Curated category
Ancient Roman religion
- De DivinationeDe Divinatione is a philosophical dialogue written by Marcus Tullius Cicero in 44 BC, and it asks a question that still unsettles us: can the future be known…
- Magic in the Greco-Roman worldIn 13 BCE, the Roman emperor Augustus ordered the burning of 2,000 magical scrolls. This act of destruction highlights a central tension in the ancient…
- VagdavercustisVagdavercustis survives today because a Roman military officer once paid to have her name carved into an altar stone. The stone was unearthed in Cologne…
- Religion in ancient RomeReligion in ancient Rome was not a private matter of personal belief. It was the connective tissue of an entire civilization, woven into law, politics…
- PaganismPaganism is a word that carries the weight of centuries of argument, misuse, and reinvention. Before the 20th century, no one actually called themselves a…
- Rhea SilviaNumitor, king of Alba Longa, had a daughter named Rhea Silvia. Her bloodline traced back to Aeneas, the Trojan hero who fled the burning city of Troy.
- Roman imperial cultThe Roman imperial cult bound the authority of the emperor to the will of the gods themselves. When Julius Caesar's heir Octavian completed the ceremony of…
- Roman templeThe Temple of Portunus in Rome stands today as a quiet testament to the architectural lineage that shaped ancient civilization.
- Genius (mythology)A man in ancient Rome stood at the hour of his birth and felt a divine presence follow him until death. This guardian spirit, known as genius, accompanied…
- ApotheosisApotheosis is the word for lifting a subject up to the level of a god. High in the dome of the United States Capitol Building hangs The Apotheosis of…
- Villa of the MysteriesRoom 5 of the Villa of the Mysteries contains the most complete surviving sequence of ancient Roman wall paintings from the 1st century BC.