Transcription
Foreign age. It's almost as if the world started over again. The Etruscans populated Italy and brought with them the culture from the East, from Asia Minor, in Greece. And while Rome is still a baby, it is surrounded by Sabines, Umbreans, Samnites, as well as Etruscans and Phoenician settlers.
Rome is heavily influenced by the Etruscan religion. The Etruscan religion can be traced back to the Villanovan culture, directly post Bronze Age culture of Italy. Gods and goddesses such as Matar Matuta, an indigenous Latin goddess whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn or Eos in Greek. Other major gods of the Italians and the Romans are Fortuna, Semon Sancus, native original gods of the Italians. You also have what's called the Archaic Triad, made up of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Quirinus is also identified later with Romulus. This Triad, though, would end up being replaced by the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. They also had a Pantheon of 12 gods known as the Dii Consentes, which consisted of Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, Vulcan, and Apollo. Apollo in the Etruscan religion is known as Epulu, which shows us how ancient Apollo really is, because Apollo is known throughout the entire Mediterranean world in some way, shape, or another. When the Parmenides and the Phocaeans came from Turkey to Southern Italy, they brought Apollo worship there as well. The Greeks also worshiped Apollo at Delphi and other locations.
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There's an ancient custom known as Mos Maiorum, ancestral custom, or the way of the ancestors. It is an unwritten code in which the ancient Romans derived their social norms from. They also have what's known as the 12 Tables, which was formally promulgated in 449 BCE in the Forum. The 12 Tables stated the rights and duties of the Roman citizen.
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The highest known ranking priest is known as the Rex Sacrorum, or the king of the sacred things. He was chosen by the Pontifex Maximus from a list of patricians submitted by a college of pontiffs. That sounds like the Pontifex Maximus has more power than him. However, he didn't actually have that much power. He was known as the fifth highest ranking priest under Rex Sacrorum. As I mentioned, also the Flamen Dialis, which is the high priest of Jupiter, the Flamen Martialis, the high priest of Mars, and the Flamen Quirinalis, high priest of Quirinus. Priesthood of Mars, though, had an opposite priesthood known as the Salii, or Leaping Priests. And they were chosen, 12 young pre-adolescent boys who would serve a term for four years and then be replaced by another young boy. There was also different priests' functions. For example, the Haruspices, which inspected the entrails of sacrificed victims for portents and prophecies. And the Augurs would check for birds flying in the sky for prophecies as well.
With that being said, the women joined the Vestal Virgins, which was a college of priestesses. During the time of Augustus, they would have a term of 30 years of celibacy. And after which the 30-year term was up, the Pontifex Maximus would then strategically marry them to different kings or governors in certain parts of the Roman Empire.
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Every governor or king wanted to marry one of these Vestal Virgins because they brought with them a salary. The job of the Vestal Virgins was to read the sacred books of the Sibyl. One of the other more important priesthoods of ancient Rome was known as the Quindecemviri Sacris Faciundis, which was a priesthood of 15 members of a college who also, like the Vestal Virgins, had to guard the Sibylline books. The Sibylline books in this video, you will see, is the most important thing in Roman religion of all time. You will see how the Sibylline books affect Roman religion from the time of the Etruscans down up until the time of Christianity. The only thread that stays there is the Sibylline books.
But before I get to that, let's look at the world that the Romans were a part of. Over in Greece, there are four major religious parts of the pagan world. Number one, Zeus at Dodona, where the Oracle of Zeus was staying. People flocked from all over the Mediterranean world to go and speak to the Oracle of Zeus. You also have Artemis at Ephesus. Once again, people would flock from all over the Mediterranean world to see the goddess Artemis at Ephesus. Next, you have Delphi. The Oracle of Apollo was the most famous oracle in the entire world at the time. And finally, the Eleusinian Mysteries is where everybody wanted to be initiated because the Eleusinian Mysteries promised salvation and eternal life. The Eleusinian Mysteries was centered around Demeter and Bacchus and the daughter Persephone.
