Editing Roman Republic (section)

==Religion==
{{Main|Religion in ancient Rome}}
{{further|List of ancient Roman deities|List of Roman agricultural deities}}
[[File:Temple of portunus front.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Portunus]], god of grain storage, keys, livestock and ports.{{sfn|Fowler|1899|pages=202–204}} Rome, built between 120 and 80&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:Tomb of the Flavii, Pompeii.jpg|thumb|The tomb of the [[Flavii]], a [[necropolis]] outside the Nucerian gate (Porta Nocera) of [[Pompeii]], Italy, constructed 50–30&nbsp;BC]]
Republican Rome's religious practices harked back to [[Roman mythology|Rome's quasi-mythical history]].{{sfn|Rüpke|2007b|p=4}}{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pages=30–35}} [[Romulus]], a son of [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], founded Rome after [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] granted him [[Augury|favourable bird-signs]] regarding the site.{{sfn|Schilling|1992|p=115}} [[Numa Pompilius]], Rome's second king, had established its basic religious and political institutions after direct instructions from the gods, given through augury, dreams and [[oracle]]. Each king thereafter was credited with some form of divinely approved innovation, adaptation or reform.{{efn|King Numa Pompilius was also said to have consorted with the nymph [[Egeria (mythology)|Egeria]]. The myths surrounding king [[Servius Tullius]] include his divine fathering by a [[Lares|Lar]] of the royal household, or by [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]], god of fire; and his love-affair with the goddess [[Fortuna]].}} An Imperial-era source claims that the Republic's first consul, Brutus, effectively abolished human sacrifice to the goddess [[Mother of the Lares|Mania]], instituted by the last king, Tarquinius.{{efn|[[Macrobius]] describes the woollen figurines ({{lang|la|maniae}}) hung at crossroad shrines during the popular [[Compitalia]] festival as substitutions for ancient [[human sacrifice]] once held at the same festival and suppressed by Rome's first consul, [[Lucius Junius Brutus|L. Junius Brutus]]. Whatever the truth regarding this sacrifice and its abolition, the Junii celebrated their ancestor cult during Larentalia rather than the usual [[Parentalia]] even in the 1st century&nbsp;BC; see {{harvnb|Taylor|1925|pages=302ff}}.}}

Romans acknowledged the existence of [[List of Roman deities|innumerable deities]] who controlled the natural world and human affairs. The Roman state's well-being depended on its state deities, whose opinions and will could be discerned by priests and magistrates, trained in augury, [[haruspicy]], oracles and the interpretation of [[Omen (ancient Rome)|omens]]. The gods were thought to communicate their wrath (''[[ira deorum]]'') through [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#prodigium|prodigies (unnatural or aberrant phenomena)]].

Individuals, occupations and locations had their own protective [[Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome|tutelary deity]], or several. Each was associated with a particular, highly prescriptive form of prayer and sacrifice. Piety ({{lang|la|pietas}}) was the correct, dutiful and timely performance of such actions. The well-being of each Roman household was thought to depend on daily cult to its [[Lares]] and [[Penates]] (guardian deities, or spirits), ancestors, and the [[Genius (mythology)|divine generative essence]] embodied within its ''pater familias''. A family which neglected its religious responsibilities could not expect to prosper.{{sfn|Orr|1978|pp=1557–1591}}

Roman religious authorities were unconcerned with personal beliefs or privately funded cults unless they offended natural or divine laws or undermined the ''mos maiorum'' (roughly, "the way of the ancestors"); the relationship between gods and mortals should be sober, contractual, and of mutual benefit. Undignified grovelling, excessive enthusiasm (''[[superstitio]]'') and secretive practices were "weak-minded" and morally suspect.{{sfn|Rüpke|2007b|p=5}} Magical practices were officially banned, as attempts to subvert the will of the gods for personal gain but were probably common among all classes. Private cult organisations that seemed to threaten Rome's political and priestly hierarchy were investigated by the Senate, with advice from the priestly colleges. The Republic's most notable religious suppression was that of the [[Bacchanalia]], a widespread, unofficial, enthusiastic cult to the Greek wine-god [[Bacchus]]. The cult organisation was ferociously [[Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus|suppressed]], and its deity was absorbed within the official cult to Rome's own wine god, [[Liber]].{{sfn|Gruen|1996|pp=34ff}} The official recognition, adoption and supervision of foreign deities and practices had been an important unitary feature in Rome's territorial expansion and dominance since the days of the kings.{{sfn|Rüpke|2007b|p=4}}{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pages=30–35}}

