Rome (Ancient Religion & Magic)

Magical practice was widespread among the ancient Romans. Magic was integral to their worship and operated as an organized system of magical rites for communal ends. Magic formed a foundation for thought and outlook upon the world, entered daily life, and directly affected many laws and customs. This ingrained tendency eventually developed into a broad polytheistic system, which led during bad times, especially in the later years of the Empire, to a frenzied search for new gods, borrowed from various countries Rome had conquered. In times of misfortune and disaster, the Romans were always ready to utilize a non-Roman deity if his or her favors promised more than those of their own deities.

Although there was a strong conservative element in the populous, and the "custom of the elders" was strongly upheld by the priestly fraternity, this usually gave way before the momentary impulses of the people. Thus, as a rock shows its geological history by its differing strata, so the theogony of the Roman gods tells its tale of the race that conceived it. There are prehistoric nature deities, borrowed from indigenous tribes; gods of the Sabines, from whom the young colony stole its wives; gods of the Etruscans, and of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Persians. The temple of Jupiter on the capitol contained the altar of an ancient deity, a stone-god, Terminus, the spirit of boundaries. In the temple of Diana of the Grove, a fountain nymph was worshiped. Additional instances of this kind abound.

Belief in Spirits

In addition to the gods, the spirits needed to be propitiated. Indeed the objects offered to the Roman for veneration were seemingly numberless. Apuleius gave a description of popular supernaturalism when he told of a country road where one might meet an altar wreathed with flowers, a cave hung with garlands, an oak tree laden with horns of cattle, a hill marked by fences as sacred, a log rough-hewn into shape, an altar of turf smoking with libations, or a stone anointed with oil.

Every single action of man's daily life had a presiding spirit, as did commerce and husbandry. Ednea was concerned with eating and Potina with drinking. Other spirits oversaw departures, travel, approaching, and homecoming. In commerce Mercurius reigned as the spirit of gain and Pecunia of money. Farmers had to pay attention to the spirits of cutting, grinding, sowing, and bee-keeping. A deity presided over streets and highways; Cloacina served as goddess of the sewers, while the lowly Mephitis was the spirit of bad smells. Spirits of evil, such as Robigo, the spirit of mildew, also had to be propitiated by pacificatory rites. In Rome there was an altar to fever and bad fortune.

From the country came Silvanus, god of farms and woods, and his fauns and nymphs with Picus, the woodpecker god who fed the twins Romulus and Remus with berries. Each deity or spirit possessed some influence, and had to be approached with proper rites. The names of these spirits were inscribed on tablets, indigitamenta, which were in the charge of the pontiffs (priests), who thus knew which spirit to evoke according to need. Most of these spirits were animistic in origin.

Rites and Worship

Worship in ancient Rome consisted largely of magical rites destined to propitiate the powers controlling human beings, to bring people into touch with those powers, to renew life and the land that supported it, and to stop that process of degeneration constantly set in motion by evil influences. Everything connected with worship typified this restoration. The priests, who represented the life of the community, were therefore bound by strict observances from endangering it in any way. Rules as to attire, eating, and touch were numerous. Sacrifices were systematized according to the end desired and the deity invoked.

Worship instructions designated the age and gender of all animal sacrifices; oxen were to be offered to Jupiter and Mars, and swine to Juno, Ceres the corn-goddess, and Silvanus. At one shrine, a pregnant cow was sacrificed and the ashes of the unborn young were considered to be of special magical efficacy. Even human sacrifice existed within historical times. After the battle of Cannæ, the Romans sought to divert misfortune by burying two Greeks alive in the cattle-market, while in the time of Julius Cæsar, two men were put to death with sacrificial solemnities by the pontiff and flamen of Mars. Again, in the time of Cicero and Horace, boys were killed for magical purposes.

Fire possessed great virtue and was held sacred in the worship of Vesta, in early belief Vesta being the fire itself; it presided over the family hearth; it restored purity and conferred protection.

Blood had the same quality and, smeared on the face of the god, symbolized and brought about the oneness of the deity with the community. On great occasions the statue of Jupiter was treated thus: the priests of Bellona made incisions in their shoulders and sprinkled the blood upon the image. The face of a triumphant general was painted with vermilion to represent blood.

Kneeling and prostration brought one into direct contact with the earth of the sacred place.

Music was also used as a species of incantation, probably deriving its origin in sounds made to drive away evil spirits. Dancing too was of magical efficacy. In Rome there were colleges of dancers for the purposes of religion, youths who danced in solemn measure about the altars, who, in the sacred month of Mars, took part in the festivals and were sent throughout the city dancing and singing. One authority stated that there were four kinds of "holy solemnity"—sacrifice, sacred banquets, public festivals, and games. Theatrical performances also belonged to this category, in one instance being used as a means of diverting a pestilence.