You also have down in Egypt, the religion of Isis, Osiris, and Ra. The Oracle of Amon in the desert of Siwa was super ancient and famous. In fact, Alexander the Great himself visited this oracle and was told that he would conquer the world and that he was the son of God. When Alexander the Great conquered the East, upon his death, the empire divided up into his generals. After the dust settled between the wars of these generals, you basically have Lysimachus in control of Thrace and Asia Minor, you have Ptolemy in control of Egypt, and then you have Seleucus in control of Syria and Persia. Over in Greece, Cassander was succeeded by Philip IV of Macedon. Cassander's son, Alexander V of Macedon, was ousted from power, and Greece was split up between Pyrrhus and Antigonus. The first son of Antigonus, the one-eyed. What followed from this is the rise of Rome and the decline of Macedonia. He'll make a long story short. Pyrrhus tried to invade Italy and failed. He did win the war, but it's called a Pyrrhic victory, which is named after him because the win was so catastrophic. The damage is what is called a loss. At this point, there was no long-term success having been done. In fact, Rome just got stronger from it. But Greek ideals did start to spread in Italy at this time, and Hellenism is now becoming part of Roman religion. Cato the Censor, or known as Cato the Elder, was known to reject Hellenism and to preach the old ways and support the old religion's favor over Hellenism. But Hellenism was too strong and too popular. Platonism, Pythagoreanism, Orphism all spread throughout Italy.
So during the Roman Republic, Rome has tons of festivals every month. Saturnalia in December, Lupercalia in February, Liberalia in March in honor of Bacchus, Cerealia in honor of Ceres in April, Megalesia in April in honor of Cybele, and Parilia, Robigalia, and the Floralia also in April and May. Lemuria in honor of the goddess Mania in May, Vestalia in honor of the god Vesta in June, the Games of Apollo in July, Festival of Diana in August, the Games of Rome in September. Basically, every month the Romans are throwing a festival for some sort of God.
Foreign. These gods change over time, and there are some major events that happen, and it has to do with the Sibylline books. But the Sibylline books in Rome were held sacred, and they were guarded by these priesthoods. 13 of these Sibyls throughout the empire. The Samian Sibyl was in Samos, the Tiburtine Sibyl in the city of Tibur, the Phrygian Sibyl in Phrygia, the Persian Sibyl, the Libyan Sibyl, the Hellespontine Sibyl, as well as the Delphic Sibyl, the Cumaean Sibyl, the Cimmerian Sibyl, and the Erythraean Sibyl. The Erythraean Sibyl was the prophetess who was presiding over the Oracle at Erythrae, a town in Ionia opposite of Chios.
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And 433 BCE, upon the advice of the Sibylline Oracles and the Sibylline books, priests were told to import Apollo. It was in a time of a plague, and the Romans vowed a temple to Apollo for the people's health. The temple was dedicated two years later. According to Livy, it was situated outside the Pomerium, apparently because Apollo was a non-Roman deity. There was probably an earlier shrine on this site of this temple that is later referred to as Apollo Medicus, the Healer. The Sibylline books are guiding the Romans in changing their religion, and every time the Sibylline books have a message for the priests, major changes to the Roman religion.
In 399 BCE, in another time of plague, the Romans introduced the Lectisternium, originally a Greek practice, on the advice of the Sibylline books. Here's what Livy says: "Plague was rife, affecting all living creatures. Since no cause or end of this incurable disease was found, the Senate decided to consult the Sibylline books. The Duumvirs celebrated over a period of eight days the first Lectisternium ever held in Rome, in order to win the favor of Apollo, Latona, Diana, Hercules, Mercury, and Neptune, spreading couches for them that were richly furnished as was possible at that time." The ritual was also celebrated in private houses.
