Editing Religion in ancient Rome (section)

== Roman deities ==
{{See also|List of Roman deities}}
[[File:Altar twelve gods Louvre Ma666.jpg|thumb|Twelve principal deities ''([[Di Consentes]])'' corresponding to those honoured at the [[lectisternium]] of 217 BC, represented on a 1st-century altar from [[Gabii]] that is rimmed by the [[zodiac]].]]

Rome offers no native [[creation myth]], and little [[mythography]] to explain the character of its deities, their mutual relationships or their interactions with the human world, but Roman theology acknowledged that ''di immortales'' (immortal gods) ruled all realms of the heavens and earth. There were gods of the upper heavens, gods of the underworld and a myriad of lesser deities between. Some evidently favoured Rome because Rome honoured them, but none were intrinsically, irredeemably foreign or alien.

The political, cultural and religious coherence of an emergent Roman super-state required a broad, inclusive and flexible network of lawful cults. At different times and in different places, the sphere of influence, character and functions of a divine being could expand, overlap with those of others, and be redefined as Roman. Change was embedded within existing traditions.<ref>Rüpke, in Rüpke (ed.) 4 and Beard et al., Vol. 1, 10–43; in particular, 30–35.</ref>

Several versions of a semi-official, structured [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] were developed during the political, social and religious instability of the Late Republican era. [[Jupiter (mythology)#Cult|Jupiter]], the most powerful of all gods and "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested", consistently personified the divine authority of Rome's highest offices, internal organization and external relations. During the archaic and early Republican eras, he shared [[Capitoline Triad|his temple]], some aspects of cult and several divine characteristics with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] and [[Quirinus]], who were later replaced by [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] and [[Minerva]].<ref>The reasons for this change remain unclear, though they are attributed to Etruscan influence. For a summary of Jupiter's complex development from the Regal to Republican eras, see Beard et al., Vol. 1, 59–60. Jupiter's image in the Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Rome's ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours. Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus were collectively and individually associated with Rome's agricultural economy, social organisation and success in war.</ref>

[[File:Tellus - Ara Pacis.jpg|left|upright=1.25|thumb|Three goddesses on a panel of the Augustan [[Ara Pacis]], consecrated in 9 BC; the iconography is open to multiple interpretations]]

A conceptual tendency toward [[Triadic deities|triads]] may be indicated by the later agricultural or [[plebs|plebeian]] triad of [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], [[Liber]] and [[Proserpina|Libera]], and by some of the complementary threefold deity-groupings of Imperial cult.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 134–5, 64–67.</ref> Other major and minor deities could be single, coupled, or linked retrospectively through myths of divine marriage and sexual adventure. These later Roman [[pantheism|pantheistic]] hierarchies are part literary and mythographic, part philosophical creations, and often Greek in origin. The [[Hellenization]] of Latin literature and [[Culture of ancient Rome|culture]] supplied literary and artistic models for [[interpretatio graeca|reinterpreting]] Roman deities in light of the [[Twelve Olympians|Greek Olympians]], and promoted a sense that the two cultures had a shared heritage.<ref>Orlin, in Rüpke (ed.), 58. For related conceptual and interpretive difficulties offered by Roman deities and their cults, see Rüpke, in Rüpke (ed.) 1–7.</ref>

[[File:Villa Carmiano triclinio 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Bacchus, or [[Liber]], and [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], mounted on a leopard. Fresco in [[Stabiae]], 1st century]]

The impressive, costly, and centralised rites to the deities of the Roman state were vastly outnumbered in everyday life by commonplace religious observances pertaining to an individual's domestic and personal deities, the patron divinities of Rome's various [[Vicus (Rome)|neighbourhoods]] and communities, and the often idiosyncratic blends of official, unofficial, local and personal cults that characterised lawful Roman religion.<ref>Rüpke, in Rüpke (ed.), 4–5.</ref>

In this spirit, a provincial Roman citizen who made the long journey from [[Bordeaux]] to Italy to consult the [[Tiburtine Sibyl|Sibyl at Tibur]] did not neglect his devotion to his own goddess from home:

<blockquote>I wander, never ceasing to pass through the whole world, but I am first and foremost a faithful worshiper of [[Onuava]]. I am at the ends of the earth, but the distance cannot tempt me to make my vows to another goddess. Love of the truth brought me to Tibur, but Onuava's favourable powers came with me. Thus, divine mother, far from my home-land, exiled in Italy, I address my vows and prayers to you no less.<ref>CIL 13.581, quotation from Van Andringa, in Rüpke (ed.), 91.</ref></blockquote>