The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (55 page)

The first two centuries of the Empire was a time of intense and broad philosophical and religious searching for meaning and place. Teachers, preachers, revivalists, gurus, and true believers intermingled in a cacophony of religious beliefs, rituals, and devotion. Over time, fads and charlatans ebbed and faded from the scene, but several philosophical schools and religious cults became influential on each other and upon the eventual victor in the struggle for the soul of the Empire: Christianity.

Some philosophical sects took on religious overtones and roles. Philosophers made up a kind of intellectual clergy and dispensed advice and reprimand to all levels of society. Schools of thought vied amongst themselves for converts. Words such as dogma, heresy, and conversion originally applied to philosophers, not Christians!

Cynic philosophers preached a practical morality for the streets, a kind of religious and moral reality therapy. Stoic philosophy held that God was ascertained through reason, and that all things were held together by divine reason and providence. Knowledge of this and a realization of what one was really in control over (namely, one's own reactions to things) gave one the strength and moral fiber to do one's duty and face any hardship. Stoics, moreover, believed in the brotherhood of humanity, where all men were essentially equal.

 
When in Rome
Both
Stoic
and
Cynic
philosophies came to Rome from Greece. Stoics emphasized self-control, detachment, and independence from the world, which they nevertheless believed was regulated by a divine reason for the common good. Cynics emphasized a frank practical morality, which confronted pretentious shallow morality and custom. The most famous Cynic, Diogenes (ca 340
B
.
C
.
E
.), lived in a dog house to repudiate the “civilized” customs for which he had contempt. (
Cyn
is the root for “dog” in Greek, and Diogenes' famous home may be what gave the Cynics their name.)

The stoic philosophy became especially influential under the teachings of Epictetus, an ex-slave and teacher who was expelled from Rome by Diocletian. Epictetus's teachings were influential on the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his
Meditations.
The teachings of Neoplatonism also became influential, if never very popular. This philosophy developed from the more mystical elements of Plato's teaching. Adherents, such as Plotinus, sought a mystic communion with God, whom they conceived as pure Mind. Neoplatonism had a rich hierarchy of angles and demons, rejected the flesh as contaminating the spiritual, and emphasized spiritual communion to achieve a unification with God.

All these philosophies were influential on other religious movements of the Empire.

For a much broader cross-section of the Empire, mystery religions were particularly popular. They all featured common elements—a kind and benevolent divine figure with whom believers could have direct personal contact, secret rites, and celebrations (mysteries) that initiated believers into special knowledge and understanding. Manifestations of ecstasy, inspired behavior, visions, and glossolalia (speaking in tongues) confirmed the initiates' experiences and the religion's claims. These experiences mystically connected believers to the god and to each other in a community of believers and spiritual family.

We know little about the actual religious practices of these cults because they were, of course,
secret.
Later, hostile Christian writers did little to illuminate what they knew of them.

 
Roamin' the Romans
We have very little evidence of mystery rites. A few pictures of initiation ceremonies have been found painted on the walls of a house in Pompeii, which is (aptly) called “The House of the Mysteries.”

Republican Rome had an uncomfortable and tense relationship with ecstatic cults, but in the early Empire, the emperors reversed course and allowed—even encouraged—them. Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Dionysus had all come to Rome in the Republic and been periodically booted out or bolted down. By the time of the Empire, however, these were an imperial phenomenon and found patrons in Caligula and Claudius.

Besides these cults, those of Mithras competed for initiates among the urban centers and in the military. In addition, the ancient Greek mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis (a short way from Athens) inspired and drew devotees from all over the Mediterranean world, including the emperor Hadrian.

Isis was originally an Egyptian nature deity, but in Hellenistic times, she became the subject of a massive mystery cult. Isis, who found and resurrected Osirus, became the benevolent mother of all who could rebirth the believer into a happier life on earth and a life of eternal bliss after death. The mysteries and ceremonies of Isis were full of grand ceremony, wild music, and emotional charge. Our only hint of what these mysteries contained, as well as the devotion they inspired, comes from passages in Lucretius and a long episode in Apuleius's
The Golden Ass.

 
Lend Me Your Ears
Lucius, who is transformed back into a man by the grace of Isis during a procession, alludes to his ecstatic experience after his conversion, baptism, and initiation:

“Listen then and believe, for it is true: I passed over the threshold of death's door, through the elements of the cosmos and returned. I saw the sun ablaze at midnight, and came into the very presence of gods above and gods below and did them reverence.”

—Apuleius,
The Golden Ass
, 11.22

Mithras had Persian (Zoroastrian) origins, but during the Empire, he had become a more popular savior-god than even Isis. He was the god/hero of light, truth, and the intermediary between humanity and the supreme Sun God. His miraculous birth was witnessed by shepherds (a story influenced by Christianity) who brought him gifts. When he grew to manhood, he accomplished many heroic feats fighting evil, including the sacrifice of a great bull from which good things and the promise of salvation came to mankind. He then ascended to heaven to join his father and care for the souls of those who followed him.

The worship of Mithras was especially popular among the soldiers, many of whom came from the east. They admired his heroic deeds even as they were comforted and strengthened by his care and presence. His worship also fit in with the ambitions and program of the Illyrian emperors Aurelian and Diocletian. They styled themselves, in part, after the invincible Sun god and led their armies of little Mithras to victory.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
The fifth of March was the day of the
navigium Isidis
(ship of Isis). A representation of Isis' sacred ship (upon which she sailed to find and bring Osirus back to life) was launched amid a crowd of masked revelers and a great parade. Some scholars have thought that this is the real origin of
Carnevale
celebrations in the Mediterranean.

 
Roamin' the Romans
Some
Mithraea
(places of the worship of Mithras) became places of later Christian worship. You can find one beautifully preserved under the Church of St. Clement in Rome.

Mithraic rituals were held in underground caves or in temple basilicas. Groups were kept small, and worship caves or temples were owned by their congregations. Mithraic ritual had sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and communion. There were several grades of initiates for which there were elaborate ceremonies of advancement. “Ordained priests” instructed initiates and conducted the ceremonies. Mithraism included strict moral guidelines and promised eternal life. This way, however, was only open to men. No women were allowed, and this was a fundamental problem for Mithraism against Christianity.

 
Veto!
Most of what we know about Druids comes from Roman sources and some mythic elements preserved in the late middle ages by Welsh and Irish monks. Modern Druidism, whose conception of druids and druid practice comes mainly from a romantic revival begun in the eighteenth century, bears little historical resemblance to its ancient namesake.