And then in 396 BCE, the Sibylline books told the priests to perform an evocatio of Juno of Veii. In 396, when the Romans were about to take the city of Veii, an important, wealthy Etruscan city to the north of Rome, they performed the ritual of evocatio, inviting their enemy's God to come over to their side. Camillus, the Roman dictator, addresses the Veientine goddess Juno, offering her a temple in Rome in return for her desertion of Veii. By the evocatio, the Romans deprived the enemy of divine protection while also adopting the gods of the vanquished into their own Pantheon. This is what's going to become the theme of Roman religion and Roman success for the next 500 years.
In 292 BCE, because of a plague once again, the Romans consulted the Sibylline books, which advised them to bring in Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, from Epidaurus in Greece. Envoys were eventually sent to Greece. That god is said to have approached them in the form of a snake, and when nearing Rome, indicated the Tiber Island as the location for his temple. In 292 BCE, again, a foreign deity was installed outside the Pomerium.
During the Hannibalic War, several expiations were recommended by the Sibylline books after the Roman defeat at the Battle of Trasimene and the death of Flaminius. One was the building of a shrine of Venus Erycina. The epithet derives from Erix, a town in Northwest Sicily, where the principal deity, Astarte, was the Carthaginian equivalent of Venus. This area had been an important stronghold of the Carthaginians during the First Punic War and had only been conquered by the Romans with great difficulty. In 217 BCE, the fear was that this part of Sicily might defect from Rome. This importation would seem to be another instance of evocatio, even though not explicitly mentioned as such in the scanty sources. Since her temple was located on the Capitoline Hill, Venus Erycina is the first known example of a foreign deity to be brought inside the Pomerium.
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Then in 213 BCE, the continuing war resulted in religious hysteria in Rome and the abandonment of Roman ritual. The Senate ordered that the praetor to collect all the written prophecies and rituals and to forbid sacrifice in a new or foreign rite. The foreign superstition was evidently orgiastic and was perhaps an outbreak of Bacchic worship, or that of Magna Mater, or even both cults. But a year later, in 202 BCE, Livy reports the praetor's edict. Two oracles were published in response to the second Games to Apollo were authorized after a consultation of the Sibylline books. Later after that, Hannibal was still in Italy, and his brother Hasdrubal wasn't en route from Spain to invade the north in an attempt to bring him reinforcements. In 208 BCE, because of the plague, the Senate ordered that the Festival of Apollo be made an annual celebration.
And then finally, in 207 BCE, Hasdrubal was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Metaurus before he could reach Hannibal, but the latter still remained in southern Italy. In 205, the Romans were considering an invasion of Africa in the hope that this would cause Hannibal to withdraw from Italy. In the midst of this debate, the Romans consulted the Sibylline books, which advised them to bring to Rome Magna Mater, the Great Mother, who is known as the Mother of the Gods, the Idean Mother of Crete, or Cybele from Phrygia. This goddess was worshiped extensively in the area later known as Asia Minor, Turkey, and throughout the Greek world. One of the most famous goddesses in all the Mediterranean. One of her most important sanctuaries was in Phrygia. Her priests were eunuchs known as Galli, and her cult was orgiastic. Sternium, an earlier imported Greek ritual, and new games that were given a Greek title, the Megalesia, all an apparent attempt to present her as Greek rather than an Asiatic deity. There are several variants in the sources, including three different versions of her provenance. The antiquarian Varro, writing in the late Republic, derives her from Pergamum. Livy reports that she was brought from Pessinus, and Ovid unequivocally states that the goddess was to be found on Mount Ida near Troy. Livy reports that a sacred stone was brought from Pessinus, where Ovid seems to imply an anthropomorphic statue. This is the transformation of Roman religion from outside conquering lands.
In 186 BCE, the Roman Senate made a decree to suppress the worship of Bacchus, but however, this wouldn't last long because during the reign of Augustus, the worship of Bacchus was stronger than ever. The era of the Gracchi, and then Marius, and then Sulla. Sulla would go to war with Greece, and during this time, the trading between the Greeks and Romans, and the Roman Empire would expand its borders throughout the Mediterranean world and import all of the ways of the Greeks, such as Athens, Eleusinian Mysteries, the Oracle at Delphi. All these things were now a part of the Roman Empire.
