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Religio Romana
Contents

Basic Principles of Roman Religion

Calendar of Holidays and Festivals

Declaration of Roman Paganism

Legends of Rome

Priests and Priesthoods

Foreign Priesthoods

Rites and Rituals

Religion of the Home: a brief history

Roman Gods and Goddesses

Roman Philosophy

Roman Beliefs about the Afterlife

What We Mean by Pagan Reconstructionism

Why the Religio Romana is Important to Nova Roma

Links on Roman religion and related topics

We use the term "legends" rather than "myths" of Rome because the word myth has a modern connotation of falsehood. In the modern parlance, a myth is a story that is perhaps significant or relevant historically or culturally, but is ultimately founded not in truth but in imagination. We take the view that the legends of the earliest days of Rome's founding may not be completely accurate historically, but neither are they complete inventions of the storyteller. They speak to us on a level that ordinary histories cannot, and their impact is made even greater by the plausibility they contain. With some notable exceptions, the legends of Rome are not tales of the Gods (the complex tales of Greek legend were only grafted on to the Gods of the Romans later, as the impact of Greek culture on Roman religion was felt), but tales of mortals. Men and women who exemplify the ideals of the Roman Citizen (or who represent their antithesis) are at the heart of these legends. Thus they are closer to the men and women who heard and hear them, and embrace them as guideposts for their own lives.

  1. Aeneas and the survivors of Troy
  2. Hercules and Cacus
  3. Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome
  4. The Rape of the Sabine Women
  5. Tarpeia the Traitoress
  6. The Rape of Lucretia
  7. The Horatii and the Curiatii
  8. Horatius Cocles at the Bridge
  9. How Scaevola Lost His Hand
  10. Cloelia and the Hostages
  11. The Story of the Belly and the Limbs
  12. Appius and Verginia
  13. Coriolanus and the Siege of Rome
  14. Claudia and the Magna Mater

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