Roman Religion In A Romans Everyday Life Vs. Religions Effects On Tod :: essays research papers fc

"We roman letterss", said Cicero, "owe our supremacy over wholly other peoples to our piety and religious observances and to our wisdom in believing that the essence of the gods rules and directs everything." Roman rites and observances took two main forms. One was the domestic reverence of the tapling or genius of the family. The other was the public attitude to the gods and goddesses by whom the caboodle and welfare of the Roman people as a whole were conjectural to be guided and controlled. During the Classical period, religious observance accompanied all important private and public events and transactions and, no successful import went without a vow of thanks or public dedication. Temples, priests and sacred rites were provided by the State. Nothing in the nature of religious services as we fare them, in which the body of worshipers as a whole were able to participate, seems to bemuse been celebrated in the temples. Any set forms of prayers, hymns or chants were performed solely by the official priests whose secrets they remained. The ordinary Roman man or woman had critical personal part to play in such rites (Handbook To Life In Ancient Greece). While they were being undertaken and fulfilled it was the duty of the ordinary citizen non to interfere or make either disturbance and to refrain from any business affairs. When religiously minded Roman dropped in to a temple in order to worship the god or goddess whose house it was , they had approximately practical object in view both(prenominal) personal respect or advantage. They came and perhaps burn incenses. When praying they stood with upturned palms. Sometimes they got as restricting to the image of the god as they could in order to whisper their pleas the feet of some of the images were worn by the kisses of generations of worshipers. In addition to paying a fee for admission, the grateful petitioner for divine aid also brought sacrifices and thankful offerings to the temples. marvelous bites of livestock and cattle went to augment the wealth of the temples, and to swell the incomes of the priests and attendants, more of whom became extremely wealthy. Temple worship was no essential part of Roman life. If it had been, it is difficult to understand why there were not more than most a hundred within the city confines, which is no large number in a city of some million inhabitants.