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And then in 63, Pompey the Great finishes this off and conquers Pontus, Phrygia, Syria, and Egypt. By Julius Caesar, 63 BCE was a year of big transformation. This is the year that Julius Caesar becomes elected as Pontifex Maximus, the high priest. Pontifex Maximus at this time is so important because the office of Rex Sacrorum was out of service. The last person to be elected as Rex Sacrorum was actually Julius Caesar, but because of Sulla, he had to abandon the priesthood, and it was never brought back again. And for 70 years, nobody was the Rex Sacrorum. So Pontifex Maximus was the highest priesthood and was the head of all of Roman religion. So Julius Caesar was the Pope, basically, of the Roman pagan world. That's the best way to look at it. He was the highest priest of all. And that same year, Augustus was born. And after Julius Caesar is murdered, he adopted in his will Octavian, who takes on the name of Gaius Julius Caesar. And Julius Caesar is deified. Ovid and Virgil write religious texts: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Virgil's Aeneid. And these Latin texts are taking all of these ancient stories of Orpheus, or Medea, the stories of the religions of Cyprus, of Venus, or Adonis in Syria. All of these stories are taken and put into one story known as Ovid's Metamorphoses. This becomes a central text for Roman religion. In the first century, Virgil's Aeneid does the same thing. And in both of these texts, Julius Caesar is deified. What happens as a result of this is Caesar worship. Augustus transforms the Roman religion forever.
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Throughout the Roman Empire, towns with status of municipia, where local citizens had the so-called Latin rights and even full Roman citizenship, shared some of the Roman religious features of the colony. Their principal priesthoods, for example, were named after and modeled on Roman institutions. As I mentioned earlier, the Pontifices, the Augurs, the Haruspices. And from the second century onwards, municipia in North Africa also began to build their own Capitolia. A Capitolium was built at just the time that the group of Roman citizens was granted Imperial permission to receive legacies. The building of the Capitolium with its Roman-style cult of the Capitoline Triad was presumably intended to promote the recognition as an independent community.
Augustus gradually accumulated memberships of all the major priestly colleges, becoming the Pontifex Maximus in 48 BC, the Augur in 41 BCE, and the Quindecemvir Sacris Faciundis in 37 BCE. To mark this accumulation of priestly offices, a coin was issued in 16 BCE featuring the symbols of the priesthoods. In addition, Augustus was made a member of the three lesser priesthoods: Fratres Arvales, Sodales Titii, and the Vitularii. Portraits of the emperor, both on coins and statues, frequently showed him robed in a toga in the stance of sacrifice. In fact, from this period on, virtually no one else was depicted on a Roman public monument conducting sacrifice. Roman religion became tied to a particular person as well as a particular place.
In 7 BCE, Augustus divided Rome into 14 districts and 265 wards. This reorganization transformed the cults of the wards from 7 BCE onwards, and they became known as two different cults: the Lares Augusti and the Genius Augusti. To the old festival of the Lares on May 1st was added a new celebration on August 1st, when the magistrates took up office, in honor of the Genius Augusti. The significance of these new cults is clear enough in outline, if not in detail. The Lares, usually translated as household gods, were an ancient but obscure deities, seen by some ancient writers as the deified spirits of the dead. Basically, this was ancestor worship. Caesar worship was above the worship of the other gods.
The calendar itself would transform from a lunar calendar to a solar calendar under the era of Julius Caesar, which is why it's known as the Julian calendar. This changes all the Roman traditions as well. Whoever was Caesar was in control of all religion. And as a result of thinkers like Lucretius and Cicero, Middle Platonism would evolve from the combination of Stoicism and Platonism. The city of Alexandria would become a beacon for religious movements to come out of Christianity, Gnosticism, as well as other mystery religions. Through the Middle Platonism world, they are on the rise. By the time we get to the second century, Christianity is not legalized yet, but it is a religion that is tolerated by some. And as a result of this, you have the second-century boom of Christianity and Gnosticism.
