Everyone is somehow accustomed to combining the mythology of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It seems that what else can be found among the Romans, who only knew how to give new names to foreign gods? Zeus - Jupiter, Hera - Juno, Ares - Mars, Aphrodite - Venus, just remember, and that's the end of it!

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, and you can try to dive deeper.

Who told?

It is extremely difficult to judge the most ancient period of Roman mythology, because scientists have to rely on much later sources.

However, the priestly books “Indigita-menti” are quite famous. Official records of the life of ancient Roman communities, records of ancient Greek authors in response to events in Hesperia (as they called ancient Italy), hymns of the colleges of the Arval brothers, etc. have been preserved.

The main sources are considered to be the first treaties of Rome with other cities and states, records of the college of pontiffs (priests), as well as records of the main events of each year, which later received the name annals (Latin annus - year).

However, the main sources are considered to be Virgil’s Aeneid, Livy’s history books, Ovid’s Fasti and the fourth book of Propertius.

Cosmogony and gods

For a long time it was believed that Roman mythology in its initial stages of development was reduced to animism. The worship of the souls of the dead was due to fear of their supernatural power, as was the worship of the animate natural phenomena. The Romans never began or finished anything without securing the favor of the gods, without performing all the required rituals, without offering prayers and making the necessary sacrifices.

It was believed that the Romans distinguished only favorable or unfavorable non-personified forces - numina (numina), and there were a great many of them: the deity of sowing and growth, flowering and marriage, harvest and conception, walking and returning, etc., and their names were formed from the name of the action being performed.

Moreover, it was also believed that even the few personal gods that arose later did not have an anthropomorphic embodiment, but only symbols: for example, Jupiter is a stone, Mars is a spear, Vesta is fire.

In the primitive communal period, the cult of ancestors, honored in every clan, was of great importance: the Penates, the patrons of the hearth and clan, and the Lares, the patrons of the home, family and the entire community as a whole.

However, although the ancient cosmogony of the Romans still remains a mystery, researchers gradually began to find evidence that Roman mythology itself went through approximately the same stages of development as other peoples during the primitive communal period.

The most ancient triad of deities was identified: Jupiter (who supplanted the original creator of the world, Janus) is the embodiment of religiosity and priesthood, Mars is the military hypostasis, Quirin is the economic hypostasis.

Janus and Vesta guarded the doors and the family hearth, the Lares protected the field and the house, Palea protected the pastures, Saturn the crops, Ceres the growth of cereals, Pomona the tree fruits, and Cone and Opa the harvest.

In addition, according to the conclusions of scientists, the Romans believed that people as a family trace their origins to sacred trees, oaks, and therefore groves were dedicated to each numina deity, where rituals were performed and sacrifices were made, and the trees themselves played a very important role in life states. For example, sacrifices were made to the oak tree on the Capitoline Hill, and the withering of any fig tree, the tree under which, according to legend, the she-wolf fed the future founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, was perceived as an extremely formidable and unfavorable sign.

Since the cult of animals was very developed, the interpretation of their behavior and the study of the sacrifices made, or, more simply, fortune-telling, so widespread in Ancient Rome, became of great importance.

Justified...by the state

What is the uniqueness of Roman mythology in comparison with other mythological traditions?

If you think about it, it becomes obvious: the majority ancient myths about the gods were not preserved; they were gradually but steadily replaced by myths about heroes.

The very structure of Roman society, in which individual communities sought to unite into large urban conglomerates, in which politics played an increasingly larger role with each century, and the state became an intermediary between the citizen and the gods - this is the originality of Ancient Rome.

Myths telling about heroes are a reflection of the deep mutual penetration of history and myth in the minds of the Romans. A person’s life is filled with the divine presence, every moment of it a person is responsible for his actions.

And if they are performed for the benefit of the community, then the gods are pleased with you.

Such are the myths about the Sabine women, Numa Pompilius, Lucretia, Scaevola, Coriolanus and many others.

Of course, it cannot be denied that Roman culture constantly absorbed the culture of the peoples around it. Yes, the Romans renamed and adopted almost the entire Greek pantheon, made many borrowings from the Etruscans and other peoples, but there was a very simple reason for this. Rome was a military state, which, through conquests, constantly expanded its territories and assimilated the culture of the conquered peoples.

Roman heroic myth explained the past, justified the present, and guided the future. Despite some initial primitiveness, he made a person’s life filled with meaning: service to the fatherland.

And what is the end?

The Roman religion, open and constantly changing under external influences, simply could not develop a single concept about the end of the world.

Like any military state, Rome was doomed to gradual decline and destruction or to inevitable transformation. Roman mythology, having gone through various stages of development - from the adoption of the Greek pantheon to the formation of the cult of the emperor, eventually became... a kind of basis for the victory of Christianity as a religion.

The myth of the Roman left-hander

In 509 BC. e. The Etruscan king Lare Porsenna declared war on Rome. A huge army invaded the territory of the country and was moving closer and closer to the capital. A little more - and Rome would have been taken by storm.

Then one of the young Roman patricians, Gaius Mucius Cordus, decided to infiltrate the Etruscan camp and kill their king. Guy knew the Etruscan language and, dressed in the clothes of enemies, easily entered the camp, but he could not understand which of those sitting at the main tent was King Porsenna. He could not ask, for fear of giving himself away.

Then the young man decided that the most elegantly dressed person was the enemy ruler. He attacked him and stabbed him with a dagger. But alas! It turned out to be just one of the king’s courtiers, the greatest lover of outfits and decorations.

