Venus rising out of the ocean, from Tunisia in North Africa (300s AD) The goddess Venus was the goddess of growing things, gardens, love and fertility for the Romans. People sacrificed to [...]
Sacrificing a cow, a sheep, and a pig in the Late Republic Probably around the time people began farming their food and raising tame animals for their meat, which in Italy was [...]
The god Minerva: A Roman temple from the forum in Ostia, near Rome. It was probably dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Is Minerva the same as Athena? Minerva was Jupiter's daughter [...]
So-called "Mars of Todi", an Etruscan statue from about 500 BC What was Mars the god of? Mars was the Roman god of war and fighting, the son of Juno (all by herself, with [...]
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 [...]
