Religion Flashcards
What was the original religion of the Romans?
Animism- a belief in spirits or powers (numina) associated with everything surrounding man and all its acts.
The spirits of the early Romans were not personified and not imagined in human form.
True.
How were old rural festivals indicated in calendars?
They were indicated by larger letters than later ones.
Who built the first temples in Italy and set up the first statues of the gods?
The Etruscans
When did the educated classes begin to turn from religion to philosophy?
Around the end of the Republic.
Under the Empire, when Oriental religions became established, how did that affect the State religion?
The worship of Emperors came to be the distinguishing feature of the State religion.
What were priestly colleges?
Groups of priests organized to perpetuate certain rites.
Who and what were ‘salii’?
Salii (dancing priests), made up an old and famous college that worshipped Mars.
Which priestly college were dedicated to the god of war, Mars?
Salii
Which priestly college was in charge of the worship of Quirinus?
Salii Collini
Who took care of the calendar and assigned dates for festivals?
The pontifices.
What was the role of the augures?
They interpreted the will of the gods.
Which college was in charge of the Sibylline books, and what was their importance?
The Commission of Fifteen was in charge of them, and they foretold the history of Rome.
What was one of the oldest and most famous colleges, and who was in charge?
The college was that of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, and run by the six Virgines Vestales.
Where was the sacred fire of Vesta and what did it symbolize?
The sacred fire was on the altar of Aedes Vestae (temple of Vesta), and it symbolized the continuity and life of the State.
Describe the original shape of the Temple of Vesta.
Round, with a pointed roof.
What was the Temple of Vesta made up of in its final development?
Marble and bronze.
Was there a statue of Vesta in her temple?
No.
Why was were flint and steel never used to rekindle the sacred fire?
The ritual demanded the traditional use of friction.
How long did each vestal virgin serve?
30 years.
What were the five main requirements for becoming a vestal virgin?
One had to be a girl from a suitable family, not younger than six or older than ten, physically perfect, of good character and had both parents living.
What two things happened to a girl on appointment of being a Vestal Virgin?
She was freed from her father’s authority, and went to live in the House of the Vestals (Atrium Vestae) beside the Temple of Vesta in the Forum.
How did the Vestal Virgins spend their thirty years in service?
10 years in learning their duties, 10 years in performing them, and 10 years in training younger vestals.
What were some of the duties of a vestal virgin? (2)
Caring for the sacred fire, and taking part in most festivals of the old calendar.
In each family, who was the household priest and in charge of family worship?
The pater familias.
Who was the protecting spirit of both a country and a town household?
The Lar Familiaris
In the country, where were the lares/guardian spirits of the fields worshipped?
At crossroads by the owners and tenants of the land that met there.
Where were the Lares of the Crossroads worshipped in towns?
At street-corner shrines in different precincts.
Instead of the single lar of the _________ period, we later find two lares.
Republican
What is a lar represented as?
A boy dressed in a belted tunic, stepping lightly as if dancing, sometimes with a bowl in his right hand and a jug upraised in his left.
What were the penates?
Protecting spirits of the storeroom.
What replaced the old penates in household shrines after the Republic?
Images of gods that each family chose to honour in its private devotions.
In the shrines of shrines with two lares, what is the genius of the pater familias sometimes represented as?
A man with a toga drawn over his head as for worship.
What animals is a genius commonly represented by?
A serpent.
According to Numa, second of the seven kings, what was Roman religion?
The organization of worship and the assignment to the calendar of the proper festivals in due order.
What is a convenient designation for the religion of the early State?
The religion of Numa.
Numa is said to have organized the first what?
The first priestly colleges and to have appointed the first flamines.
Who were the three most important flamines Numa is said to have appointed?
The priest of Jupiter, and the priests of Mars and Quirinus (deified Romulus).
In shrines where the genius is represented by a serpent, what two figures will you find?
A bearded one standing for the genius of the father, and the other for Juno of his wife.
Which deity was worshipped at the hearth?
Vesta, spirit of the essential fire of man’s existence.