Gaius Mucius was immediately captured, but refused to answer questions. Then they began to threaten him with torture. Seeing a tripod with a blazing fire, the young man himself went up to it and put it down. right hand into the flame and silently, without making a sound, looked at Porsenna until his hand was charred.

Amazed by the courage and incredible stamina of the patrician, Porsenna exclaimed: “If all the Romans are so persistent, then it is impossible to defeat them.” He released Mucius, who from then on began to bear the nickname Scaevola (Left-handed), and decided to begin negotiations on a truce.

Plan

Introduction

Mythology of Ancient Rome

Architecture of Ancient Rome

Art of Ancient Rome

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Ancient culture and civilizations developed within the framework of the history of “eternal Rome” - a state that evolved from a peasant community on the river. Tiber to a world power - rulers of the whole world. Antique culture reached its highest peak during the Roman civilization.

For more than twenty centuries (VII century BC - V century AD), Roman culture existed, which was a more complex phenomenon than Greek. Rome, later than Greece, appeared on the stage of world history and was the capital of an immense empire that captured all the territories around the Mediterranean. “All roads lead to Rome,” says the proverb, as travelers and traders flocked here from all over the world...

Rome exerted its influence on the Hellenistic territories it conquered. Thus, a synthesis of Greek and Roman cultures was formed, the result of which was the late antique Greco-Roman culture (I-V centuries AD), which formed the basis of the Byzantine civilization, Western Europe and many Slavic states.

Ancient Rome refers not only to the city of Rome ancient times, but also all the countries and peoples he conquered that were part of the colossal Roman power - from the British Isles to Egypt. Roman art is the highest achievement and result of development ancient art, since it was created not only by the Romans, but by the peoples they conquered: the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Tires, inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Ancient Germany, sometimes standing on more high level cultural development.

As we see, Rome extended its power not only to the lands of its neighbors, but also to the surrounding vast countries. Even then, in ancient times, contemporaries were looking for an explanation for these impressive achievements: historians and poets found their reasons mainly in the strength of Roman weapons and the heroism of the Romans. But what then caused the collapse of the great power, was it only the invasion of the barbarians? Did the cultural aspect play any role here?

In my work, I would like to follow the main directions of development of Roman culture and highlight a number of features in it. Also, during the analysis, try to determine how great the influence of the cultures of the conquered countries was.

Mythology of Ancient Rome

There are several opinions about the stages of development of Roman mythology. Some historians take as a basis the books of the priests "Indigitamenta", which says that in the world there are only impersonal harmful or beneficial forces - numina, characteristic of individual objects, living beings, actions. Initially, the gods were represented in the form of symbols: Jupiter - stone, Mars - spear, Vesta - fire. Characteristic feature At the early stage of the development of mythology, there was uncertainty about the gender of deities (Pales), which was reflected in the presence of male and female hypostases in some of them (Faun - Faun, Pomon - Pomona), in referring to the gods as “god or goddess”. According to some historians, myths in Ancient Rome appeared only under the influence of Etruscan and Greek mythology. The Greeks brought their anthropomorphic gods and the myths associated with them, taught the Romans to build temples. Some modern researchers have questioned the theory of numina, citing as an argument that the "Indigitaments" were created by priests, and not by the people. Many of the pontiffs were lawyers who were characterized by extreme detail in phenomena. Later, Etruscan and Greek influences began to be given less importance, emphasizing the originality of the Roman religion.

The ancient Roman religion was formed in parallel with the process of synoicism of communities that underlay the emergence of Rome, and the gods of individual communities merged with each other. As clan ties were replaced by neighbors, and clans by surnames, the main role began to be played by the cults of surnames, grouped around Vesta, Lares and Penates. Along with them, there were cults of neighboring communities - curiae, cults of the entire Roman civil community, which, however, were not fenced off from each other. All of them were under the control of the college of pontiffs, which pushed aside the flamenian priests. It was believed that what was done for the benefit of the community also served the benefit of individual citizens, and vice versa. The gods were divided into heavenly, earthly and underground, but could act in all three worlds. The worlds of gods, people and the dead were delimited (the right of the gods, fas, did not mix with the right of man, ius) and at the same time interconnected (people did not start a single important business without knowing how the gods would react to it). A major role was played by augurs and haruspices, who explained the will of the gods by the flight and behavior of birds, the entrails (especially the liver) of sacrificial animals, and lightning strikes. The books of the Sibyl, associated with the cult of Apollo and kept secret by a special college of priests, served the same purpose. In the event of threatening signs, the priests, by special decree of the Senate, looked in books for instructions on what to do. It was believed that the gods of the enemy could be lured to the side of Rome using a certain formula of evocatio. With the transfer of the gods of the Italian cities to Rome, the images of the Roman gods became more complex. When Rome became the head of the Latin Union, it adopted the cults of its gods Diana Arici and Jupiter Latiaris. The center of the cult in Rome, which finally took shape as a single city, became the Capitoline Temple, and the god of Roman power and glory was Jupiter Capitolinus.

The further development of Roman mythology was influenced by three factors: the democratization of society caused by the victory of the plebs, victorious Roman aggression and acquaintance with more developed cultures and religions. Democratization, which made priestly positions previously occupied only by patricians available to plebeians, did not allow the development of a priestly caste. The highest authority became the civil community itself, which led to the absence of religious dogma. Citizens were obliged to honor the gods, who formed a unique part of their community (hence the later widespread idea of ​​the world as a great city of people and gods), but they had the right to think, say and write anything about them, up to their complete denial. Ethics was determined not by religion, but by the good of the civil community, which rewarded some with honor and punished others with contempt. The aversion revered by the Romans to strong personal power, to people who placed themselves above the people, excluded the cult of kings and heroes, and, if such existed in ancient times (lares), then it died out. A kind of justification for the wars of Rome, which cost many victims, was the established myth about Rome as a city founded according to the destiny of the gods, who destined it for power over the world, about the Roman people as chosen by the gods(one of the components of the myth of Rome is the myth of Aeneas).

