Curiosities of ancient Rome (Faith)

Romans paid great role to the form of giving the final service to the deceased. It was believed that the spirits of the dead (lemures) were divided into good – lares (good people in life) and evil – larvae (people bad in life); often the harmful ones were simply identified with lemures.

At a time when the Romans conquered other peoples of Italy, the custom was invented to take over the worship of at least some of his deities while destroying a hostile city.

According to a Christian historian from the 4th century CE – Eusebius of Caesarea – emperor Tiberius, despite being a pagan, was told by Pontius Pilate about the disappearance the body of Christ and his alleged resurrection, he sent to the Roman senate the matter of ccepting Jesus into the pantheon of Roman gods. The Senate reportedly rejected the application because it was not he who brought the idea.

The cult god Mithra was extremely popular among soldiers. This deity was to kill a bull whose blood became the foundation of the universe. At the end of the 2nd century and in the 3rd century CE his follower was Emperor Commodus (180–192 CE). As Sol Invictus (“Invincible Sun”), Mitra was worshiped primarily from the times of Aurelian by Roman emperors, among whom was also young Constantine I (306‒337 CE). With the flourishing of this last religion in the lands of the Roman Empire, Mithraism slowly disappeared to finally fall into total oblivion.

Asclepius (Roman Aesculapius), who was the patron of doctors, was admitted to the pantheon of Roman deities in the 3rd century BCE. However, it was not until the second century CE he became an important god for the Romans, who was not only a healer of the body, but also a savior of souls. A morally correct attitude guaranteed his followers the initiation into a posthumous life. But where does the hatred of Christians to Asclepius come from?

Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire at a steady, steady pace. At the beginning of the 2nd century CE, even 1% of Christians could not be spoken yet; one hundred years later, this number increased to 5%, so that in the middle of the third century CE amount to 20% of the total population of the Empire.

Dionysus’s cult already been known in the second millenium BCE in the Minoan civilization. He was a god of opposites – kind and gentle, but also savage and cruel. He was broader known in the Romans as Bacchus. In 186 BCE was, connected with him, certain act, which remains unclear until today…

The fourth century CE brought significant changes to the Roman Empire. The legalization of the Christian faith allowed the church authorities to leave their secret offices and officially proclaim faith in Christ. The followers themselves could freely discuss in public, which led to animosities between pagans and Christians.

When in 313 CE Constantine the Great announced with the emperor of the eastern part – Licinius – tolerance edict in Mediolanum, the freedom of religion in the Roman Empire. In practice, this meant that the rapidly spreading Christianity would be able to get out of hiding and start publicly proclaiming the truths of faith in Christ.