Domestic Religion

Question 1

Domestic Religion - What was domestic religion?

Answer 1

• Roman religion in it purest form, ie free from foreign influences
• it can be seen in worship within the family and the home
• it was the duty of the head of family, the “patrfamillias’, to organise family worship by offering daily prayers and sacrifices to the spirits that were believed to protect the family and the house.
• These household spirits included Janus, Vesta, the Lares and Penates, were worshipped with little change throughout Romes existence and it is interesting to note that when paganism was eventually banned by edict of Theodosius in AD 392, the worship of these gods are specifically mentioned.
• Conducted sacrifices and prayers for the family to the ancestral gods
• Families worshipped; vesta, Janus, Lares and Penates
• Important events were; birth, marriage, coming of age, death
• Coming of age was special as many Romans died young
• Domestic religion was more important than State religion as it was an important part of young Romans lives

Question 2

Domestic Religion - Janus and the Spirits of the door

Answer 2

• The door of the house needed special protection, a belief which is found in many cultures in all parts of the world
• The original spirit of the house was Janus.
• The Varros book on religion mentions four deities:
  Forculus; god of the door
  Limentius and Lima; god and goddess of the threshold
  Cardea; goddess of the hinges

Question 3

Domestic Religion - Janus and the Spirits of the door

Answer 3

• A bride arriving in her new home had to win the favour of the gods of her new household and it is thought that this is why she anointed the doorposts with wolfs fat
• The bride was carried across the Threshold; for she must not stand on it and offend its protecting deities
• In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of doors, gates, and transitions.
• Janus represented the middle ground between both concrete and abstract dualities such as life/death and beginning/end
• As the god of gates, Janus guarded the gates of heavens / Olympus and held access to the heavens and other gods.
• For this reason, Janus was often invoked first in ancient Roman religious ceremonies, and during public sacrifices, offerings were given to Janus before any other deity.
• In fact, there is evidence that Janus was worshipped long before many of the other Roman gods, dating all the way back to the time of Romulus (the founder and first ruler of Rome).

Question 4

Domestic Religion - Vesta

Answer 4

• The worship of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth/fire was important but little is known about this private cult
• The daughters or wife of the house baked a sacred salt cake
• After the first course of the main meal, silence was ordered and a part of the salt cake was thrown in the fire from a special dish as an offering to Vesta
• Vesta is a very old and established goddess
• worshipped even after the Christianisation of the Roman Empire

Question 5

Domestic Religion - Vesta

Answer 5

• The worship of Vesta is a very ancient custom in the Roman world
• the Vestal Virgins were highly respected priestesses in the Roman world and were responsible for attending to the sacred fie of Rome
• However, although it seems that most Roman families saw the significance of the worship of Vesta, evidence from Pompeii suggests not everyone followed the ritual of worshipping her using a hearth as not many houses had a hearth so worship was complicated

Question 6

Domestic Religion - Vestalia festival 1st March

Answer 6

There were two important festivals of Vesta:

1st March - This was when her sacred flame was relit by the Pontifex Maximus

Question 7

Domestic Religion - Vestalia festival 9th-15th June

Answer 7

9th-15th June - This involved a week of celebration leading up to the ceremony of the sweeping out the store cupboard of Vesta
- Vesta was a goddess worshipped in the home, and her state cult; served by women, the Vestal Virgins; was a symbolic ‘housekeeping’ for the state of Rome: keeping the fire lit, the home tidy ad clean, tending to the sacred relics of the state
- It was a special holiday for millers and bakers, and milestones and mill animals were decorated with violets
- This festival helped to prepare for the new harvest, a time when wheat and corn would be an abundance in the city
- Millers and Bakers were involved in the celebration of the Vestalia because of their reliance on a good harvest

Question 8

Domestic Religion - The Penates

Answer 8

• These were the guardians of the store-cupboard who, together with Vesta, were thought to ensure the material prosperity of the household
• The Romans seem at this stage not to have pictured them as having any particular form
• No impure person was allowed to touch the store cupboard; it was commonly looked after by children who were regarded as being pure in the ritual sense
• Together with Vesta the Penates were honoured at each meal time

Question 9

Domestic Religion - The Lares

Answer 9

• Together with the Penates, the Lares were regularly worshipped in the Roman household
• They were the guardian spirits of the household and were thought to watch over the safety and prosperity of the family
  There is some dispute about the origins of the Lares:
• Some suggest that they were spirits of departed ancestors of the family
• However, the most commonly accepted view is that that they were originally spirits of the field and that one of these, the Lar Familiaris, entered the household throught the salves