Borrowing greek gods began no later than the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC. with the introduction of the cult of Apollo, then the Romans began to get acquainted with Greek myths and mysteries dedicated to Dionysus, with Greek religious and philosophical movements. By interpreting myths, statesmen began to lay claim to divine origin(the first was Scipio Africanus), for the special protection of the deity (Sulla and Caesar - for the patronage of Venus, Anthony - for Hercules and Dionysus), for the immortality prepared for their souls and a special place in the stellar spheres or fields of the blessed. The cult of generals spread in the provinces. Thus was prepared the imperial cult, which began with the deification of Caesar and Augustus, and then his successors. Emperors identified themselves with gods, their wives with goddesses. With the establishment of the empire, the “Roman myth”, due to the exclusion of the people from participation in state affairs and the loss of Rome’s character as a civil community, began to lose its popularity. The undoubted merit of Ancient Rome, which had its own mythology, was in the perception, popularization and preservation of Greek mythology, in turning it into Greco-Roman. Most of the brilliant works of Greek sculptors can only be seen by humanity thanks to their Roman copies; the poetic creations of the Greek people were preserved for us by Roman poets; many mythological subjects became known thanks to Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses".

Architecture of Ancient Rome

The architecture of Ancient Rome as a distinctive art was formed in the period of the 4th-1st centuries. BC e. The architectural monuments of Ancient Rome, even in ruins, captivate with their majesty. The Romans started new era world architecture, in which the main place belonged to public buildings designed for huge quantities people: basilicas, baths, theaters, amphitheatres, circuses, libraries. The list of building structures in Rome must include places of worship: temples, altars, tombs. In their buildings, the Romans sought to emphasize the strength, power, and greatness that overwhelmed man.

Throughout the ancient world, the architecture of Rome has no equal in the skill of engineering, the variety of types of structures, the richness of compositional forms, and the scope of construction. The Romans introduced engineering structures (aqueducts, bridges, roads, canals) as architectural objects into the urban, rural ensemble and landscape, and applied new Construction Materials and supporting structures.

Of no less importance in the development of Roman culture was the art of Hellenism with its architecture, which tended to be on a grandiose scale. But the noble grandeur and harmony that formed the basis of Greek art gave way in Rome to the desire to exalt the power of the emperors and the military power of the empire. Hence the large-scale exaggerations, external effects, and the false pathos of huge structures.

The variety of structures and the scale of architecture in Ancient Rome change significantly compared to ancient Greece: a colossal number of huge buildings were erected. All this required a change in the technical foundations of construction. Carrying out tasks with the help of old technology has become impossible: in Rome, new structures are being developed and are becoming widespread - made of brick and concrete, making it possible to solve the problem of covering large spans, speeding up construction many times over, and - most importantly - limiting the use of qualified craftsmen, moving the construction processes on the shoulders of low-level slave workers. Around the 4th century. BC e. the solution began to be used as a binding material in the 2nd century. BC e. A new technology has emerged for the construction of monolithic walls and vaults based on mortars and aggregate stone. An artificial monolith was obtained by mixing mortar and sand with crushed stone called “Roman concrete”. Hydraulic additives of volcanic sand - pozzolana (named after the area from which it was exported) made it waterproof and extremely durable. This caused a revolution in construction. This type of masonry was done quickly and made it possible to experiment with shape. The Romans knew all the advantages of baked clay, made bricks of various shapes, and used metal instead of wood to ensure fire safety of buildings. Some secrets of Roman builders have not yet been solved; for example, the “Roman malta” solution is still a mystery to chemists.

The squares of Rome and other cities were decorated with triumphal arches in honor of military victories. Triumphal arches are a permanent or temporary monumental frame of a passage, a ceremonial structure in honor of military victories and other significant events. The construction of triumphal arches and columns had, above all, political significance.

The most significant domed structure in the ancient world is the Pantheon. This is a temple in the name of all gods, personifying the idea of ​​unity of the numerous peoples of the empire. The main part of the Pantheon is a round greek temple, completed by a dome with a diameter of 43.4 m, through the openings of which light penetrates into the interior of the temple.

The basilica served as an administrative building where the Romans spent most of the day. The second part of the day was associated with rest and took place in the thermal baths. The baths were a complex combination of spaces associated with recreation, sports and personal hygiene. They contained rooms for gymnastics and athletics, halls for recreation, conversations, libraries, doctors' offices, baths, swimming pools, retail premises, gardens, etc.

