The Narrow Focus Of Study Of Roman Religion

[Sol Invictus]

19 October 2008
By Gnaeus Caelius Ahenobarbus of Nova Roma
Becoming New Through The Old

The Narrow Focus of Study of Roman Religion


Trying to study the Religio Romana by looking only at Rome and its records is similar to looking at the history of, say, the state of Kentucky and trying to extrapolate the history of the United States from it. Those of us who are trying to rebuild the Religio Romana must take into account everything that we can. We must look at Roman texts, Roman inscriptions, Roman architecture, and Roman sculpture, for sure, but also Greek texts, Egyptian records, Persian accounts, and any other contemporary details.

To be as complete as possible in our study, we must also remember the fact that the Romans were an Indo-European people; the Religio Romana is a form of the Indo-European polytheistic faith. We can look at the Greek, Persian, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, and Indic religions. In the modern day, only one of these is a continuous living polytheistic tradition: Hinduism, from India. The others have been destroyed (mostly by Christians) or are in a similar state of revival as the Religio Romana. Yet, the history of them can shed light on things in the Religio Romana.

Widen your view. Do we have records of the Tocharian religion (an Indo-European people which lived in China)? How can Vedic Hindu deities be compared with Roman deities, if at all? What practices are common between some or all of these religions (one comes to mind: horse sacrifices)? Can linguistic analysis help us to pinpoint common concepts and terms between all of these?

The Romans were the brothers of the Greeks, and cousins of the Persians, Celts, Indians, and many others. At one point in time, they were all one big family, sharing in the same religion and language. What can we learn from that?