Rome Project

Roman Mythology
Excerpted from the UNRV History of the Roman Empire.

Roman Mythology
“The beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula from ancient times until the ascendancy of Christianity in the 4th century CE.” Courtesy of Encylopedia Mythica.

Roman Gods and Goddesses and their Roman Counterparts
“A List From Roman Mythology Compiled by Gregory Flood” Courtesy of ThoughtCo.

Roman Religon
Courtesy of the Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Numa: The Institutions of Roman Religion, 7th Cent. BC
From: William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 9-15. Courtesy of Encylopedia Mythica. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Flamen
Excerpted from A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed. Courtesy of hte Perseus Digital library.

Expiation of an Umbrian Town: Archaic Roman Sackrifice
“The following has been translated from texts inscribed in Umbrian dialect on bronze tablets from Gubbio, ancient Iguvium. Iguvium is one hundred miles north of Rome. The ritual described was probably typical of early Italian religion generally.” Translation by Frederick C. Grant, in his Ancient Roman Religion, Library of Religion paperbook series (New York, 1957), pp. 4-6, from Franz Bucheler, Umbrica (1883).

M. Tullius Cicero (105-43 BCE): from On the Republic (Scipio’s Dream)
From: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. III: The Roman World, pp. 216-241. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

The Dream of Scipio: Cicero, ‘On the Republic,’ VI, 14-26
“The Dream of Scipio’ is the conclusion of Cicero’s treatise On the Republic, probably written in 54 B.C. The dialogue is assumed to have taken place during the Latin holidays in 129 B.C., in the garden Of Scipio Africanus the Younger. Scipio relates-a dream in which he saw his grandfather, Scipio Africanus the Elder. ‘When I recognized him, I trembled with terror, but he said: “Courage, Scipio, do not be afraid, but remember carefully what I am to tell you.” Translated by W. D. Pearman.

Prayers and Rituals from Cato’s ‘De Agricultura’
Courtesy of Nova Roma.

Lucretius (98-c.55 BCE): The Worship of Cybele
From Lucretius: On the Nature of Things, translation by William Ellery Leonard.Courtesy of the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Tacitus: Rebuilding the Temple of Jupiter, 70 CE
“In 70 CE Vespasian ordered the restoration of the Temple of Jupiter the Best and Greatest on the Capitoline Hill. The event was recorded by Tacitus in an account which gives some idea of the ceremonies of the state religion, and its intense conservatism.” Tacitus: Histories, Book 4. liii., Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb.Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Lupercalia
Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh on p718 of William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875. Courtesy of Bill Thayer of LacusCurtius.

Lupercalia: She-Wolf
Courtesy of the Pagan Library.

Junillus
Latin text of the Instituta ,and an English translation all prepared by John F. Collins.

Personel Piety in Rome: Apuleius, ‘Apologia,’ 55-6
“Apuleius is defending himself against the charge of practicing magic, and especially of carrying magical objects wrapped in a handkerchief.” Translation by Frederick C. Grant, in his Ancient Roman Religion, Library of Religion paperbook series (New York, 1957), pp. 226-8

Etruscan Religion
“The basis of Etruscan religion was the fundamental idea that the destiny of man was completely determined by the vagaries of the many deities worshipped by the Etruscans. Every natural phenomenon, such as lightning, the structure of the internal organs of sacrificial animals, or the flight patterns of birds, was therefore an expression of the divine will, and contained a message which could be interpreted by trained priests such as Augurs.”. Excerpted from the Mysterious Etruscans.

Etruscan Pantheon
Courtesy of the Ancient History Encylopedia

The Etruscan World: Etruscans and Religon
Courtesy of the Penn Museum.

Secespita “The Sacrificial Knife”: A Roman Book of Blood Sacrifice
A work containing:The Names of the Gods, a Fasti of all Holy Days, Auspicious and Unlucky Days and a Multitude of Important Facts.

Accounts of Roman State Religion, c. 200 BCE- 250CE
Featuring the writings of Cato the Elder, Cicero, Livy and Plutarch. From: William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History, 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II, pp. 9-15; 289. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Civic Religion and Civic Patronage
by John Nicols

The Mysteries of Dionysos at Pompeii
by R. A. S. Seaford. This paper was first published in H. W. Stubbs (ed.), Pegasus: Classical Essays from the University of Exeter (1981) 52-67 and is reproduced in Diotima: materials for the Study of Women and Gender in hte Ancient World.

