The decorated ceiling of the cave where people may have celebrated the Lupercalia, under the Palatine Hill in Rome. Februa parties in February In the time of the kings of Rome, [...]
Jupiter, a Roman god (fresco from the House of the Dioscuri, Pompeii, ca. 79 AD) Who was Jupiter? Jupiter was the chief of the gods for the Romans, the way Zeus was for the [...]
Juno the Roman god Who was Juno? Juno was Jupiter's wife and sister for the Romans, the way Hera was Zeus's wife for the Greeks. Because the Romans and the Greeks were both descended from Central Asian Indo-Europeans, Hera and [...]
Hadrian's Pantheon from the outside. Built in the early 100s AD In some ways Roman religion is a lot like Greek religion, but in other ways it is very different. Like [...]
Imperial cult: The Roman general Pompey Worshipping rulers as gods The Roman general Pompey conquered West Asia around 50 BC. He was embarrassed to find that people there were worshipping him as a god. Who [...]
Castor and Pollux - the Dioscuri - on a votive plaque from Tarentum in southern Italy Who are Castor and Pollux? Castor and Pollux were originally Greek gods, but when the [...]
Just a loaf of bread This is a story we only know because Ovid wrote it down in his poem, the Metamorphoses. It might be a traditional Greek story, but we don't know [...]
Eid al-Adha: an Islamic image of Abraham and Ishmael What is Eid al-Adha? Eid al-Adha is an Islamic holiday. It falls a few months after the end of Ramadan, Eid [...]
Etruscan temple at Veii - a reconstruction When did Etruscans start to build in stone? The Etruscans, about 700 BC, were the first people in northern and central Italy to build big [...]
A street in the Etruscan cemetery at Cerveteri An Etruscan cemetery The Etruscans (ee-TRUSS-cans) of Northern Italy believed that it was important to keep cemeteries well separated from where people lived. You [...]
