The religious vocabulary of ancient Rome was highly specialized, and often influenced later religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly that of the Western Church. This glossary provides explanations of concepts as they were expressed in Latin pertaining to religious practices and beliefs, with links to articles on major topics such as priesthoods, forms of divination, and rituals.
For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities. For public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. Individual temples and other landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list; see Roman temple.
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Famous quotes containing the words ancient, roman and/or religion:
“The mouth of the drowned dog. After long rain the land
Was sodden as the bed of an ancient lake,
Treed with iron and birdless.”
—Ted Hughes (b. 1930)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“It must appear impossible, that theism could, from reasoning, have been the primary religion of human race, and have afterwards, by its corruption, given birth to polytheism and to all the various superstitions of the heathen world. Reason, when obvious, prevents these corruptions: When abstruse, it keeps the principles entirely from the knowledge of the vulgar, who are alone liable to corrupt any principle or opinion.
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—David Hume (1711–1776)