Sacred banquets were often decreed by the Senate as thanksgiving to the gods. Tables were spread with a sumptuous repast in the public places and were first offered to the statues of the deities seated around.

The festivals were numerous, all of a magical and symbolic nature. In the spring there was the Parilia, when fires of straw were lighted, through which persons passed to be purified, and the Cerealia, celebrated with sacrifice and offerings to Ceres, the corn-goddess, and followed by banquets. The Lupercalia, the festival of Faunus, was held in February and symbolized the wakening of spring and growth. Goats were slain as sacrifice and with their blood the Luperci, youths clad in skins, smeared their faces. They took thongs made of the goatskin and, laughing wildly, rushed through the city striking the crowd, Roman matrons believing that the blows thus received rendered them prolific.

Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth, also had her festival, the Matronalia, celebrated by the women of Rome. During festivals of the dead, the door leading to the other world was opened, the stone removed from its entrance in the Comitium, and the dark spirits who came forth were appeased with offerings. On these days, three times in the year, when the gods of gloom were abroad, complete cessation from all work was decreed. No battle could be fought nor ship set sail, neither could a man and woman marry.

To the sacred games were taken the statues of the gods in gorgeous procession, chariots of silver, companies of priests, and youths singing and dancing. The gods viewed the games reclining on couches.

The chariot races also partook of the nature of rites. After the races, in the Field of Mars, came one of the most important Roman rites, the sacrifice of the October Horse. The righthand horse of the victorious team was sacrificed to Mars, and the tail of the animal, running with blood, carried to the Altar of the Regia. The blood was stored in the temple of Vesta until the following spring and used in the sacrifice of the festival of Parilia. The sacrifice was essentially magical, all citizens present being purified by the blood-sprinkling and bonfire.

The Roman outlook upon life was largely colored by magic. Bodily foes had their counterpart in the unseen world— wandering spirits of the dead, spirits of evil, the anger of innocently offended deities, and the menace of the evil eye. Portents and prodigies were everywhere. In the heavens, strange things might be seen. The sun had been known to double, even treble itself, its light turn to blood, or a magical halo to appear round the orb. Thunder and lightning were always fraught with presage. Jove was angered when he opened the heavens and hurled his bolts to earth.

Phantoms, too, hovered amid the clouds. Upon the Campagna, the gods were observed in conflict, and afterward tracks of the combatants were visible across the plain. Unearthly voices were heard amid the mountains and groves and cries of portent sounded within the temples.

Blood haunted the Roman imagination. Sometimes it was said to have covered the land as a mantle, the standing corn dyed with blood, the rivers and fountains flowing with it, while walls and statues were covered with a bloody sweat.

The flight and song of birds might foretell the decrees of Fate; unappeased spirits of the dead were known to lurk near and steal away the souls of men, who then died. All these happenings were attributable to the gods and spirits, who, if the portent was one of menace, must be propitiated, if one of good fortune, thanked with offerings.

Down to later times, this deep belief in the occurrence of prodigies persisted. When Otho set out for Italy in 69 C.E. , Rome rang with reports of a gigantic phantom rushing forth from the Temple of Juno and of the statue of Julius turning from east to west.

Divination and Augury

Divination was connected with Roman worship. There was a spot on the Capitol from which the augur, with veiled head, read the auspices in the flight of birds. Augurs also accompanied armies and fleets and read the omens before an engagement was entered upon. Divination was also practiced by reading the intestines of animals, by dreams, by divine possession, as in the case of the Oracles, when prophecies were uttered. These had been gathered together in the Sibylline Books and were consulted as oracles by the state. With the worship of fortune were connected the Lots of Praœneste. The questions put to the goddess were answered by means of oaken lots a boy drew from a case made of sacred wood. The fortune-tellers also used a narrow-necked urn that, filled with water, only allowed one lot at a time to rise. Astrologers from Chaldea were also much sought after and were attached to the kingly and noble houses.

Familiar things of everyday life took on magical import. Words and numbers, especially odd ones, were of special significance. The Kalends, Nones, and Ides were so arranged as to fall upon odd days. Touch was binding, and so recognized in the law of Rome, as the grasp of a thing sold, from a slave to a turf of distant estate. Knotting and twisting of thread was injurious, so that women must never pass by cornfields twisting their spindles.

