The Roman gods

Romans believed in many deities. These gods were modelled closely after the Greek gods, though they had Latin names and slightly different personalities and attributes. The word used to refer to an entire group of gods is pantheon and comes from a Greek word meaning “all the gods.” The Roman pantheon consisted of about 20 major gods and hundreds of minor deities. Some of these major gods include the king of the gods, Jupiter, who was also the god of the sky. His wife, Juno, was queen of the gods and goddess of marriage. Neptune was the god of the oceans and Pluto the god of the underworld. Mercury was the god of messengers and travellers and messenger to the gods. Ceres was the goddess of agriculture, grain and fertility. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom and is often shown with an owl. Apollo and Diana were twin brother and sister. Apollo was the god of medicine, plague, poetry and music. Diana was the goddess of hunters and the moon. Mars, the god of war, was the lover of Venus, the goddess of love. Vulcan was the smith god, who also had power over volcanoes. Roma was the embodiment of the city of Rome and Victoria was the goddess of victory. There were a few groups of gods, usually in threes, or triads, that the Romans felt were the most important and who had grand temples built in their honour.

The oldest triad, the Capitoline, was originally composed of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, an ancient god who came to embody the deified Romulus—the mythic founder of Rome. These three gods embodied the spirit of the all-powerful city of Rome and its might in regard to warfare. The later Capitoline triad, consisting of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, was worshipped in a temple on the Capitoline Hill, one of the most sacred and important places in Rome. The Aventine triad, another very important triad of gods, consisted of Ceres, Liber and Libera. Ceres was the god of grain, Liber was a god of wine and freedom and Libera was another goddess of fertility and freedom. These three gods were the patrons of the plebeians, the lowest ranking citizens of Rome. They would have been glad to celebrate the gods of prosperity and freedom in hopes of winning their favour and being granted some of their own.

Household gods were also very important to the Roman people. Vesta was the goddess of the hearth—the heart of the home, as that is where the cooking would have taken place. Vesta would have been worshipped at home, as well as the household genii, lares and penates. The genii, or singular genius, was considered to be the soul or spirit of a person or object. Romans sacrificed to the genii of the doorway, house and floor to help protect the home. The lares were also protecting spirits of the home and family and, in some cases, the family’s ancestors. Penates were the most domestic of the household spirits and were also worshipped in the home. A special altar called a lararium was found in homes where offerings were made to these deities.