THE CORRECT PRACTICE OF PRAYER, RITUAL, AND SACRIFICE –“Roman religion depended

THE CORRECT PRACTICE OF PRAYER, RITUAL, AND SACRIFICE

–“Roman religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice (not ‘wisdom’).

The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite class. During the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), elected public officials might also serve as augurs and pontiffs.

Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives. Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus before he was elected consul. The Roman triumph was at its core a religious procession in which the victorious general displayed his piety and his willingness to serve the public good by dedicating a portion of his spoils to the gods, especially Jupiter, who embodied just rule.

Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family’s domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city.

The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances. Women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. Some public rituals could be conducted only by women, and women formed what is perhaps Rome’s most famous priesthood, the state-supported Vestals, who tended Rome’s sacred hearth for centuries, until disbanded under Christian domination.”–