===Priesthoods===
With the abolition of monarchy, some of its sacral duties were shared by the consuls, while others passed to a Republican ''[[rex sacrorum]]'' ("king of the sacred rites"), a patrician "king", elected for life, with great prestige but no executive or kingly powers.{{sfn|Rüpke|2007c|p=223}} Rome had no specifically priestly class or caste. As every family's ''pater familias'' was responsible for his family's cult activities, he was effectively the senior priest of his own household. In the early Republic, the patricians, as "fathers" to the Roman people, claimed the right of seniority to lead and control the state's relationship with the divine. Patrician families, in particular the ''Cornelii'', ''Postumii'' and ''Valerii'', monopolised the leading state priesthoods. The patrician ''[[Flamen Dialis]]'' employed the "greater auspices" (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#auspicia maiora|auspicia maiora]]'') to consult with [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] on significant matters of state.

Twelve "lesser flaminates" (''Flamines minores'') were open to plebeians or reserved to them. They included a ''Flamen Cerealis'' in service of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], goddess of grain and growth, and protector of plebeian laws and tribunes.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=264}} The priesthoods of local urban and rustic ''[[Compitalia]]'' street festivals, dedicated to the [[lares]] of local communities, were open to freedmen and slaves.{{sfn|Lott|2004|pp=31, 35|ps=, citing Cato, ''On Agriculture'', 5.3., and {{harvnb|Dion. Hal. ''Ant. Rom.''|loc=4.14.2–4}}}}.

[[File:Lucius_Caesius,_denarius,_112_BC,_RRC_298-1.jpg|thumb|[[Denarius]] of Lucius Caesius, 112–111&nbsp;BC. On the obverse is [[Apollo]], as written on the monogram behind his head, who also wears the attributes of [[Vejovis]], an obscure deity. The obverse depicts a group of statues representing the [[Lares|Lares Praestites]], which was described by Ovid.<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'', v, 129–145</ref>{{sfn|Crawford|1974|p=312}}]]
The ''[[Lex Ogulnia]]'' (300) gave patricians and plebeians more-or-less equal representation in the augural and pontifical colleges;{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=342}} other important priesthoods, such as the [[Quindecimviri sacris faciundis|Quindecimviri]] ("The Fifteen"), and the ''epulones''{{efn|Established in 196 to take over the running of a growing number of [[ludi]] and festivals from the ''pontifices''}} were opened to any member of the senatorial class.{{sfn|Lipka|2009|pp=171–172}} To restrain the accumulation and potential abuse of priestly powers, each ''gens'' was permitted one priesthood at a time, and the [[Roman censor|censors]] monitored the senators' religious activities.{{sfn|Lipka|2009|pp=171–172}} Magistrates who held an augurate could claim divine authority for their position and policies.{{refn|{{harvnb|Rosenberger|2007|p=299}}. {{lang|lt|Auctoritas}} ('authority') is etymologically linked to {{lang|lt|augur}}: See {{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=341}}}} In the late Republic, augury came under the control of the ''pontifices'', whose powers were increasingly woven into the civil and military ''[[cursus honorum]]''. Eventually, the office of ''[[pontifex maximus]]'' became a ''de facto'' consular prerogative.{{sfn|Brent|1999|pages=19–20, 21–25| ps=, citing Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'', 2.4.}}

Some cults may have been exclusively female; for example, the rites of the Good Goddess (''[[Bona Dea]]''). Towards the end of the second Punic War, Rome rewarded priestesses of [[Demeter]] from ''Graeca Magna'' with Roman citizenship for training respectable, leading matrons as ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacerdos|sacerdotes]]'' of "Greek rites" to Ceres.{{sfn|Spaeth|1996|pages=4, 6–13}} Every matron of a family (the wife of its [[paterfamilias|''pater familias'']]) had a religious duty to maintain the household fire, which was considered an extension of [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta's]] sacred fire, tended in perpetuity by the chaste [[Vestal Virgins]]. The Vestals also made the sacrificial ''[[mola salsa]]'' employed in many State rituals, and represent an essential link between domestic and state religion. Rome's survival was thought to depend on their sacred status and ritual purity.{{sfn|Culham|2004|p=155| ps=. See also {{harvnb|Beard|1980}} and {{harvnb|Parker|2004}}.}}