Art of Ancient Rome The art of ancient Rome, like that of ancient Greece, developed within the framework of a slave society, so it is these two main components that are meant when they talk about “ancient art.” The art of Rome is considered the culmination of the artistic creativity of ancient society. It is right to assert that, although the ancient Roman masters continued the traditions of the Hellenic ones, the art of ancient Rome is an independent phenomenon, determined by the course and progress historical events, and living conditions, and the uniqueness of religious views, the character traits of the Romans, and other factors. fine Arts with an illusory interpretation of volumes and forms - fresco, mosaic, easel painting, which were poorly widespread among the Greeks. Architecture has achieved unprecedented success both in its construction and engineering and in its ensemble expression. The end of Roman art can be formally and conventionally determined by the fall of the Empire. The question of the time of the emergence of Roman art is very controversial. Distribution on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula in the 1st millennium BC. highly artistic works of the Etruscans and Greeks contributed to the fact that Roman art, which was just beginning to take shape, turned out to be invisible. After all, for a long time, from the 8th to the 6th centuries. BC, Rome was a small settlement among many other Italic, Etruscan and Greek cities and settlements. However, even from this distant past, where the origins of Roman art go, brooches with Latin names, cists and such monumental bronze sculptures as the Capitoline She-wolf are preserved. Therefore, it is hardly legitimate to begin the history of the art of ancient Rome, as is sometimes done, from the 1st century. BC, without taking into account, although small in quantity, very important material, which, one must think, will increase over time. Roman art flourished in the 1st and 2nd centuries. AD Within this stage, the stylistic features of the monuments make it possible to distinguish: the early period - the time of Augustus, the first period - the years of the reign of the Julios - Claudius and Flavians, the second - the time of Trajan, the late period - the time of late Hadrian and the last Antonions. The times of Septimius Severus, like earlier Pompey and Caesar, should obviously be considered transitional. From the end of the reign of Septimius Severus, a crisis in Roman art began. early XIX V. It was no longer private individuals who began to engage in ancient Roman art, but government agencies Europe. Archaeological excavations were financed, large museums were founded and scientific societies, the first were created scientific works about ancient Roman works of art. Attempts philosophical understanding the essence and specificity of ancient Roman art were made at the end of the 19th century. F. Wikhof and A. Riegl. A valuable theoretical study was also O. Brendel’s book “Introduction to the Study of the Art of Ancient Rome,” which examines

various points

views on ancient Roman art from the Renaissance to the present day.

Conclusion

The art of Ancient Rome left humanity an enormous legacy, the significance of which is difficult to overestimate. The great organizer and creator of modern norms of civilized life, Ancient Rome decisively transformed the cultural appearance of a huge part of the world. For this alone he is worthy of lasting glory and the memory of his descendants. In addition, the art of Roman times left many remarkable monuments in a variety of fields, ranging from works of architecture to glass vessels. Each ancient Roman monument embodies a tradition compressed by time and taken to its logical conclusion. It carries information about faith and rituals, the meaning of life and the creative skills of the people to whom it belonged, and the place this people occupied in the grandiose empire. The Roman state is very complex. He alone had the mission of saying goodbye to the thousand-year-old world of paganism and creating those principles that formed the basis of Christian art of the New Age. Bibliography. 1991.

1. 1. Izmailov G.V. History of the ancient worlds. Minsk. "Era". 1996. 2. History of Rome. Ed. Ivanova A.G. M. 1997. 3. Culture of the ancient world.
2. Tutorial Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia. In 2 volumes. M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1987, 1988 Mashkin N.A. "Story
3. Ancient world
4. ", L., 1948

http://artclassic.edu.ru/

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Main part

Mythology of ancient Rome

Mythology acts not just as a collection of myths, but also as a cultural form (“form of social consciousness”) in which people perceive and realize the world, capture the life experience they have accumulated, preserve and pass it on from generation to generation.

Roman religion and mythology were subordinated to politics, the moral principles of Rome and civic duty. Citizens should not have doubts about the structure of their lives and the difference between classes. All rulers are chosen by the gods, heroes and sons of the gods. Therefore, they are closer to the celestials, and they know better what life should be like. Many myths and legends of Ancient Rome glorified heroism and were epic. And the heroes, of course, were mostly emperors.

It should be noted that if among the Greeks religion had a divine meaning, then among the Romans the gods were an integral part of everyday life. They were necessary for plowing the land, sowing, successful germination, rich harvest, etc. The gods each patronized a certain type of activity among people, certain natural phenomena and needed sacrifices. In other words, rituals and cult occupied a central place in the religion of the ancient Romans. This could not but affect myths and legends.

"Roman Myth".

Roman mythology is a body of traditional stories relating to the legendary origins of Ancient Rome and its religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. The term "Roman mythology" can also refer to the modern study of these ideas, as well as material from other cultures of any period that examines Roman literature and art.

The Romans generally treated these traditional narratives as historical, even if they contained miracles or elements of the supernatural. The narratives often deal with politics and morality and how an individual's personal integrity relates to his responsibility to society and the Roman state. An important theme is heroism. When the narrative concerned Roman religious practice, it was more concerned with ritual, divination, and social institutions than with theology or cosmogony.

The study of Roman religion and myths is complicated by the early influence of Greek religion on the Apennine Peninsula during the protohistoric period of Roman history, and later by the artistic imitation of Greek literary models by Roman authors. The Romans curiously sought to identify their own gods with the Greek ones, and reinterpreted the stories of the Greek deities under the names of their Roman counterparts. Early Roman myths and legends also have dynamic intertwinings with Etruscan religion, which is less documented than Greek.

While Roman mythology may lack as much of a divine narrative as Greek literature, the image of Romulus and Remus suckling a she-wolf is as famous as any image in Greek mythology except the Trojan. horse Because Latin literature was more widely known in Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Romans' interpretations of Greek myths often had a greater influence on pictorial representations of "classical mythology" than did Greek sources. In particular, the versions of Greek myths in Ovid's Metamorphoses, written during the reign of Augustus, came to be regarded as canonical.

The character of the Roman myth.