Roman Religious Toleration: The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, 186 BCE
Livy, History of Rome, Book XXXIX.From: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources(Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. III: The Roman World, pp. 65-77. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Roman Religiones Licitae and Illicitae, c. 204 BCE – 112 CE
Featuring the writings of Livy, Prudentius, Suetonius, Strabo and Pliny the Younger. Courtesy of Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Religion and the Roman Empire — Judaism. By Steven Muhlberger.
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia, Section Editor: Steven Muhlberger. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.

Religion and the Roman Empire — Christianity . By Steven Muhlberger.
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia, Section Editor: Steven Muhlberger. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.

Eastern Religions in the Roman World
Thematic Essay excerpted from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mithraism
“The legacy of the Roman Empire’s final pagan state religion.” by David Fingrut, SEED Alternative School Toronto, 1993. Courtesy of Bill Thayer of LacusCurtius. copyright © William P. Thayer.

The Mysteries of Mithras by David Ulansey
This article is a summary of David Ulansey’s bookThe Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World (Oxford University Press, revised paperback, (1991).

Mithraeum
“A religious organization dedicated to the worship of Mithras, and the revival of Mithraism & The Mithraic Mysteries. ”

Mithras
“This page is dedicated to the Sun God Mithras.”

Bull-Killer, Sun Lord
By Carly Silver. “Foreign religions grew rapidly in the 1st-century A.D. Roman Empire, including worship of Jesus Christ, the Egyptian goddess Isis, and an eastern sun god, Mithras.”

The Roman Cult of Mithras
“The Roman deity Mithras appears in the historical record in the late 1st century A.D., and disappears from it in the late 4th century A.D. Unlike the major mythological figures of Graeco-Roman religion, such as Jupiter and Hercules, no ancient source preserves the mythology of the god. All of our information is therefore derived from depictions on monuments, and the limited mentions of the cult in literary sources.” courtesy of the Tertullian project.

Mithraism & Christianity: (A Comparison)
By Franz Cumont. Courtesy of CAIS The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies.

The Pagan Shadow of Christ ?
By Professor Roger Beck. Courtesy of the BBC.

Colossal Temples of the Roman Near East
Thematic Essay excerpted from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Jewish Roman World of Jesus
By Dr James Tabor, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina.

Pliny, Letters 10.96-97
“Pliny the Younger was governor of Pontus/Bithynia from 111-113 AD. We have a whole set of exchanges of his letters with the emperor Trajan on a variety of administrative political matters. These two letters are the most famous, in which P. encounters Christianity for the first time.”

Medieval Sourcebook: Diocletian: Edicts Against The Christians
“This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.”

Early Christian Dloctrine on Jesus Christ
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

The Early Church in Late Antiquity: A Select Introductory Bibliography
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia.Compiled by Bernadette McNary-Zak. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

The First Council of Nicaea
by H. Leclercq, Transcribed by Anthony A. Killeen.From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright © 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright © 1996 by New Advent, Inc.

The First Council of Nicaea-325 AD
Translation by Norman P. Tanner. Courtesy of Papal Encyclicals Online.

Nicaea I, 325 CE: Arianism
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. By Bill East. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

Constantinople I, 381 CE: Apollinarianism
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. By Bill East. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

Ephesus, 431 CE: Nestorianism
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. By Bill East. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

Chalcedon, 451 CE: Eutychianism(=Monophysitism)
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. By Bill East. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

Constantinople II, 553 CE: Three Chapters Controversy
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Online Encyclopedia. By Bill East. The contents of ORB are copyright © 1995-1999 Laura V. Blanchard and Carolyn Schriber except as otherwise indicated herein.

Hypatia of Alexandria
A meta index of web based resources on Hypatia of Alexandria. Assembed and maintained by Howard A. Landman.

The Christian Catacombs
“The catacombs originated in Rome between the end of the second and the beginning of the third centuries A.D., under the papacy of Pope Zephyrin (199-217), who entrusted to the deacon Callixtus, who would later become pope (217-222), the task of supervising the cemetery of the Appian Way, where the most important pontiffs of the third century would be buried.”

The Catacombs of Rome: A unique voyage within a hidden world.
“The Catacombs of Rome is a film which contains a very unique collection of Paleochristian art, and includes frescoe paintings, sculptures, greek and latin inscriptions and ancient “graffitti”. These precious images have all been filmed on location in Rome. ” (1991).