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Roman religious institutions in the provinces were not merely reflections, then, on different levels of Romanization. They were also useful counters in the competition for prestige, honor, and status that was once the defining feature of the provincial culture. Across the Roman world, you see, as I mentioned, the Flamen Dialis was no longer in service. But Augustus brought this back in 11 BCE, and the ancient priesthood of Jupiter, which was left unfilled. Not surprisingly, though, this has been a classic example of religious neglect. Some ancient authors write in approval of Augustus's appointment of a new priest after a long gap as one component of his revival of traditional religion. You see, Augustus fixed up and rededicated 82 temples in one year. The revival of ancient Roman religion was back, but not just in Rome. This time, it was all over the Mediterranean, and it was all Roman initiation.
Inevitably meant entry into another secret world. It was particularly associated with foreign cults which met privately. The cult of Mithras was adopted by the Roman Imperial cult throughout the Roman Empire, and as a result, the Magi influenced religion all over the Mediterranean. Mystery cults were the new thing now. In the cult of Mithras, individuals probably belonged primarily to one Mithraic sanctuary and its group of worshipers. Christians too had a set of procedures for new members, which varied from group to group. In overtime, Augustus's reforms would change religion for the next 150 years. Even after the collapse of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, the Flavians would follow suit. They would also build temples in honor of Isis, and foreign gods were seen as something that Rome was proud of.
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Over in Egypt, an even more interesting story happens. This is the story of the Serapeum, the religion of Serapis. Let's see what Tacitus says about this story. How this god came to be. So Tacitus is talking about a story about Vespasian, upon leaving Judea, goes to Egypt, and at the request of a lame person, healed him and had his arm grow back in the name of Serapis.
"He was convinced that there were no limits to his destiny; nothing now seemed incredible. The great excitement of the bystanders, he stepped forward with a smile on his face and did as the men desired him. Immediately the hand recovered its functions, and daylight shone once more in the blind man's eyes. Those who were present still attest both miracles today." That there was nothing to gain by lying.
"The origins of the gods, Serapis, have not yet been canvassed in any Roman authorities. The priests of Egypt give the following account: King Ptolemy the First of the Macedonians, to put the power of Egypt on a firm footing, was engaged in building walls and temples and instituting religious cults for the newly founded city of Alexandria, where there appeared to him in sleep a young man of striking beauty and superhuman stature, who advised him to send his most faithful friends to Pontus to fetch his image. This would bring blessings to the kingdom, and its resting place would grow great and famous. The youth then appeared to ascend into heaven in a sheet of flame. Impressed by this miraculous omen, Ptolemy revealed his nocturnal vision to the priests of Egypt, who are used to interpreting such things. As they had but little knowledge of Pontus or foreign affairs, he consulted an Athenian named Timotheus, a member of the Eumolpid clan, who he had brought over from the Eleusinian Mysteries to act as priests of the religious rites, and asked him what strange cult and what God was meant. Found some people who had traveled to Pontus and learned from that near a town called Sinope there was a temple which had long been famous in the neighborhood as the seat of Jupiter Dii. Indeed, near it there also stood a female figure who was commonly called Proserpina or Persephone. Ptolemy was like most despots, easily terrified at first, but liable when his panic was over to think more of his pleasures than of his religious duties. The incident was gradually forgotten, and other thoughts occupied his mind until the vision was repeated in a more terrible and impressive form than before, and he was threatened with death and the destruction of his kingdom if he failed to fulfill instructions. He at once gave orders that an embassy should be made ready with presents for King Skedrastharmus, who was then reigning at Sinope. On the envoy's departure, he instructed them to consult the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. They made a successful voyage and received a clear answer from the Oracle: they were to go and bring back the image of Apollo's father, but leave behind his sisters."