Because ritual plays a central role in Roman religion, as well as in the myths created by the Greeks, it is sometimes doubted that much of Roman myth is of original Roman origin. This perception is a product of 19th-century Romanticism and classical studies, which regarded Greek civilization as more “credibly creative.” But from the Renaissance to the 18th century, Roman myths were part of the inspiration for European painting. Roman traditions are especially rich in historical myths or legends concerning the founding and rise of the city. These narratives focus on a human figure in whose life there are only occasional divine interventions, but an all-pervading sense of divinity always accompanies his fate. In the early period of Rome, history and myth have a mutual and complementary relationship. As T. P. Wiseman notes:

Roman history still matters as much as it did to Dante in 1300, Shakespeare in 1600, and the Founding Fathers of the United States in 1776. What does it take to be a free citizen? Can a superpower also be a republic? How does well-meaning power turn into murderous tyranny?

The main sources of Roman myths are Virgil's Aeneid. And the first few books of the history of Libya. Other important sources are Ovid's Fastas, a six-part book of poems structured according to the Roman religious calendar, and Propertius's fourth book of elegies. Scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall paintings, on coins and in sculpture, particularly reliefs.

Divine storytelling played a more important role in the Greek system of religious belief than among the Romans, for whom ritual and cult were primary. Although the Roman religion was not based on holy scripture and his interpretation, priestly literature was one of the earliest written forms of Latin prose. The books (Libri) and commentaries (Commentarii) of the college of pontiffs and augurs contained religious procedures, prayers, decrees and opinions on points of religious law. Although at least some of this material was available for consultation by the Roman Senate, it was often an occultum genus litterarum, an arcane form of literature to which only the priests had access. Prophecies relating to world history and the fate of Rome, appearing at critical moments in history, were unexpectedly discovered in the obscure books of the Sibyls, which, according to legend, were acquired by Tarquin the Proud at the end of the 6th century BC from the Cuman Sibyls. Some aspects of archaic Roman religion were recorded in the lost theological works of a 1st century BC scholar. e. Mark Terence Varro, and are now known from the works of other classical and Christian authors.

The Roman pantheon has many analogues of the Greek gods and goddesses, and has its own deities and lower spirits. Particularly revered gods were called “fathers” (“patres”), the lower ones were called “famuli divi” and “virgines divi”. Divine law (“fas”) was not confused with human law (“ius”). Lower deities (“numina”) existed among the Romans apparently already in an early era. The Greek books “Indigitaments” list the deities of sowing, seed germination, flowering and ripening, harvesting ears of grain, marriage, conception, development of the embryo, birth of a child, his first cry, going for a walk, returning home, etc., in connection with which initially, for some, the gender was not fixed (cf. Pales, Fawn - Fawn, Pomona - Pomon, etc.). From the mass of numinas, the triad of the Roman pantheon stood out - Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, reflecting the threefold nature of civil functions - respectively religious-priestly, military and economic. From the calendar of holidays attributed to Numa Pompilius and the list of flamines assigned to them, from the references to ancient sanctuaries, it is known about the existence of the cults of Vulcan, Palatua, Furrina, Flora, Carmenta, Ceres, Pomona, Volupia, etc. Around the same time, the colleges of Luperci and Salii were doubled. Class cults appeared (Neptune and Dioscuri among the patricians, Ceres and Liber among the plebeians) and individual family cults (among the Cornelii, Emilians, Claudii and possibly others), grouped around Vesta, Lares and Penates. There were also cults of rural communities.

First generation - gods borrowed from Greek religion (according to Hyginus)

Children of Chaos:

Erebus (Darkness)

Knox (Night)

Etar (Light)

Diez (Day)

Children of Etar and Diez:

Tellus/Terra (Earth)

Tartarrus (Abyss)

Cupid (Love)

Tempus (Time)

Children of Chaos and Tellus:

Uranus (Sky)

Mar (Sea)

Second generation of deities:

Children of Uranus and Tellus - titans:

Hyperion

Justice

Children Mara and Tellus:

Eurybia

Taumanthus

Turscivers

Third generation

Jupiter Optimus Maximus (god of thunder and lightning)

The gods were listed by the poet Quintus Ennius at the end of the 3rd century BC, with reference to an unknown Greek poet

Third generation

The main (Olympic) gods are the children of Saturn and Ops

Jupiter Optimus Maximus (god of thunder and lightning)

Juno the Mentor (goddess of family and marriage)

Neptune (god of the seas and oceans)

Ceres (goddess of fertility and agriculture)

Vesta (goddess of quiet fire, home comfort and family traditions)

Pluto/Dispater (god of wealth, lord of the dead and death)

The gods were listed by the poet Quintus Ennius at the end of the 3rd century BC, with reference to an unknown Greek poet

Fourth generation (children of Jupiter)

Vulcan (god of fire, son of Jupiter and Juno)

Mars (god of war and power, son of Jupiter and Juno)

Bacchus/Bacchus (god of wine, son of Jupiter and Libera)

Mercury (god of travelers, merchants and thieves, son of Jupiter and the Pleiades of Maya)

Minerva (goddess of wisdom and science, daughter of Jupiter and Metis)

Diana (goddess of hunting and war, daughter of Jupiter and Latona)

Phoebus (god of hunting and poetry, eldest son of Jupiter and Latona)

Venus (goddess of love, marriage and passion, youngest adopted daughter of Jupiter and Juno; child from the body of the dying Uranus-Sky)

Borrowed Gods:

The absorption of neighboring local gods occurred constantly as the Roman state conquered surrounding territories. The Romans usually gave the same honors to the local gods of the conquered territory as to the gods of the Roman one. state religion. In addition to Castor and Pollux, the conquered settlements of Italy contributed to the Roman pantheon in the form of Diana, Minerva, Hercules, Venus and lesser deities, some of which were Italic deities, others originally derived from Greek culture Magna Graecia. In 203 BC. the cult object representing Cybele was brought from the city of Pessinus in Phrygia and was welcomed with due ceremony to Rome, many centuries before its territory was annexed to Rome. Two poets of the era, Lucretius and Catullus, expressed disapproval of her wild, ecstatic cult in the mid-first century BC.

