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Summary Sheet
Roman Gods
The romans had many gods the main three most
powerful were:
Jupiter: the king of Gods and the God of the Skies
and he controlled the weather, especially thunder
and lightning. The oak tree and all places struck by
lightning were considered sacred to him. Juno was
also Jupiter's wife and the queen of the gods.
(Greek name Zeus)
Neptune: God of the sea and Earthquakes, he was
originally the god of freshwater. The planet is also
named Neptune. Neptune's wife, Salacia, may
originally have been the goddess of spring water.
(Greek name Poseidon)
Pluto: God of the Underworld. Greeks named the
Underworld god Hades. His title Pluto, or Pluton
means “the Wealthy One,” or “the Giver of
Wealth”.
The other main Gods were:
 Juno:
She was the wife of Jupiter, the goddess of women
and Family. Her symbols were a pomegranate and
a peacock.
 Mars:
He was the god of war, the strongest and most
fearsome god, except for Jupiter.
Venus:
She was the goddess of love and beauty.
 Minerva:
She was the goddess of wisdom, learning, art
crafts and industry. Her symbol was the owl.
 Ceres:
She was the goddess of the harvest, always
pictured carrying a bundle of grain.
 Vulcan:
He was the blacksmith of the gods. If he stoked
his Furness too hard volcano's might erupt. He
was the god of blacksmiths, volcano’s and fire.
 Diana:
She was the goddess of hunting and a goddess of
the moon.
 Bacchus:
He was the god of wine and partying. Naturally,
he was one of Rome's most popular gods.
 Mercury:
He was the messenger of the gods. the wings on
his helmet and sandals allowed him to travel
very quickly to wherever a god might send him.
He was the god of travellers and tradesmen.
 Vesta:
She was the goddess of the hearth and home.
She was very important to Romans. In her
temple a flame was always kept burning, as in
the 'hearth of Rome' the flame should never go
out.
Every Household in Rome would have a shrine
dedicated to their Patron god. A patron god was
like a special god who would help them more if
they prayed to them instead of another god. Every
morning and evening the Household would pray
to their patron god that they would have good
luck. The woman of the house was in charge of
keeping the shrine clean.
FESTIVALS
 Terminalia is the festival that marks the end
of the roman new year. 23rd December,
according to the romans, was the last day of
the year. This festival was celebrated in
honor of the god, Terminus, who presided
over boundaries. As the festival was
celebrated on the last day of the year, it was
named Terminalia, which is the root word for
terminate in English. In this festival the
bones, ashes, and blood of a sacrifice, along
with crops, honeycombs and also wine were
all placed into a hole (the hole would be at a
spiritual place) and a sanctified stone would
be driven on top. At home neighbouring
families would decorate and make sacrifices
at an altar.
 Veneralia: was celebrated on April the 1st. It
was celebrated in honor of Venus, the
goddess of love and beauty. The goddess of
fortune, Fortuna, was also worshiped on this
day. It was celebrated because women
thought on this particular day all their
relationship problems with men would be
solved, as the goddess Venus is the goddess of
love. In this festival the women would
celebrate. They would do this by taking out
the jewelry on the statue and wash it. They
would then place flowers on it. After that the
women would also bath in public baths
wearing wreaths of myrtle on their heads.
This was a day for women to seek help with
their relationships.
 Mercuralia is also known as the ‘festival of
mercury’ because it is in honor of the god
Mercury. This festival was celebrated on May
15th. Merchants mostly only celebrated it
because mercury was the god of merchants
and commerce. Merchants believed that his
festival would bring them good luck. The
Roman merchants thought that sprinkling
their merchandise; their ships and their hair
with water from a fountain would bring them
good luck. They prayed to Mercury (who
legend has it was a bit of a thief) for profit,
and for the continued ability to cheat
customers! After that the merchants and
traders would feast and drink to finish the
festival.
 Neptunalia was a 2-day celebration (July 23rd
to 25th) in honor of the sea god, Neptune. It is
celebrated because it was believed that
Neptune would help solve political matters
on these days. The Romans celebrated
Neptune's festival, called the Neptunalia in
the heat of summer when water was scarcest.
They played games during this festival. Not
much is known about the ways they
celebrated however we do know that they
built huts in which they feasted, drank and
amused themselves. The appropriate sacrifice
to Neptune is a bull, so the evening meal will
be beef loin cooked over a campfire.
 This festival was originally celebrated in
honor of the king of gods, Jupiter, but was
later dedicated to Meditrina. This festival
marked the end of the vine harvest (October
11th) and the starting of making new wine
(October 12th). This was important because
wine was practically as common as water to
the Romans. This festival is connected with
the cultivation of the vineyards. On this day
people taste their new wine, and to offer
libations of it to the gods. When they drank
the wine they would say this: "vetus novum
vinum bibo, novo veteri morbo medeor.”
Later in Roman times…
Foreigners could pray to their own gods as
long as they also worshipped the Emperor of
Rome. However many Christians only
believed in one god. The emperors did not
like this and normally punished them. They
would punish them by putting them in the
Coliseum to be eaten by Lions.
Slowly more and more of them came to
believe the Christian religion. Even the
emperors came to believe Christ. Soon the
Christians lived freely in Rome.
Interesting ways of Celebration
There were also many other interesting ways
the romans celebrated. For the Ancient
Greeks dance was an important part of
religious ceremonies as well as everyday life.
This type of celebration was eventually used
in some Ancient Roman Festivals. The
Romans worshipped their gods in a temple.
They made sacrifices of animals and precious
items to their gods.
When eating they would even eat until they
threw up. Once they have to vomit they go
into a special room and vomit and come back
out and eat more. They would do that 7-9
times in one night.
Big fights happened on festival days.
Bibliography
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient
_rome/facts.htm
 Myths and legends edited by Paul Francis and
gill Murray
 Ancient Roman Empire. Written by James
Mason.
 The Romans. Written by David Jay
 http://www.romanempire.net/religion/religion.html
 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_Roman
s_celebrate
 http://www.historyonthenet.com/Romans/r
eligion.htm
 http://www.ancient-rome.com/festivals.htm

http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/mercurali
a.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminus_(god
)
 http://www.somewhereintheworldtoday.com
/15th-may-mercuralia/
 http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/neptunali
a.html
 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Ro
man/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Meditrinalia
.html
 http//purplehell.com/riddletools/rfestival.ht
m- via yahoo
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminus_(myt
hology)
Britanica OnlineSearch- Roman God Jupiter
Roman God Neptune
Roman Festivals
Pluto