mythology because the first emperors maintain to be her descendants.

ROMAN LEGENDS

The stories and the legends that the ancients Romans told about their heroic warriors gives us an image of a city which power was in constant growing facing the near populations and gaining a great reputation for the bravery and the sense of honour, the virtues to which the Romans attributed the greatest value. In 510 b.C. Rome became a republic ruled by freely elected authorities; one of the hero of the first years of the Republic was a general called Camillo.

CAMILLO AND THE GEESE OF CAMPIDOGLIO
 

The capture of Veio and the miracle of the statue

In that times Rome was in war against its neighbours, the etruscans. The Romans attacked Veio, the richest of the enemies’ cities, and they tried for 10 years to conquer without success. Camillo was resoluted to make it fall while he was ruler of the roman army. To incite his men promised a rich part of the city’s treasures to who would have helped him to obtain the victory; he ask also for the help of the Gods promising that in exchange of their help he would have done rich gifts to their temples.

The only possibility to win was to take Veio by surprise. Camillo thought to dig a long tunnel that, passing under the wall, arrived in the centre of the city. When the passage was completed the most part of the army went to attack the wall, but another group of warriors was crawling through the tunnel and came out on the other side, near the temple of Juno, attacking the defendants by the back. Veio was defeated and the Romans, entered in the city, sacked everything precious that they found, also the inhabitants to sell as slaves.

Camillo, remembering his promise to the Gods, ordered that many of the etruscan temples’ treasures were took to bring them in the Romans’ temples. In the temple of Juno there was a huge statue of the Goddess and Camillo ordered to took it too, but using many regards: the charged soldiers washed themselves and wore white clothes. Although this the Romans were afraid to be committing a sacrilegious and to solve the doubt one of the soldier spoke to the Goddess asking if she desired to go in Rome with them; everybody were sure to see the statue to nod and they didn’t hesitate no more, then they noticed that the statue, although its huge size, was became incredibly light, so much that they transported it to Rome without difficulties.

Camillo to the conquest of Falerii

After Veio Camillo guided his army against Falerii, another etruscan city. Also there he encountered a strong resistance, but he obtained a fast victory thanks to a particular episode.

In Falerii there was a teacher who was used to bring his pupils, all belonging to the most important families of the city, to run and play outside of the wall; he decided to not change habits nor now that the soldiers of Rome were so near.

One day he brought the young guys inside the Romans camp and asked to see the commander. When Camillo arrived the teacher told him to take all the children as hostages to be able to conquer the city easily; Camillo was indignant and refused telling that the Romans didn’t use so vile tricks to win battles. After that he ordered to the soldiers to bind the hands of the man and strip him, then he gave to every children a twig so that they had to wip the teacher for all the return. At Falerii the noise attracted the crowd and in few minutes in the city everyone knows what was happened. The etruscans felt much admiration for Camillo who acted in a so fair and honorable way refusing a so easy victory, and they thought that a man like him was better as a friend than as enemy: it was signed a peace treaty and Camillo came back to Rome triumphant.

Camillo banished

The victories obtained secured to the general a very high reputation. Although this Camillo was overwhelmed in the hard fight of the different politic parts since it was destitute and banished. Camillo accepted with dignity his fate and he move to Ardea.

The attack of the Gauls

In that period in Rome arrived worring news about the Gauls, a barbarian population that came from beyond the Alps: it was told that they were already arrived in Italy and they had conquered easily many of the cities of the north, there was the fear that they soon would have attacked Rome itself. To the Romans that voices seamed absurd: how can barbarian be a menace? But the Romans were wrong to undervalue the Gauls that were wild and bloody.

Few time passed and the hordes of Gauls arrived near Rome besieging the city. The roman army moved to stop them, sure of an easy victory, but since the first attack it was defeated and confined to a fast retreat. The invaders find the way open without no one to stop them and Rome was in panic: almost all the inhabitants run away in the country to shelter, in the city remained only the olds and the invalids resigned to their fate and a group of youngs that barricade onself inside the Stronghold on the Campidoglio (one of the seven hill of Rome) where had been brought the city treasure.

The geese of Campidoglio and the return of Camillo

The Gauls found the doors opened and the streets desert. They sacked temples and houses searching for gold, jewels and money; they destroyed the statues and the monuments and they burn the entire city. The one blocked in the Stronghold of Campidoglio were confined to assist to the destruction of their city without have the possibility to do nothing. They were able only to send a message to Camillo with the hope that the exile general could save what remained of the city.

The invaders encamp around the hill of Campidoglio, decided to kill also the people closed inside the Stronghold. Then they found a passage on the side of the hill and they decided to attack also this last defence. With the favour of the dark they arrived to the top of the hill without no one gave the alarm: the Romans thought to be safe inside the Stronghold and they slept quietly. The ones that gave the alarm had been the geese sacred to Juno that lived in the temple of the Goddess: afraid by the Gauls the geese started to flutter and to flap their wings and the noise woke up the sentinels; in few seconds all the defendants were ready at their places and the Gauls were hurled down of the hill.

To thank them for saving Rome from that moment on the geese received from the priests of Juno attentions much higher and it was decreed that never more the geese would have been immolated in sacrifices.

Few days after, Camillo arrived with a big army he had been able to collect. The Gauls were defeated and the Romans, that immediately began to rebuilt the city, honored Camillo as the second founder of Rome.

Copyright © 2006 Lalaith Lomion | Design by Andreas Viklund