Question 10

Domestic Religion - The Lares

Answer 10

• Certainly, by the 3rd century BC belief in the Lar Familliaris who protected each household was well-established
• Later sources suggest a belief in more than one Lar protecting individual households
• Certainly to are usually shown on the lararia, the small shrines found in many houses
• The Lares were usually depicted as small dancing figures which short wavy hair
• They wore short tunics and held drinking horns and the shallow saucer-shaped dishes used for making libations

Question 11

Domestic Religion - The Lares and the Lararium

Answer 11

• In many homes these images were kept in a small niche near the hearth in the main room of the house
• In better off homes they were kept in a small shrine called a lararium, which stood in the corner of the the atrium, the main room, or in the peristylium, a colonnaded garden
• The worship of Lares was part of the everyday life of the Roman family
• Each day after the main course of the chief meal, offerings of food and wine were made to the Lares by the head of the household or his son

Question 12

Domestic Religion - The Lares and the Lararium

Answer 12

• Regular offerings were made on the Kalends, Nones and Ides of each month; and on special occasions such as naming ceremonies, birthdays, coming of age ceremonies and weddings, offerings were also made to deities
• The offerings varied depending on the wealth and piety of the householder and the solemnity of the occasion; they were usually simple; flowers, honey, fruit and incense
• Image of a snake or a pair of snakes on a Lararium were th bringers of peace and prosperity

Question 13

Domestic Religion - The Lares and the Lararium

Answer 13

• There is some indication that the figures of the Lares were sometimes kept in the shrine which could be closed
• The images of the Lares were sometimes put on a table at meal times and honoured with incense and libations
• We have no way of knowing to what extent there was any real belief at this time in the existence of of the Lares and their power to safeguard the family: it is certainly possible that the religious observances were carried out from mere convention and as a part of religious heritage
• However, some mentions of the Lares in the sources seem to indicate that atleast some had faith in these ‘little’ gods and felt a certain closeness to them
• The poet Tibullus in one of his poems thinks of these gods with affection as he describes how, as a little boy, he used to play around the Lararium in his home

Question 14

Domestic Religion - The Lares and the Lararium

Answer 14

• At times of crisis it was the gods of the family who were important to the individual such as the night before Ovid went into exile his wife prayed to the Lares and Penates
• Faith in these protecting spirits was so deeply ingrained in the Romans various parts of Italy that it had survived the disappearance of the religious system of which it was part

Question 15

Domestic Religion - The Genius

Answer 15

• Each man, free or slave, was thought to have his own genius or protecting spirit
• In practise it was the genius of the paterfamilias or head of the household which was worshiped as part of the household cult
• The genius of the Paterfamilias was seen as the embodiment of the life force of the family which was in the guardianship of the paterfamilias during his lifetime and passed onto his successor on his death
• Some think that this was the reason for the last kiss, the practise of the next of kin catching the last breath of the dying man
• Sometimes the genius is shown as a man, his head covered by a toga, as was a customary in the performing of religious rites
• In his right hand he carried an incense box or a cornucopia, a symbol of prosperity, and with his left hand he poured a libation

Question 16

Domestic Religion - The Genius

Answer 16

• the genius of the paterfamilias was honoured as part of the regular worship at the household shrine
• Special rites were performed on the birthday of the paterfamilias and on the occasion of his marriage
• The genius was often symbolically represented on household shrines as a bearded snake
• Two serpents are often shown on a lararia in Pompeii, one bearded and representing the genius, the other representing the female equivalent, the Juno

Question 17

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth

Answer 17

• To protect the mother and child at this critical time
• Prayers were offered to Juno because of her special concern for women
• Prayers were also made to Lucina, goddess of light, although sometimes Juno and Lucina were the same goddess (Juno Lucina)
• It is suggested that Lucina is so called because she brought the baby into the light

Question 18

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth

Answer 18

• Prayers could also be said to Diana and Carmentis
• It was customary for a woman to visit the shrine or temple of one or more of the goddesses of birth to give thanks for a safe delivery and healthy child
  Wreaths were hung on the door:
• To convey the happiness of the family
• To announce the birth
• To protect the child from evil spirits

