In ancient Rome – really, the whole ancient world – participation in public or national festivals centered around idol worship, including sexual immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols.<\/p>\n
\u201cReligion in ancient Rome\u00a0encompasses the ancestral\u00a0ethnic religion\u00a0of the\u00a0city of Rome\u00a0that the\u00a0Romans\u00a0used to define themselves as a people, as well as the adopted religious practices of peoples brought under Roman rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety\u00a0(pietas<\/em>)\u00a0in maintaining\u00a0good relations with the gods. According to legendary history, most of Rome\u2019s religious institutions could be traced to its\u00a0founders, particularly\u00a0Numa Pompilius, the\u00a0Sabine\u00a0second\u00a0king of Rome, who negotiated directly with\u00a0the gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the\u00a0mos maiorum<\/em>, \u2018the way of the ancestors\u2019 or simply \u2018tradition\u2019, viewed as central to Roman identity. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the\u00a0elite classes. There was no principle analogous to \u2018separation of church and state\u2019 in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic\u00a0(509\u201327 BC), the same men who were\u00a0elected public officials\u00a0might also serve as augurs\u00a0and\u00a0pontiffs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives.\u00a0Julius Caesar\u00a0became\u00a0Pontifex Maximus\u00a0before he was elected\u00a0consul. \u2026 The\u00a0Roman triumph\u00a0was at its core a religious procession in which the victorious general displayed his piety and his willingness to serve the public good by dedicating a portion of his spoils to the gods, especially\u00a0Jupiter, who embodied just rule.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReligion in Ancient Rome<\/a>,\u201d Wikipedia.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cFestivals in ancient Rome\u00a0were an important part of Roman religious life\u00a0during both the Republican and Imperial eras, and one of the primary features of the\u00a0Roman calendar.\u00a0… State holidays were celebrated by the Roman people and received public funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoman Festivals<\/a>,\u201d Wikipedia<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Christine’s comment:<\/strong> Reviewing both articles shows the extent to which public holidays were both religious and national in character. The attendant rites which accompanied pagan idolatry, including animal sacrifice, were integral to the celebrations. This practice did not begin with Rome, but had come down from the original corruption of religion at Babel.<\/p>\n
See these related posts for detail:<\/p>\n
Public Celebrations in Pagan Idolatry<\/a>
\nImmorality & Sacrifices Integral to Pagan Idolatry<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In ancient Rome – really, the whole ancient world – participation in public or national festivals centered around idol worship, including sexual immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols. \u201cReligion in ancient Rome\u00a0encompasses the ancestral\u00a0ethnic religion\u00a0of the\u00a0city of Rome\u00a0that the\u00a0Romans\u00a0used to define themselves as a people, as well as the adopted religious practices of peoples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-revelation-2-3","7":"category-the-things-which-are","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1034,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions\/1034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revelationrevealed.online\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}