Religio Romana

Religio Romana
Family	Modern Pagan / Roman polytheist
Origin region	Modern revival communities inspired by ancient Rome
Founding period	Modern revival from the 20th century CE onward
Estimated adherents	Unknown; practiced by Roman polytheists, reconstructionists, and revivalists.

Religio Romana is religio Romana is a modern revival or reconstruction of ancient Roman polytheistic religion, emphasizing ritual practice, household worship, civic piety, and the gods of Rome.

Overview

Religio Romana draws on ancient Roman religion but adapts it to modern life. Practitioners may honor gods such as Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Vesta, Janus, Saturn, Ceres, and Mercury, as well as household spirits and ancestors. Some emphasize scholarly reconstruction, while others practice a more devotional or eclectic Roman polytheism.

Key beliefs

• Pietas, or dutiful right relationship with gods, ancestors, family, and community
• The pax deorum, or harmony with the gods through proper ritual
• Honor for Roman deities, household gods, lares, penates, and ancestors
• Ritual correctness and continuity with Roman tradition
• Adaptation of ancient practice to modern ethical and social contexts

Practices

• Household offerings at a lararium
• Prayers and libations
• Festival observance according to Roman calendars
• Study of Latin, ritual formulae, and Roman history
• Community rites in some organizations

Places of worship

• Home lararium
• Outdoor altar
• Temple reconstruction or symbolic sanctuary
• Community ritual space

Sacred texts

• Roman calendars
• Classical literature
• Antiquarian writings
• Inscriptions and priestly references
• Modern reconstructionist manuals

Holidays and observances

• Saturnalia
• Parentalia
• Lupercalia in some reconstructions
• Vestalia
• Kalends, Nones, and Ides observances

Branches and related traditions

• Roman religion - The historical source tradition.
• Modern Paganism - A broad family of contemporary Pagan religions.
• Polytheistic reconstructionism - A method of rebuilding practice from historical sources.

See also

• Religion
• Theology
• Philosophy of religion
• New Religious Movements
• Modern Paganism
• Western esotericism