Question 19

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth

Answer 19

• Soon after the birth, the father lifted the baby to acknowledge his acceptance of it
• It was believed that the goddess, Levana, supervised this
• If the child was not accepted, it would be exposed (cast out to die)
• On the ninth day after birth, or eighth for a girl, a ceremony took place in which the child became a member of the family and therefore under the protection of the household gods; here the child was given a bulla

Question 20

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth

Answer 20

• It was also at this time that the child would be given a name
• Many Romans held off until the 8th or 9th day because of the high infant mortality rates
• It made it all the mire upsetting if he child was named and then died a few days later
• The bulla was a small object enclosed in a capsule and was worn on a cord around the child’s neck
• Some say that it was a little green lizard, others say it was an image of a phallus or a heart: all regarded it as lucky
• Where the family could afford it, the Bulla was made of gold, gold itself being thought to have some power as a charm to prevent harm

Question 21

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Coming of Age (Boys)

Answer 21

• The time at which a boy was considered to become a man was not fixed, but fell within the range of 14 to 18 years; the normal age was probably 16
• The decision would be made by his father
• The ceremony, however, did not usually take place on the boys birthday, but at the nearest festival of Libralalia
• This was held on the 17th March each year to honour Liber, a god of vines, wine and fertility

Question 22

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Coming of Age (Boys)

Answer 22

• The household gathered in front of the family shrine where offerings were made
• The boy removed his bulla and dedicated it to the Lares
• As a boy he had worn a white toga with a purple border (toga praetexta)
• This was now replaced with the pure white toga of a man (toga virilis)
• He was shaved for the first time
• The boys name was added to the list of citizens and the day ended with a celebratory meal

Question 23

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Coming of Age (Girls)

Answer 23

• A girl was thought to come of age at her marriage
• Roman law permitted a girl to marry from the age of 12, although most were in their mid teens
• Her marriage was an arranged one with the groom chosen by her father
• The night before, she dedicated her bulla to the Lares along with her childhood toys

Question 24

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Coming of Age (Girls)

Answer 24

• There is very little recorded evidence of Roman girls dedicating their toys and bulla to the Lares, the only authors to mention it are Varro and Arnobius
• This could either be because it was relatively significant in the female lifecycle or perhaps that male authors were simply uninterested in the process

Question 25

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth; Importance

Answer 25

• Prayers/sacrifice were required to alleviate anxiety and ensure a safe pregnancy and delivery, health of mum and baby
• childbirth was dangerous, miscarriage and mortality rates were high in the Roman world because of lack of medical knowledge
• Birth was announced to show family pride or happiness
• Romans wanted healthy children as they were more likely to survive infancy and grow up to be good Roman citizens and even provide for the family
• The wreath offered protection from evil spirits and also let the neighbours/community know that a baby had been born

Question 26

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth; Importance

Answer 26

• Romans wanted healthy children as they were more likely to survive infancy and grow up to be good Roman citizens and even provide for the family
• The wreath offered protection from evil spirits and also let the neighbours/community know that a baby had been born
• The lifting of a baby indicated the baby was accepted into the family, if the father did not lift the baby it was not accepted and could be removed from the family home or exposed
• There may be various reasons why a father might not lift a baby; poverty, paternity issues etc

Question 27

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Birth; Importance

Answer 27

• Once a baby was named it gained the protection of the household gods
• babies were given lucky charms to ward off evil (bulla), this shows the superstitious nature of the Romans and also their fear that baby might face danger through illness

Question 28

Domestic Religion - Rituals of Coming of Age Boys and Girls

Answer 28

• Coming of age ceremonies were celebrated at the end of childhood; lots of children died in the ancient world, if your child survived it was a cause to celebrate
• Boys were ready to undertake the role of men and girls the role of women; to become wives and mothers
• for girls the dedication of bulla and toys indicated transference to the protection of husbands household gods

Question 29

The importance of Domestic Religion

Answer 29

Religion in the home was very important to the Romans
- They were brought up watching and participating in rituals
- It ensured prosperity for the household and underlined its community, as everyone was involved from the paterfamilias to slaves
- It provided a link with the ancestors and passed on the traditions of the family

Question 30

The importance of Domestic Religion

Answer 30

• it was part of a daily routine, but also marked those special occasions, happy and sad, in the life of a family
• In some ways it was much more personal and meaningful than the public ceremonies of the state
• Many Romans were highly superstitious and observed these customs as not to invoke the wrath of the gods or misfortune on their family