In some cases, deities of enemies of power were formally invited to undergo the ritual of evocation in order to take their place in new sanctuaries in Rome.

Communities of foreigners (peregrines) and former slaves (libertines) continued their religious practices within the city. Mithras arrived in Rome in this way, and his popularity in the Roman army spread his cult to places as far away as Roman Britain. Important Roman deities were eventually identified with the anthropomorphic Greek gods and goddesses, and many of their attributes and myths were adopted with them.

Conclusion.

In general, the Romans borrowed gods not only from the Greeks, but also from all the peoples they conquered. They revered foreign gods as well as their own. The culture of Ancient Rome was intertwined with the achievements of other peoples. It cannot be said that the Romans blindly copied other people’s legends in their works. Much was processed, some were brought to perfection and surpassed in beauty the original sources.

Reading the myths and legends of Ancient Rome is no less interesting than fairy tales. Moreover, many of them are still pearls of literary art, on the creation of which many of the greatest ancient Roman poets spent many years. For example, Virgil wrote the Aeneid for 10 long years.

There are several opinions about the stages of development of Roman mythology. Some historians take as a basis the books of the priests "Indigitamenta", which says that in the world there are only impersonal harmful or beneficial forces - numina, characteristic of individual objects, living beings, actions. Initially, the gods were represented in the form of symbols: Jupiter - stone, Mars - spear, Vesta - fire. A characteristic feature of the early stage of the development of mythology was the uncertainty of the gender of deities (Pales), reflected in the presence of male and female hypostases in some of them (Faun - Faun, Pomon - Pomona), in addressing the gods as “god or goddess”. According to some historians, myths in Ancient Rome appeared only under the influence of Etruscan and Greek mythology. The Greeks brought their anthropomorphic gods and the myths associated with them to Rome, and taught the Romans to build temples. Some modern researchers have questioned the theory of numina, citing as an argument that the "Indigitaments" were created by priests, and not by the people. Many of the pontiffs were lawyers who were characterized by extreme detail in phenomena. Later, Etruscan and Greek influences began to be given less importance, emphasizing the originality of the Roman religion.

The further development of Roman mythology was influenced by three factors: the democratization of society caused by the victory of the plebs, victorious Roman aggression and acquaintance with more developed cultures and religions. Democratization, which made priestly positions previously occupied only by patricians available to plebeians, did not allow the development of a priestly caste. The highest authority became the civil community itself, which led to the absence of religious dogma. Citizens were obliged to honor the gods, who formed a unique part of their community (hence the later widespread idea of ​​the world as a great city of people and gods), but they had the right to think, say and write anything about them, up to their complete denial. Ethics was determined not by religion, but by the good of the civil community, which rewarded some with honor and punished others with contempt. The aversion revered by the Romans to personal strong power, to people who placed themselves above the people, excluded the cult of kings and heroes, and, if such existed in ancient times (lares), then it died out. A kind of justification for the wars of Rome, which cost many victims, was the established myth about Rome as a city founded according to the destiny of the gods, destined for it to rule the world, about the Roman people as chosen by the gods (one of the components of the myth about Rome is the myth about Aeneas).

The borrowing of Greek gods began no later than the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC. with the introduction of the cult of Apollo, then the Romans began to get acquainted with Greek myths and mysteries dedicated to Dionysus, with Greek religious and philosophical movements. Interpreting myths, statesmen began to claim divine origin (the first was Scipio Africanus), the special patronage of a deity (Sulla and Caesar - the patronage of Venus, Anthony - Hercules and Dionysus), the immortality destined for their souls and a special place in the stellar spheres or fields blessed. The cult of generals spread in the provinces. Thus was prepared the imperial cult, which began with the deification of Caesar and Augustus, and then his successors. Emperors identified themselves with gods, their wives with goddesses. With the establishment of the empire, the “Roman myth”, due to the exclusion of the people from participation in state affairs and the loss of Rome’s character as a civil community, began to lose its popularity.

The undoubted merit of Ancient Rome, which had its own mythology, was in the perception, popularization and preservation of Greek mythology, in turning it into Greco-Roman: most of the brilliant works of Greek sculptors can only be seen by humanity thanks to their Roman copies; the poetic creations of the Greek people were preserved for us by Roman poets; many mythological subjects became known thanks to Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses".

We should start talking about the culture of Ancient Rome with its mythology, since it gives the clearest idea of spiritual world man of that time. It is also associated with the development of many areas of art (literature, architecture, etc.). Moreover, it is directly related to religious beliefs people, and the influence of religion on the development of the state and its society is undeniable. It is interesting that it was from the Romans that the word “religion” came and subsequently became widespread - the worship of imaginary supernatural beings and “cult” - in a figurative sense, “to honor”, ​​“to please”, and involves the performance of religious rituals. Parandovsky Ya. Mythology. M., 1971. P. 15

On initial stage The beliefs of the Romans were expressed in the observance of traditions and rituals. The rite of the founding of Rome is forever enshrined in legends and tales. On the day of its foundation, Romulus first of all begins the sacrifice. His comrades light a fire and everyone jumps through the flames. The meaning of this ritual is that pure people (purified by sacred fire) should begin to act. The memory of this ritual has survived to this day, and today the Romans celebrate the birth of their city (11 days before the Kalends of May). Paul Guiraud. Private and public life Romans P. 11 Later, traditional beliefs are replaced by the ancient Roman religion.

