Roman beliefs and religion

The Romans were nothing if not pragmatic about religion. They persecuted the early Christians when they perceived them to be a threat to the established order but were happy to make Christianity the official religion when it suited their purposes in uniting the empire. And for many centuries before that they adapted and assimilated the gods and beliefs of those they conquered into their own pagan pantheon. Only when foreign religions seemed to pose a threat, or their practices were deemed too repugnant for Roman tastes (human sacrifice was always regarded as an intolerable barbarism), did the empire repress them. More usually, the toleration and assimilation of local religions was used as a way of integrating the conquered into Roman society.

So in Britain it has often been difficult to distinguish between pre-existing gods and sacred sites and those imported or established by the Romans. At Ancaster, for example, Stuart Ainsworth identified an important spring to the north of the Roman town as a likely centre for Iron-Age religious practices before the foundation of the Roman town. It is possible that this was already established as a religious centre before the Romans arrived, and that the Romans simply adapted it for their own purposes. The god Viridios, referred to in the burial inscription excavated at Ancaster, is only know from one other inscription – also from Ancaster – so it is possible that this was a local deity, whose origins lay among the ancient Britons.

Certainly, there are various examples of native deities associated with water, and particularly with springs. The goddess Sulis Minerva at the hot springs at Bath is perhaps the best-known example, but there were many others. Outside the fort at Carrawburgh, on Hadrian's Wall, for example, is a small Romano-British shrine to the water goddess Coventina. At the centre of the shrine is a well, from which huge numbers of offerings have been retrieved: miniature altars, pottery, inscribed stones, incense burners, pearls, shells and more than 13,000 coins. Worship of the goddess almost certainly predates the Romans, yet dedications came from officers and ordinary legionaries from the adjacent fort.

Romano-British shrines and temples could range from rudimentary affairs, little more than a stone-lined spring or well, with perhaps a basic shrine and shelter, through to grand, impressive structures. These would generally take the form of an inner temple structure within a large courtyard, surrounded by a wall, often entered through a sacred arch. Pilgrimages to especially renowned sites were commonplace, and entire towns – such as at Bath – could grow up around the site of a local deity. The importance of religion to the local economy could be immense. It's worth bearing in mind, for example, that the reason why St Paul was so unpopular with the citizens of Ephesus when he tried to preach the Christian gospel there was that it threatened their livelihood in catering for the thousands of visitors to the temple of Diana.

The gods worshipped in Roman Britain fall into three broad categories. First, there were the primarily local deities. Second, there were the 'exotic' cults imported from other parts of the empire, usually by soldiers stationed here, who often brought their own gods and goddesses with them. And third, there were the principal gods of the Olympian pantheon, although even these were often adapted to fit in better with local beliefs.

The Romans were also the first to bring Christianity to Britain – a fact that is sometimes forgotten in the prominence given to St Augustine's mission to Canterbury and Anglo-Saxon England. But later Christian sites were themselves often built on top of existing pagan ones, so that it becomes difficult to distinguish them. And even the classic indication of a Christian burial – an east-west alignment – is only a rough guide, since the same practice was used by some pagans, either deliberately or simply by chance.

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