Pagan Rome the Festivals

The Roman calendar which had festivities for practically every month of the year; the festivals of the Roman state were celebrated with games. The festivals included the event of the chariot racing.

August, the sixth month of the ancient Roman calendar, had festivals in honor of the gods Hercules, Portunus, Vulcan and Diana.

In February for a period of nine days was the time in which the families would worship their deceased ancestors. For these nine days official business ceased and, all the temples were closed and no marriages were performed.

A festival of fertility was also celebrated in February. This ancient ritual went back to the mythical times of Roman origin. Ceremonies were performed in the cave in which the twins Romulus and Remus who were believed to have been nursed by the wolf.

The festival of Mars held in March; the festival of Vesta took place in June and, lasted for a week. The temple of Vesta was also opened to married women who would make sacrifices to the goddess.

To the Romans, the religious ceremonies were a public duty more than a private choice. Their beliefs were founded on a variety of mythological traditions, many of them derived from the Greek.

Since Roman religion was not founded on one belief foreign religions established themselves in the imperial capital of Rome. One of the first foreign cults was the goddess Cybele around 204 BC.

From Egypt the worship of Isis and Osiris was instituted in Rome at the beginning of the first century BC. These cults were observed as the mysteries, there were secret rituals which were known only to those who were members in the faith.

Jews were granted freedom of worship in the city of Rome during the reign of Julius Caesar, acknowledging the Jewish forces which had helped him at Alexandria.

The cult of the Persian sun god Mythras had reached Rome somewhere around the first century AD.

 Traditional Roman religion, with the influence of Greek philosophy, began to give way to the belief in a single deity. Slowly over time the advent of Christianity would overcome Pagan religions and be the major religion of Rome.