“The ancient Roman religion reflected the simplicity of hardworking farmers and shepherds, completely absorbed in the daily affairs of their humble lives. Having lowered his head to the furrow that his wooden plow plowed, and to the meadows in which his cattle grazed, the ancient Roman did not feel the desire to turn his gaze to the stars. He did not honor either the sun, or the moon, or all those celestial phenomena that, with their mysteries, excited the imagination of other Indo-European peoples. He had had enough of the secrets contained in the most mundane, everyday affairs and in his immediate surroundings. If one of the Romans had walked around ancient Italy, he would have seen people praying in groves, altars crowned with flowers, grottoes decorated with greenery, trees decorated with horns and skins of animals whose blood irrigated the ants growing under them, hills surrounded by special veneration , stones anointed with oil.

Everywhere some kind of deity seemed to appear, and it was not for nothing that one of the Latin writers said that in this country it is easier to meet a god than a person.

According to the Romans, human life in all, even the smallest, manifestations, she was subject to authority and was under the tutelage of various gods, so that man at every step depended on some higher power. Along with such gods as Jupiter and Mars, whose power was increasingly increasing, there were an innumerable number of less significant gods, spirits who looked after various actions in life and business. Their influence concerned only certain aspects in the cultivation of the land, the growth of cereals, raising livestock, beekeeping and human life. The Vatican opened the child's mouth for the first cry, Kunina was the patroness of the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby's food, Potina and Edusa taught the child to drink and eat after weaning, Cuba watched over the transfer of him from the cradle to bed, Ossipago made sure that the child's bones grew together correctly , Statan taught him to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak, Iterduk and Domiduk led the child when he left the house for the first time.

“All these deities were completely faceless. The Roman did not dare to assert with complete certainty that he knew the real name of the god or that he could distinguish whether it was a god or a goddess. In his prayers, he also maintained the same caution and said: “Jupiter, Most Good, Greatest, or if you wish to be called by some other name.” And when making a sacrifice, he said: “Are you a god or a goddess, are you a man or a woman?” On the Palatine (one of the seven hills on which Ancient Rome was located) there is still an altar on which there is no name, but only an evasive formula: “To God or goddess, husband or woman,” and the gods themselves had to decide who owns the sacrifices made on this altar.

The Roman gods did not descend to earth and did not show themselves to people as willingly as the Greek gods. They stayed away from a person and even if they wanted to warn him about something, they never appeared directly: in the depths of the forests, in the darkness of temples, or in the silence of the fields, sudden mysterious exclamations were heard, with the help of which God gave a warning signal. There has never been any intimacy between God and man.

In ancient Rome, all knowledge about the gods essentially boiled down to how they should be revered and at what moment to ask for their help. A thoroughly and precisely developed system of sacrifices and rituals constituted the entire religious life Romans They imagined the gods to be similar to praetors (Praetor is one of the highest officials in Ancient Rome. The praetors were in charge of judicial affairs.) and were convinced that, like the judge, the one who does not understand the official formalities loses the case. Therefore, there were books in which everything was provided and where one could find prayers for all occasions. The rules had to be strictly followed; any violation negated the results of the service.

The Roman was constantly in fear that he had performed the rituals incorrectly. The slightest omission in prayer, some non-prescribed movement, a sudden hitch in a religious dance, damage to a musical instrument during a sacrifice was enough for the same ritual to be repeated again. There were cases when everyone started over thirty times until the sacrifice was performed flawlessly. When making a prayer containing a request, the priest had to be careful not to omit any expression or pronounce it in an inappropriate place. Therefore, someone read, and the priest repeated after him word for word, the reader was assigned an assistant who monitored whether everything was read correctly. A special servant of the priest ensured that those present remained silent, and at the same time the trumpeter blew the trumpet with all his might so that nothing could be heard except the words of the prayer being said.

Equally carefully and carefully they carried out all kinds of fortune-telling, which among the Romans was of great importance in public and private life. Before each important task, they first learned the will of the gods, manifested in various signs, which priests called augurs were able to observe and explain. Thunder and lightning, a sudden sneeze, the fall of an object in a sacred place, an attack of epilepsy in a public square - all such phenomena, even the most insignificant, but occurring at an unusual or important moment, acquired the significance of a divine omen. The most favorite was fortune telling by the flight of birds. When the Senate or consuls had to make any decision, declare war or proclaim peace, promulgate new laws, they first of all turned to the augurs with the question of whether the time was right for this. The Augur made a sacrifice and prayed, and at midnight he went to the Capitol, the most sacred hill in Rome, and, facing south, looked at the sky. At dawn, birds flew by, and depending on which direction they flew from, what they were like and how they behaved, the augur predicted whether the planned business would succeed or fail. Thus, finicky chickens ruled a powerful republic, and military leaders in the face of the enemy had to obey their whims.

This primitive religion was called the religion of Numa, after the second of the seven Roman kings, who was credited with establishing the most important religious tenets. She was very simple, devoid of any pomp, and knew neither statues nor temples. In its pure form it did not last long. She was penetrated religious ideas neighboring peoples, and now it is difficult to recreate its appearance, hidden by later layers.

Foreign gods easily took root in Rome, since the Romans had a custom, after conquering a city, to move the vanquished gods to their capital in order to earn their favor and protect themselves from their wrath.

