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Task 3 : Roman religion. The classic mythology .

A. Official and private cults
The Romans were polytheistic and they were always very tolerant of other religions,
even they adopted foreign worships like Egyptian goddess called Isis, the oriental
goddess called Cibeles or Christianity. The Romans had different official religions
A. Official religion was formed by Olympic gods adopted of Greek religion and
the Imperial cult. The Romans changed the godss names but the symbolism
was the same:
GREEK NAME

ROMAN NAME

GOD/GODDESS

Zeus

Iupiter

Father of the gods

Hera

Iuno

Iupiters wife

Hades

Pluto

Zeuss brother , god of

underworld

Poseidon

Neptune

Zeuss brother, god of

oceans

Athena

Minerva

Goddess of wisdom
and virginity

Apollo

Apollo

God of beauty and the Sun

Ares

Mars

God of war

Aphrodite

Venus

Goddess of love

Hermes

Mercury

God of trade . Messenger

of gods

Hephaestus

Vulcan

God of fire

Dionysus

Bacchus

God of wine

Artemis

Diana

Goddess of hunting

B. Imperial cult . The emperors were considered from Octavian Augustus as

gods too. Emperors temples were in the forum in selected places and emperors
sculptures decorated the forums of Roman cities.
Other important cult in Roman religion were the household and familiar deities. There
were three types of private gods:
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a. Lares. They protected the homes

b. Penates. The main function of the Penates was to ensure the family's welfare and
prosperity.
c. Manes . they were ancestors gods and they protected the family .
B. New cults
Several gods were adopted by the Romans along the time. The most important of
them were deities from Egypt and Persia as Isis, Cibeles or Mithras. Their cult was related
with the afterlife and immortality. These cults were introduced by legionaries in the Roman
world
In the first century AD, the followers of Jesus Christ founded a new religion called
Christianity . The Christian were persecuted by the Romans because they refused to
worship the emperor. However , the emperor Constantine allowed Christianity in 313 AD
and Theodosius declared that Christianity was the official religion in the empire.

EXERCISES.
1. Answer the next questions .
a. How many official cults were there in ancient Rome?
b. What were the private cults in ancient Rome ?
c. Who were the manes ?
d. How could a Roman citizen worship the Emperor ?
e. What gods and goddess came from Orient ( Egypt and Persia )?
f. When were the Christians allowed to practice their religion ?
g. Who declared Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire?

2. Match the words with the correct sentence

a. Penates

Protect the homes

b. Lares

Family s ancestors. Protect the family.

c. Manes

Ensure the prosperity

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3. Match the Greek names of gods with the Roman names

a. Juno

Mars

b. Hades

Mercury

c. Aphrodite

Hera

d. Ares

Minerva

e. Hermes

Pluto

f. Hermes

Neptune

g. Zeus

Jupiter

h. Poseidon

Venus

4. Make correct sentences.

a. were in Emperors temples worshipped.
b. god the of Vulcan fire was
c. religion Imperial Olympic formed by Official gods and the was cult.
d. deities Orient came Cibeles from like Several or Mithras .
e. Christianity was founded in the first century AD
5. Guess the Roman god or goddess:
a. Zeuss brother , god of underworld:
b. Goddess of wisdom and virginity:
c. God of beauty and the Sun:
d. Goddess of hunting:
e. God from Orient with a head of lion:
6. Select the correct word : goddess , Penates, gods, was formed , Cibeles , welfare ,
adopted, Manes ,ensure,
a. The main function of the __________was to ___________the family's.
b. The private religion______________ by ___________, Penates and Lares deities
c. Several __________were _______________by the Romans along the time.
d. ____________was a ________ that the Romans adopted from oriental religions .
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7. Read the text and answer the questions.

The slave revolt

Useful words
to enslave: esclavizar

weapons: armas

to recruit : reclutar

to threaten : amenazar

to plunder: saquear

steep: pronunciado

to seize: incautar, tomar

throughout: a lo largo de

vines: vias, cepas

folk: popular

to nail : clavar ( tambien ua)

gruesome. horripilante

strength: fuerza

Rome needed workers to maintain its wealth. The Romans may have welcomed the
first people they conquered as citizens, but after 265 BC, the Romans began enslaving
many of their captives. Slave labor created many of the great architectural achievements
of ancient Rome.
A slave revolt led by Spartacus threatened the stability of the Roman Republic.
Spartacus was likely from Thrace, a land northeast of Greece, but we dont know much
about his early life. Spartacus' later success on the battlefield suggests that he had military
training, but by 73 BC, Spartacus was condemned to slavery and forced to train as a
gladiator. In ancient Rome, most gladiators were slaves or criminals who went to battle
with other slaves or wild animals for the entertainment of the Roman people. Spartacus
and a group of other gladiators escaped captivity by seizing kitchen knives from the
captors and fighting their way to freedom. The Romans sent a small force to capture the
escaped gladiators, but the slaves killed most of the Roman soldiers and took their
weapons.
The escaped slaves plundered farms and villages throughout the Italian countryside
for more than two years. They liberated other slaves as they went and recruited them to
join their growing revolt. The Roman army believed they surrounded the escaped slaves
on Mount Vesuvius by blocking the only path from the mountain. Spartacus and his
fighters secretly climbed down a steep cliff using vines as ropes. The slave army then
attacked the unprepared Romans from behind, killing most of them.
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The army of slaves became folk heroes for many of the poorest people of ancient
Rome. Folk heroes are popular with common people, but always not with people in power.
When their success grew as many as 120,000 of the poorest people of Rome joined the
revolt.
The slave revolt ended after a bloody series of battles near the southern lands of the
Italian peninsula in 71 BC. Two Roman generals, Crassus and Pompey, led a force 40,000
soldiers. The slaves were no match for the superior weapons of the Roman armies.
Spartacus was killed in action, but the Romans took six thousand of his rebels prisoner
and crucified the men. Crucifixion is a form of execution where the prisoner is nailed to a
cross and left to die a slow, painful death. The Romans placed the crosses along the Apian
Way, one of Romes most traveled roads. The sight of the crucified slaves served as a
gruesome reminder of the strength and the brutality of the Roman army.
The victorious generals Crassus and Pompey returned to Rome as heroes. The
Senate selected both men to be consuls, but they were soon to come into contact with the
greatest general in Roman history: Julius Caesar.
( Text from mrdowling.com )

ANSWER THE NEXT QUESTIONS.

1. What kind of workers did the Romans use to maintain their wealth ?
2. Who led the slave revolt ?
3. Where did the leader of slaves come from?
4. What were the rebel slaves jobs ?
5. When was the first big victory of rebel slaves?
6. How many poorest people did they join to rebel slaves ?
7. Who defeated the rebel slaves ?
8. What happened with the leader of rebel slaves ?
9. How were the rebel slaves executed by Romans ?
10.What happened with the victorious Roman generals ?

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