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Faith is a collection of curiosities about the beliefs, cults, and religious practices of ancient Rome. This category includes lesser-known facts, interesting details, and anecdotes related to Roman gods, rituals, priesthood, and places of worship, revealing the spiritual dimension of life in the Roman Empire.
Two faces do not have good associations with us today. Especially in Polish, “two-facedness” comes dangerously close to “two-facedness” – a very disliked human trait. The old Roman god with two faces even has a dark place in popular culture – one of the criminal organizations that fill the James Bond spy universe was called Janus (“Goldeneye” 1995). A certain Batman antagonist also refers to Janus.
Certainly many of us celebrate the last day of the year, called New Year’s Eve. But how many people know exactly where this name actually comes from?
In the popular consciousness, there are only two facts in the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity: first, the persecution of Christians (especially during the reign of Nero in the 1st century CE and Diocletian in the early 4th century), and then the adoption of Christianity by Constantine the Great, who made the whole the empire had converted to a new faith. The triumph of Christianity seems as sudden as it is obvious and historically just.
Vestal virgins (Virgines Vestales) were virgins who guarded the sacred fire goddess Vesta (goddess of the hearth and state) in the temple at
