Deity Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Roman==== {{Main|List of Roman deities|Roman mythology|Religion in ancient Rome|Capitoline Triad}} [[File:MANNapoli 6705 creation of the man sarcophagus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|4th-century [[Ancient Roman sarcophagi|Roman sarcophagus]] depicting the creation of man by [[Prometheus]], with major Roman deities Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury, Juno, Apollo, Vulcan watching]] The Roman pantheon had numerous deities, both Greek and non-Greek.<ref name="Gagarin"/>{{rp|96β97}} The more famed deities, found in the mythologies and the 2nd millennium CE European arts, have been the anthropomorphic deities syncretized with the Greek deities. These include the six gods and six goddesses: Venus, Apollo, Mars, Diana, Minerva, Ceres, Vulcan, Juno, Mercury, Vesta, Neptune, Jupiter (Jove, Zeus); as well Bacchus, Pluto and Hercules.<ref name="Gagarin"/>{{rp|96β97}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Long|first1=Charlotte R.|title=The Twelve Gods of Greece and Rome|date=1987|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=978-90-04-07716-4|pages=232β243|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=3dUUAAAAIAAJ}}|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> The non-Greek major deities include Janus, Fortuna, Vesta, Quirinus and Tellus (mother goddess, probably most ancient).<ref name="Gagarin"/>{{rp|96β97}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Woodard|first1=Roger|title=Myth, ritual, and the warrior in Roman and Indo-European antiquity|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-107-02240-9|pages=25β26, 93β96, 194β196|edition=1st|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=VkXlcVMP_dQC}}|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> Some of the non-Greek deities had likely origins in more ancient European culture such as the ancient Germanic religion, while others may have been borrowed, for political reasons, from neighboring trade centers such as those in the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] or [[ancient Egypt]]ian civilization.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ruiz|first1=Angel|title=Poetic Language and Religion in Greece and Rome|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|isbn=978-1-4438-5565-5|pages=90β91|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=yGUxBwAAQBAJ}}|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mysliwiec|first1=Karol|last2=Lorton|first2=David|title=The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E.|date=2000|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-8630-2|page=188|edition=1st|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=dJycxuhvS8UC}}|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Todd|first1=Malcolm|title=The Early Germans|date=2004|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-4051-3756-0|pages=103β105|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QdmV3zNpIC|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423122528/https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QdmV3zNpIC|url-status=live}}</ref> The Roman deities, in a manner similar to the ancient Greeks, inspired community festivals, rituals and sacrifices led by ''flamines'' (priests, pontifs), but priestesses (Vestal Virgins) were also held in high esteem for maintaining sacred fire used in the votive rituals for deities.<ref name="Gagarin"/>{{rp|100β101}} Deities were also maintained in home shrines (''lararium''), such as Hestia honored in homes as the goddess of fire hearth.<ref name="Gagarin"/>{{rp|100β101}}<ref name="Kristensen">{{cite book|last1=Kristensen|first1=f.|title=The Meaning of Religion Lectures in the Phenomenology of Religion|date=1960|publisher=Springer Netherlands|location=Dordrecht|isbn=978-94-017-6580-0|page=138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QdmV3zNpIC|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423122528/https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QdmV3zNpIC|url-status=live}}</ref> This Roman religion held reverence for sacred fire, and this is also found in Hebrew culture (Leviticus 6), Vedic culture's Homa, ancient Greeks and other cultures.<ref name="Kristensen"/> Ancient Roman scholars such as Varro and Cicero wrote treatises on the nature of gods of their times.<ref name="Cicero">{{cite book|last1=Walsh|first1=P.G.|title=The Nature of the Gods|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-162314-1|page=xxvi|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=JhQ4aXatR08C}}|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> Varro stated, in his ''Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum'', that it is the superstitious man who fears the gods, while the truly religious person venerates them as parents.<ref name="Cicero"/> Cicero, in his ''[[Academica (Cicero)|Academica]]'', praised Varro for this and other insights.<ref name="Cicero"/> According to Varro, there have been three accounts of deities in the Roman society: the mythical account created by poets for theatre and entertainment, the civil account used by people for veneration as well as by the city, and the natural account created by the philosophers.<ref name="Barfield">{{cite book|last1=Barfield|first1=Raymond|title=The Ancient Quarrel Between Philosophy and Poetry|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49709-1|pages=75β76|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=PY9FbnNhdDUC}}|access-date=28 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> The best state is, adds Varro, where the civil theology combines the poetic mythical account with the philosopher's.<ref name="Barfield"/> The Roman deities continued to be revered in Europe through the era of Constantine, and past 313 CE when he issued the Edict of Toleration.<ref name="Campbell"/>{{rp|118β120}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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