World Religions › The Axial Age › Polytheism: the many gods of the ancient world
Roman gods and state religion
Capitoline Temple 509 BC (traditional) – AD 390s· Religion or tradition· Ancient, indigenous & folk
Mostly agreed by scholarsMost historians agree; some details uncertain.
The public worship of Rome's gods, run by state priests, which tied religion to citizenship until Christian emperors banned it in the 390s.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Roman religion was about correct ritual more than belief: sacrifices, festivals and reading omens to keep the 'peace of the gods' (pax deorum). Jupiter, Juno and Minerva shared the Capitoline Temple, traditionally dedicated in 509 BC. Elected priests under a chief priest, the pontifex maximus, ran the cult; emperors later held that office, and many were deified after death. Rome adopted foreign gods freely, from Greek Apollo to Egyptian Isis and Persian Mithras.
Why it matters
Its idea of a state cult shaped how Rome treated Jews and Christians, and popes later took the title pontifex maximus. Theodosius's laws of 391–392 ended it as public religion.
Think of it like
Closer to a building code than a creed: what counted was that the required rites were performed correctly, on schedule.
Sources and history
Temple ruins, inscriptions and festival calendars; writers such as Livy, Cicero and Varro; and the Theodosian Code, which records the Christian emperors' bans.
Questions and debates
How much ordinary Romans believed in the gods, as opposed to performing the rites, is debated. The 509 BC temple date is traditional, not proven.
Connections (2)
▸Roman gods and state religion identified its gods with Greek gods of OlympusHistorical record
The connection
As Rome met Greek culture through the Greek cities of southern Italy, it matched its gods to Greek ones: Jupiter with Zeus, Juno with Hera, Minerva with Athena, Venus with Aphrodite. Roman gods took on Greek myths, statue types and temple styles, and Apollo was adopted outright, with no Roman counterpart.
When and where
From the 500s BC, through the Etruscans and Greek colonies like Cumae; Rome formally honored twelve paired gods in 217 BC. Poets like Ovid later fused the two mythologies.
Historical evidence
Roman writers state the equivalences; temple dedications and statues copy Greek models; Livy records the 217 BC banquet for twelve gods (lectisternium).
Questions and debates
What Rome's gods were like before Greek influence, and how much the Etruscans shaped them, is hard to recover from mostly later sources.
▸Constantine, the first Christian emperor began the end of Roman gods and state religionMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Constantine did not ban the old gods, but he shifted money, prestige and legal privileges to the church, stripped some temples of treasure and, according to Eusebius, restricted sacrifice. His successors went further. Theodosius outlawed pagan sacrifice in 391–392, and by about 400 Rome's public state cults had largely ended.
When and where
Roman Empire, 312–337; continued by Constantius II's law against sacrifice (341), Gratian's removal of the Altar of Victory (382) and Theodosius' decrees. Emperor Julian briefly attempted a revival (361–363).
How do we know?
Imperial laws in the Theodosian Code, temple closures in the archaeological record, Eusebius' account, and pagan protests such as Symmachus' plea for the Altar of Victory (384).
Questions and debates
Whether Constantine himself banned sacrifice is debated; many historians stress that traditional worship faded gradually over two centuries rather than ending abruptly.