A strange sympathy existed between the trees and humankind, and great honor was paid to the sacred trees of Rome. On the oak tree of Jupiter, the triumphant general hung the shield and arms of his fallen foe, while the hedges about the Temple of Diana at Nemi were covered with votive offerings. The trees also harbored the spirits of the dead, who came forth as dreams to the souls of men. Pliny the Elder stated in this matter:

"Trees have a soul since nothing on earth lives without one. They are the temples of spirits and the simple countryside dedicates still a noble tree to some god. The various kinds of trees are sacred to their protecting spirits: the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, olive to Minerva, myrtle to Venus, white poplar to Hercules."

These trees therefore partook of the nature of their presiding spirits and it was desirable to bring about communion with their magical influence, as in the spring, when laurel boughs were hung at the doors of the flamens and pontiffs, and in the temple of Vesta, where they remained hanging until the following year. Trees and their leaves were also possessed of healing and purifying value. Laurel was used for the latter quality after triumphs, when the spears and javelins of legionaries were wreathed with its branches to purify them from the blood of the enemy.

Man himself had a presiding spirit, his genius, each woman her "Juno" and the Saturnalia was really a holiday for this "other self." The Roman kept his birthday in honor of his genius. He would offer frankincense, cakes, and unmixed wine on an altar garlanded with flowers while making solemn prayers for the coming year. Cities and villages had their genii.

Beliefs About Death

Death was believed to be the life and soul enticed away by revengeful ghosts, hence death would never occur save by such agencies. The dead therefore must be appeased with offerings or else they wandered abroad working evil among the living.

One manifestation of this belief appeared in Ovid's lines, "Once upon a time the great feast of the dead was not observed and the manes failed to receive the customary gifts, the fruit, the salt, the corn steeped in unmixed wine, the violets. The injured spirits revenged themselves on the living and the city was encircled with the funeral fires of their victims. The townsfolk heard their grandsires complaining in the quiet hours of the night, and told each other how the unsubstantial troop of monstrous specters rising from their tombs, shrieked along the city streets and up and down the fields."

Beans were used in the funeral feasts. They were supposed to harbor the souls of the dead, and the bean-blossom to be inscribed with characters of mourning.

Dreams were considered of great importance by the Romans and many historical instances of prophetic dreams may be found. They were thought to be like birds, the "bronze-colored" hawks; they were also thought to be the souls of human beings visiting others in their sleep or the souls of the dead returning to earth. In Virgil much may be found on this subject. Lucretius tried to find a scientific reason for dreams; Cicero, although writing in a slighting manner of the prevalent belief in these manifestations of sleep, recorded dreams of his own.

Sorcery & Witchcraft

Sorcery in all its forms, from love-magic to death-magic, was rife among all classes, as were necromantic practices. There were charms and spells for everything under the sun. The rain-charm of the pontiffs consisted of the throwing of puppets into the Tiber. The charm against thunderbolts was compounded of onions, hair, and sprats. The charm against an epidemic required the matrons of Rome to sweep the temple-floors with their hair. There were many more charms, including the simple love-charm strung around the neck of the country maiden.

Witches were prevalent. The poets often chose these sinister figures for their subjects, as when Horace described the ghastly rites of two witches in the cemetery of the Esquiline. Under the light of the new moon they crawled about looking for poisonous herbs and bones. They called the specters to a banquet consisting of a black lamb torn to pieces with their teeth, and afterward these phantoms had to answer the questions of the sorceresses.

Witches made images of their victims and prayed to the infernal powers for help; hounds and snakes glided over the ground, the moon turned to blood, and as the images were melted so the lives of the victims ebbed away.

Virgil gives a picture of a sorceress performing love-magic by means of a waxen image of the youth whose love she desired. Lucan, in his Pharsalia, discusses Thessaly, notorious in all ages for sorcery, and drew a terrific figure of Erichtho, a sorceress of illimitable powers, one whom even the gods obeyed, and to whom the forces of earth and heaven were bond-slaves.

Both Nero and his mother Agrippina were reported to have had recourse to the infamous arts of sorcery, while in the New Testament may be found testimony as to these practices in Rome.

The attitude of the cultured class towards magic is illustrated by an illuminating passage to be found in the writings of Pliny the Elder. He states,

"The art of magic has prevailed in most ages and in most parts of the globe. Let no one wonder that it has wielded very great authority inasmuch as it embraces three other sources of influence. No one doubts that it took its rise in medicine and sought to cloak itself in the garb of a science more profound and holy than the common run. It added to its tempting promises the force of religion, after which the human race is groping, especially at this time. Further it has brought in the arts of astrology and divination. For everyone desires to know what is to come to him and believes that certainty can be gained by consulting the stars. Having in this way taken captive the feelings of man by a triple chain, it has reached such a pitch that it rules over all the world and in the East, governs the King of Kings."