Like the ancient Greeks, the Romans worshipped many gods. The most important was Jupiter. Like Zeus, he was the king of gods and the god of thunder. Almost every Roman city had temples to worship the gods. Sometimes emperors were made gods. It helped to make people more loyal to them.

Romans wanted to have a good relationship with their gods, who they believed had magical power. Gods were responsible for the growth of good crops and a good harvest; they watched over the family and brought favourable weather. People made sacrifices to gods, and in return they hoped for their blessing. When the Romans conquered other territories, they worshipped local gods of that area.


Roman Gods

Roman Goddesses
  • Jupiter - god of the sky
  • Saturn - father of Jupiter
  • Neptune - Jupiter’s brother, god of the sea
  • Mars - god of war
  • Pluto - god of the underworld
  • Juno - Jupiter's wife
  • Minerva - goddess of wisdom and knowledge
  • Venus - goddess of love
  • Diana - goddess of the hunt



In ancient Rome, there was a strong connection between religion and government. Priests were officials elected by the government. Pontiffs were high religious officials who oversaw festivals and laid down the rules for worship. The highest priest was the pontifex maximus. During the empire, the emperor automatically held this position.

Astrology and the ability to foresee future events were important in Roman religion. It was necessary to find out what the gods wanted and how people could please them.

During the last centuries of the Roman Empire, many people turned to Christianity. The Roman government considered this to be a threat to their religion and persecuted Christians for a long time. By 300 A.D. Christianity became the main religion of the empire. Emperor Constantine became the first ruler to convert to Christianity.

Life expectancy in ancient Rome was not very high. People started to worry about death from an early age on. Romans believed that after a person died, their spirit would descend to the underworld.



Jupiter

Marble statue of Jupiter, king of the Roman gods
Image: I, Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons


Words

  • ability = skill, talent
  • ancient = old
  • astrology = the study of how the position of the stars may affect the lives of people and how they behave
  • blessing = when a god protects or helps you
  • century = a period of a hundred years
  • Christianity = religion based on the life and beliefs of Jesus Christ
  • conquer = to move into a country with an army and stay there for some time
  • considered = thought
  • convert = to change to a different religion
  • crops = plants like wheat or rice that farmers grow and use as food
  • descend = go down
  • elect = choose
  • emperor = person who rules over many countries
  • favourable = here: good for farming
  • foresee = see what will happen in the future
  • harvest = the time during which crops are brought in from the field
  • lay down = make, set
  • life expectancy = the number of years an average person is expected to live
  • local = here: the gods of a certain area
  • loyal = faithful, to be trusted 
  • necessary = important
  • official = person in a high position
  • oversee - oversaw = control, to be in charge of
  • persecute = to treat someone badly, or even kill them, because of their religion
  • please = make someone happy
  • responsible = the reason for 
  • sacrifice = to offer an animal or a person to god
  • spirit = soul
  • threat = danger
  • thunder = the noise that you hear during a storm; it occurs together with lightning
  • worship = pray to