Religion as contract
Romans thought of religion as do ut des — “I give so that you may give”. Correct ritual, performed by the right official at the right time, kept the pax deorum: peace with the gods.
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FIELD NOTES / ROMANRoman
Roman
mythology.
Borrowed gods, home-grown spirits and the story Rome told about itself.
Rome adopted many Greek myths, but its religion was practical and civic: duties, rituals and gods of the household, the state and the threshold.
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