===Temples and festivals===
{{further|Roman temple|Roman festival|Roman calendar|Fasti}}
[[File:Temple of echo Baiae.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|Inside the "Temple of Mercury" at [[Baiae]], a [[swimming pool]] for a [[Roman bath]], built during the late Roman Republic,<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Temple-of-Mercury Baiae, historic site, Italy]". ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]''. Accessed 6 June 2021.</ref> and containing one of the [[List of Roman domes|largest domes]] in the world before the building of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]]]

Rome's major public temples were within the city's sacred, augural boundary (''[[pomerium]]''), which had supposedly been marked out by Romulus, with Jupiter's approval. The [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] ("Jupiter, Best and Greatest") stood on the [[Capitoline Hill]]. Among the settled areas outside the ''pomerium'' was the nearby [[Aventine Hill]]. It was traditionally associated with Romulus's unfortunate twin, [[Remus]], and in later history with the Latins, and the Roman ''plebs''. The Aventine seems to have functioned as a place for the introduction of "foreign" deities.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=264}} In 392, [[Marcus Furius Camillus|Camillus]] established a temple there to [[Juno (mythology)#Epithets|Juno Regina]], Etruscan [[Veii]]'s protective goddess. Later introductions include [[Summanus]], {{circa|278|lk=no}}, [[Vortumnus]] {{circa|264|lk=no}}, and at some time before the end of the 3rd century, [[Minerva]].{{sfn|Orlin|2002|pp=4–5}}{{efn|For Camillus and Juno, see {{harvnb|Benko|2004|p=27}}}} While Ceres's Aventine temple was most likely built at patrician expense, to mollify the ''plebs'', the patricians brought the [[Magna Mater]] ("Great mother of the Gods") to Rome as their own "Trojan" ancestral goddess, and installed her on the Palatine.{{sfn|Roller|1999|pages=282–285}}

Romulus was said to have pitched his augural tent atop the Palatine. Beneath its southern slopes ran the [[Via Sacra|sacred way]], next to the former palace of the kings ([[Regia]]), the [[House of the Vestals]] and [[Temple of Vesta]]. Close by were the [[Lupercal]] shrine and the cave where Romulus and Remus were said to have been suckled by the she-wolf. On the flat area between the Aventine and Palatine was the [[Circus Maximus]], which hosted chariot races and religious games. Its several shrines and temples included those to Rome's indigenous sun god, [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], the moon-goddess [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]], the grain-storage god, [[Consus]], and the obscure goddess [[Murcia]].

Whereas Romans marked the passage of years with the names of their ruling consuls, [[Roman calendar|their calendars]] marked the anniversaries of religious foundations to particular deities, the days when official business was permitted (''fas''), and those when it was not (''nefas''). The Romans observed an eight-day week; law courts were closed and markets were held on the ninth day. Each month was presided over by a particular, usually major deity. The oldest calendars were lunar.

===In the military===
[[File:Gaius Julius Caesar, denarius, 44 BC, RRC 480-3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Denarius of Caesar, minted just before his murder, in 44 BC. It was the first Roman coin bearing the portrait of a living person.{{sfn|Crawford|1974|pp=487–495}}]]
Before any campaign or battle, Roman commanders took [[auspices]], or [[haruspices]], to seek the gods' opinion regarding the likely outcome. Military success was achieved through a combination of personal and collective ''virtus'' (roughly, "manly virtue") and divine will. [[Roman triumph|Triumphal generals]] dressed as Jupiter Capitolinus and laid their victor's laurels at his feet. Religious negligence, or lack of ''virtus'', provoked divine wrath and led to military disaster.{{sfn|Orlin|2007|p=58}}{{sfn|Beard|North|Price|1998|pages=44, 59, 60, 143}} Military oaths dedicated the oath-takers life to Rome's gods and people; defeated soldiers were expected to take their own lives, rather than survive as captives. Examples of ''[[devotio]]'', as performed by the [[Decii]] Mures, in which soldiers offered and gave their lives to the ''[[Di inferi]]'' (gods of the underworld) in exchange for Roman victory were celebrated as the highest good.