Religious Practice &

Beliefs in Pompeii &

Herculaneum

Priapus
(Source 1)

A World of Polytheism

The Romans worshipped many gods and

adopted gods from every part of their
conquered world.
Like the Greek tradition, the Romans had
the pantheon, which consisted of Jupiter,
Juno, Minerva, Vesta, Ceres, Diana,
Venus, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Vulcan
and Apollo.
These were the chosen celestial 12.
However like other Roman towns, Pompeii &
Herculaneums religious practice was
different to others.

Like the Greeks, Romans believed the

bound between gods and mankind
united the people in their community.
Greek religion practice influenced all
aspects of Roman society. E.g.
Emperor Augustuss sister was
married to Mark Antony, who left her
for Cleopatra. Augustus sought
revenge and after Augustus defeated
Mark Antony, he dedicated his victory
to the Greek god Apollo and as a
result built a house beside his temple.

 Because

of this all citizens were

expected to be involved in religious
rituals and were expected to behave
in an appropriate manner so not to
upset the gods.
In times of misfortune and disaster,
the people of the town were
expected to win back the favour of
the gods through prayer and
sacrifices.

 Whole

town religious festivals and

ceremonies were major events in the
societys calendar and were taken
very seriously.
In both Pompeii & Herculaneum there
were important priests who came
from the towns important families.
Their role was to oversee the
organising and running of the
festivals and celebrations.
Women held priestess positions only
in the cult religions.

Like every other provincial town Pompeii &

Herculaneum were polytheist in faith
Gods were worshipped in a variety of ways both in
public and in the privacy of their homes, which
was an extremely important practice in Roman
society.
Cicero
The most sacred, the most hallowed place on
earth is the home of each and every citizen.
There are his sacred hearth and his household
gods, there the very centre of his worship,
religion and domestic ritual. (Source 2)

In the houses of both towns there were small

shrines called Lararia with small statues or
painted images of the Lares household gods
who protected the home and family

Household
Lararium
(Source 3)

Garden Shrines

(source 4)

Some houses had images of a genius who

was the spirit of the paterfamilias master
of the house.
Each morning the master of the house would
gather his family around the lararium, make
an offering to the lare and say a prayer for
the protection and prosperity of the
household.
However special celebrations occurred once a
month and for births, marriages and special
anniversaries.
Archaeological diggings have discovered that
when the eruption in 79AD occurred the
majority of people took the lares from the
lararium for protection.

Larari
a

(Source 5)

Personal deities were important to individuals. The

ones below represented fertility, prosperity and
good fortune. (Source 6)

Other household gods included the likes of Vesta

goddess of the hearth, Panates guardian of
the pantry.

Cult religions
Cult

following was common in Pompeii

& Herculaneum and this came from the
adoption of foreign gods.
Dionysos Greek god of fertility and
divine intoxication was worshipped in
the Roman world under the name of
Bacchus- who is seen as a man
covered in grapes, usually positioned at
the foot of Vesuvius.
This particular cult had mixed feelings.

HSC 2007
Using

the previous sources 1-6 and

your own knowledge of other
sources, describe what the evidence
shows about religion in Pompeii and
Herculaneum.