This is how, for example, the Romans invited the Carthaginian gods to come to them. The priest proclaimed a solemn incantation: “You are a goddess or a god who extends guardianship over the people or the state of the Carthaginians, you who protect this city, I offer prayers to you, I pay homage to you, I ask for your mercy, so that the people and the state of the Carthaginians leave, so that they leave their temples so that they leave them. Come join me in Rome. May our churches and city be more pleasant to you. Be merciful and supportive to me and the Roman people and to our soldiers the way we want it and how we understand it. If you do this, I promise that a temple will be erected for you and games will be established in your honor” 11 German N.Yu. and others. Essays on the culture of Ancient Rome. M., 1990. pp. 53-56.

“Before the Romans came into direct contact with the Greeks, who exercised such an overwhelming influence on their religious ideas, another people, closer geographically, revealed their spiritual superiority to the Romans. These were the Etruscans, a people of unknown origin, whose amazing culture has been preserved to this day in thousands of monuments and speaks to us in an incomprehensible language of inscriptions, unlike any other language in the world. They occupied the northwestern part of Italy, from the Apennines to the sea, a country of fertile valleys and sunny hills, running down to the Tiber, the river that connected them with the Romans. Rich and powerful, the Etruscans, from the heights of their fortified cities, standing on steep and inaccessible mountains, dominated vast expanses of land. Their kings dressed in purple, sat on chairs lined with ivory, and were surrounded by honorary guards armed with bundles of rods with axes stuck in them. The Etruscans had a fleet and for a very long time maintained trade relations with the Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy. From them they borrowed writing and many religious ideas, which, however, they altered in their own way.

About Etruscan gods little can be said. Among large number their trinity stands out above the others: Tini, the thunder god, like Jupiter, Uni, the queen goddess, like Juno, and the winged goddess Menfra, corresponding to the Latin Minerva. This is, as it were, a prototype of the famous Capitoline Trinity. With superstitious piety, the Etruscans revered the souls of the dead, as cruel creatures thirsting for blood. At the graves the Etruscans performed human sacrifice, later adopted by the Romans, gladiator fights were initially part of the cult of the dead among the Etruscans. They believed in the existence of a real hell, where Harun, an old man of half-animal appearance, with wings, armed with a heavy hammer, delivers souls. On the painted walls of Etruscan graves there is a whole string of similar demons: Mantus, the king of hell, also winged, with a crown on his head and a torch in his hand; Tukhulkha, a monster with an eagle's beak, donkey ears and snakes on his head instead of hair, and many others. In an ominous line they surround the unfortunate, frightened human souls.

Etruscan legends say that one day in the vicinity of the city of Tarquinii, when peasants were plowing the land, a man with the face and figure of a child, but with gray hair and a beard like an old man, emerged from a wet furrow. His name was Tages. As a crowd gathered around him, he began to preach the rules of fortune telling and religious ceremonies. The king of those places ordered a book to be compiled from the commandments of Tages. Since then, the Etruscans believed that they knew better than other peoples how to interpret divine signs and predictions. They were engaged in fortune telling special priests- haruspices. When an animal was sacrificed, they carefully examined its insides: the shape and position of the heart, liver, lungs - and, according to certain rules, predicted the future. They knew what each lightning meant, and by its color they knew which god it came from. The haruspices turned a huge and complex system of supernatural signs into a whole science, which was later adopted by the Romans.

Further, Greek mythology had its influence on Roman mythology. Dmitrieva N.A. gives the following assessment of this fact: “The original Roman mythology, unlike the Greek, is ugly and prosaic. Rome accepted and assimilated the entire pantheon of Greek deities, giving them only other names: Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite - Venus, Ares - Mars, etc. “Captured Greece defeated its uncultured conqueror” (Horace)” 1 Dmitrieva N.A. Short story arts M., 1992. pp. 97-99.

“The further development of Roman mythology was influenced by three factors: the democratization of society caused by the victory of the plebs, victorious Roman aggression and acquaintance with more developed cultures and religions, with which the Romans entered into complex relationships. Democratization, which made priestly positions accessible to plebeians, and the position of the head of the cult - the great pontiff - elective, coupled with the prohibition of donating and bequeathing land to temples, did not allow the development of either the priestly caste or its stronghold - the temple economy. The civil community itself became the highest authority.

The ideological justification for the cohesion of civil society was the veneration of ancestors and gods. Moreover, the relationship with the gods in the new society underwent the same extreme rationalization as the relationship between people. Traditions, the origins of which were the gods, were the most important guideline ensuring the stability of life. Thus, the right of the collective received, as it were, divine sanctification. That is why the Roman imperial power, which arose to maintain order among Roman society, immediately began to self-deify. “The cult of the emperor was supposed to personify the unity of Roman citizens scattered throughout the vast power, while at the same time acting as a guide for stateless provincials. In essence, it was not a cult of personality, but of the same symbolic sign of social need, which were all pagan gods» 11 Koptev A.V. Ancient civil society. p. 17. Ancient Christianity was able to replace this cult because it was not associated with the difference between citizens and non-citizens. This happened when all the inhabitants of the empire had equal rights” 1 .

The emergence of early Christianity was due to the fact that Rome was gradually overwhelmed by a wave of all kinds of sectarian teachings, philosophical schools, mystical cults coming from the East. And the tendency to establish monotheism was very strong. They hoped for a single religion common to the entire empire as a means of preserving the empire and preventing its collapse. However, it was already too late, and even the establishment one religion a state torn by contradictions would not have been saved.

Dream Interpretation