THE ROMAN RELIGION WASN'T BASED ON A BOOK OF TEACHINGS, SUCH AS THE BIBLE OR THE KORAN. INSTEAD, IT WAS A RELIGION THAT DEVELOPED OVER MANY CENTURIES AS THE ROMANS TOOK OVER PARTS OF OTHER, OLDER RELIGIONS. AND ORDINARY ROMANS LEARNED ABOUT THE POWERS OF THEIR GODS THROUGH STORIES CALLED THAT HAD BEEN TOLD AND RETOLD FOR AS LONG AS ANYONE COULD REMEMBER.

THE ROMANS WORSHIPPED HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT GODS AND GODDESSES WHOSE MYTHS CAME FROM SEVERAL DIFFERENT LANDS. SOME, LIKE THE MYTHS OF... CAME FROM EGYPT, WHILE OTHER MYTHS, LIKE THOSE OF... CAME FROM PERSIA AND WERE THE FAVORITES AMONG THE SLAVES AND SOLDIERS. BUT NEARLY ALL OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ROMAN MYTHS ORIGINALLY CAME FROM ANCIENT GREECE.

AFTER THE ROMANS CONQUERED GREECE AROUND 140 B.C., THEY GAVE THE GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES NEW NAMES AND WORSHIPPED THEM AS THEIR OWN. FOR EXAMPLE, THE GOD... WAS BELIEVED TO RULE THE SEA AND ALL THE CREATURES THAT LIVED IN IT. AND, BECAUSE THE ROMANS DEPENDED ON THE SEA NOT JUST FOR FOOD, BUT FOR TRANSPORTATION AS WELL, SAILORS ALWAYS PRAYED TO NEPTUNE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A SAFE VOYAGE.

THE GODDESS MINERVA, SEEN HERE, WAS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO THE ROMANS. AT FIRST, SHE WAS ONLY WORSHIPPED BY PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO IMPROVE THEIR SKILL AT WEAVING AND SPINNING. BUT LATER ON, SHE WAS THE GODDESS PEOPLE WORSHIPPED IF THEY WANTED TO BE ABLE TO THINK BETTER AND BE SMARTER.

THE GOD SEEN HERE IS... HE WAS THE MESSENGER OF THE GODS AND THE GOD OF BUSINESS AND MONEY. SO, IF YOU WANTED YOUR BUSINESS TO MAKE MORE MONEY, YOU WORSHIPPED MERCURY. AND THIS GREAT GOD IS... ...AND THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE. JUPITER WAS THE SON OF SATURN AND WAS THE FATHER OF SOME OF ROME'S MOST IMPORTANT GODS AND GODDESSES. THAT IS WHY HE IS PICTURED HERE HOLDING HIS DAUGHTER THE GODDESS MINERVA, BECAUSE ROMAN MYTHS TOLD OF HOW SHE HAD BEEN BORN FROM JUPITER'S FOREHEAD FULLY GROWN.

ANOTHER UNUSUAL THING ABOUT THE ROMAN RELIGION, WHICH HAPPENED BECAUSE PEOPLE CREATED MYTHS ABOUT THEIR EMPERORS, WAS THAT THE CITIZENS WORSHIPPED SOME EMPERORS AS GODS AND BUILT TEMPLES IN THEIR HONOR. ROMAN TEMPLES WEREN'T LIKE CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, OR MOSQUES; BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T PLACES THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE COULD EVER ENTER, SINCE THE ROMANS BELIEVED THAT THE TEMPLES WERE THE ACTUAL HOUSES OF THE GODS. AND THAT WAS WHY ONLY SPECIALLY-TRAINED PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES WERE ALLOWED INSIDE.

THE MAIN WAY THAT THE ROMANS WORSHIPPED WAS BY SACRIFICING A VALUABLE ANIMAL, SUCH AS A GOAT, A SHEEP, OR A COW, AND THEN, TO PLEASE THE GODS EVEN MORE, BURNING THE ANIMAL'S FLESH ON ALTARS LIKE THESE THAT STOOD OUTSIDE THE TEMPLES. IT IS INTERESTING TO THINK THAT CHRISTIANITY BEGAN IN A ROMAN PROVINCE CALLED AT A TIME WHEN ANIMAL SACRIFICES WERE STILL VERY COMMONPLACE, AND THAT ROMANS PUT JESUS CHRIST TO DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT HE WAS CAUSING POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS TROUBLE IN THE PROVINCE