Early Christian Writings: All of Early Christianity, New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics and Early Church Fathers
“Early Christian Writings is the most complete collection of documents from the first two centuries with translations and commentary. Includes the New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, and Church Fathers. The “Early Christian Writings: New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, Church Fathers” site is copyright © 2001 Peter Kirby .”

Electronic New Testament Educational Resources
By Prof. Felix Just, S.J. – Loyola Marymount University

Augustine of Hippo
Augustine may have been the first saint to find a home page on the Internet and he has dwelled here, in a comfortable corner of the afterlife, since early 1994. In that year, he was the subject of the first of a series of seminars conducted over the Internet. The materials here were first gathered for that purpose, but have grown since. Suggestions and additions are always welcome.” Page maintained by J.J. O’Donnell.

Grave Art: Early Christian Tombs and Figures of Mourning in Augustine’s Confessions
“A presentation to the Augustine Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania, James J. O’Donnell, Director, Jan. 31, 1994. Copyright, Eugene Vance (e-mail: vance@u.washington.edu). Not to be quoted without permission. Please note that this presentation was illustrated with slides. Edited for html by Lawrence Warner, University of Pennsylvania.”

Augustine

• Confessions (Trans. E. B. Pusey)
• Augustine: Confessions Newly translated and edited by Albert C. Outler, Ph.D., D.D.
• The Confessions of Augustine: Electronic Edition This document is an on-line reprint of Augustine: Confessions. Text and commentary copyright (c) 1992 James J. O’Donnell.
• de dialectica (Trans. J. Marchand)

Guide to Early Church Documents and Early Patristic Writings
“This hypertext document contains pointers to Internet-accessible files relating to the early church, including canonical documents, creeds, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and other historical texts relavant to church history”.

Tertullian
Biography of Tertullian courtesy of the Catholic Encyclopedia

The Tertullian Project
“A collection of material ancient and modern about the ancient Christian Latin writer Tertullian and his writings. “.

The Works of Tertullian
“Tertullian has left us 31 extant treatises, all in Latin. Approximate English translations of the titles are attached, but the usage varies so much that texts will be referred to using the Latin titles (although these also vary in the manuscripts – see the relevant section under each work). All must date between 190-220AD, but there is no agreement among scholars abouta definitive dating or sequence. “.

Tertullian Online Text for Tertullian
copyright © 2001 Peter Kirby.

Medieval Sourcebook: Galerius and Constantine: Edicts of Toleration 311/313
Both texts translated in University of Pennsylvania. Dept. of History: Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history, (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press [1897?-1907?]), Vol 4:, 1, pp. 28-30. Courtesy of Internet Medieval History Sourcebook.

Medieval Sourcebook: Constantine I: Laws for Christians
from Eusebius, Church History, trans in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace, (repr. Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1955), I, 380-384. Courtesy of Internet Medieval History Sourcebook.

Medieval Sourcebook: Constantine I: On the Keeping of Easter
Selected from Henry R. Percival, ed.,The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, Vol XIV of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, edd. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, (repr. Edinburgh: T&T Clark; Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988) , pp. 54-56. Courtesy of Internet Medieval History Sourcebook.

Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325
“38 volumes — The most important writings from the first 800 years of the church.” Courtesy of the Early Church Fathers.

Ancient History Sourcebook: The Ritual Cannabilism Charge Against Christians
Includes the works of Minucius Felix and Hippolytus. From Minucius Felix, Octavius, R. E. Wallis, trans. in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, N. Y.: The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887), Vol. 4, pp. 177-178 and From H. Achelis, Die Canones Hippolyti (Leipzig, 1881), pp. 48-55. Courtesy of the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.

Patrologia Latina
The Patrologia Latina Database is an electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne’s PatrologiaLatina, published between 1844 and 1855, and the four volumes of indexes published between 1862 and 1865. The Patrologia Latina comprises the works of the Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD to the death of PopeInnocent III in 1216.

Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions Theodosian Code XVI.i.2
from Henry Bettenson, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 31 Internet Medieval Source Book.

Medieval Sourcebook: Leo I and Attila
From the accounts translated in J. H. Robinson, Readings in European History, (Boston: Ginn, 1905), pp. 49-51Internet Medieval Source Book.