Latin II

numina- spirits or divinities who controlled all things in the Roman worldfire, weather, seasons

Give gifts to ensure numina use powers for good, not harm

promises of gifts, offerings or sacrifices made to ensure the god would grant a wish or favor

How you communicated wishes to gods

Had to be tangible

I give so that you might give

1. Public ceremony, sacrifice before army went to war

2. Go to forum before business deal, safe voyage, birth of child

3. In your home- make offerings to Vesta or lares/penates

4. After the fact- make sacrifice to thank gods for granting a wish

attempts to discover the futurehow to tell what the gods were trying to say

to you

omen/omina- warnings or omens from the gods

Many types of divinationMyromancy- behavior of antsCleromancy- rolling diceMyomancy- studying behavior of mice

predicting future events/outcome of events by observing animal sacrifices and examining the liver

predicting the future from the flight patterns of birds

augury

Capitoline Triad- Jupiter, Juno, Minerva

-do ut des on a larger scale-if father looks after his family by praying to the gods, government officials must look out for the prosperity of the empire-Government officials were

also priests and had tocarry out sacrifices

-onlookers must be silent-correct type of animal-every word pronounced correctly-no one can trip, stumble, forget a step-animal must be willing!

-if rules broken- Gods angry and the entire ceremony done over!

-captured peoples allowed to keep own gods if they would also worship Roman ones-Romans were generally tolerant (except Christians)-locals encouraged to link Roman and native gods

WHY?

Originates in East- Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor

genius- protecting spirit of the emperor

WHY?

Væ, puto deus fio

-the act of becoming a god

As long as you took part in state religion, free to worship any other gods/participate in any other religion

People did not see a contradiction, since there was no personal relationship with Roman gods

astrology- belief that events in a person’s life were controlled by the stars

you can predict the future by studying the positions and movements of the stars

offered hope of life after deathoffered followers a one-on-one

relationship with the divinity

Isis Mithras Cybele