Now think about what just happened in there. In that passage, we were just told that this god Serapis is the father of Apollo, who's married to Persephone, who's also Isis. And he's linked to the Eleusinian Mysteries through this priest Timotheus. And also the Oracle at Delphi is saying where to find this god. So we have Athens, Delphi, Sinope, Egypt, all these places are linked in a sort of universal priesthood that's starting to form in Egypt, where this god has the ability to be linked with oracles from all over the Greek world. The most famous and important. Delphi, Eleusis, Sinope, Egypt. This god Serapis, who they found in Sinope, was important to Delphi and Eleusis.
"The story now grows grander still. The god himself, it says, embarked unaided on one of the ships that lay beached on the shore, and by a miracle accomplished the long sea journey and landed at Alexandria. Within three days, a temple worthy of so important a city was then built in the corridor called Rhakotis, on the site of the ancient shrine of Serapis and Isis. This is the most widely accepted account of the god's origin and arrival. Some people, I am well aware, maintain that the god was brought from the Syrian town of Seleucia during the reign of Ptolemy the Third of that name. Others again say it was from this same Ptolemy, but make the place of origin the famous town of Memphis, once the bulwark of ancient Egypt. Many take the god for Asclepius because he cures diseases. Others, Osiris, the oldest of the local gods. Many again think he's Jupiter, as being the sovereign lord of the world. But the majority of people, either judging by what are clearly attributes of the god, or by an ingenious process of conjecture, identify him with Father Dis, which is the ancient Roman Father Jupiter."
Now that is so, so appalling to read because the emperor of Rome is linked to this god who is the highest god of all Egypt, who is important for Delphi, he's important for the Eleusinian Mysteries, he's important for the Seleucids, he's important for the kingdom of Pontus. What task is this trying to say here is that this god of Serapis is the most important god in the Roman Empire. That is a big claim. Now the reason why I'm, I'm putting this up is because I just want to show you here is where the Serapis priesthood gets famous from.
But let's go over to Pontus, though, Pergamum. So I mentioned how after Alexander the Great conquered the East, his kingdom was divided up. Lysimachus was in control of Thrace and Turkey. Lysimachus, after his death, his kingdom got split up as well, and the Attalid Dynasty reigned in what became the kingdom of Pergamum. And the kingdom of Pergamum becomes a Roman province in the year 63 BCE when Pompey the Great conquers all of the East. And so the priesthood in Pergamum was following suit of Egypt. They have an altar of Serapis, and now this is adopted into the Roman Imperial cult. A universal priesthood is forming now. Pergamum, Egypt, and this royal priesthood that Pompey the Great allows to stay in power in Syria.
Ptolemy V Epiphanes married Cleopatra, daughter of the Seleucid Empire. This royal marriage would bring a bond between the Egyptians and the Syrians that would last through the form of a royal priesthood. Ptolemy the Fifth was a descendant of Ptolemy the First, who was a companion of Alexander the Great. While Cleopatra, a Syrian, was the daughter of Antiochus the Great, who can trace her lineage back to Seleucus, also another general of Alexander the Great. This was all the way back in 200 BCE, which sets us up. And when Pompey the Great conquers the East, he will allow the priesthoods of the Eastern realms to stay in place. For example, Jerusalem, the temple to Yahweh, as well as this Syrian priesthood of Elagabal. The reason why I bring this up is to set up the setting for Sohaemus of Emesa, a member of the royal family, second-born son and child to the priest-king Samsigeramus II, who ruled the Emesene kingdom from 14 until 42. He had an older brother named Gaius Julius Azizos, who was the first husband of the Herodian princess Drusilla, and had two sisters. Sohaemus was born and raised in Emesa. His paternal grandfather was the former Emesene priest-king Iamblichus II, who was installed by none other than Augustus.
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Sohaemus married Drusilla, who was none other than the granddaughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and they had a son named Gaius Julius Alexion. Sohaemus, during his reign, was crucial for the Roman Empire because when Titus and Vespasian came to conquer Israel, he was a key ally and aligned himself with the Romans against the Jews. This would allow the priesthood of Elagabal to survive for another century, which brings us to Julius Bassianus.
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Where the solar deity was worshiped in the shape of a black stone, which was said to have fallen from heaven. The name Elagabalus derives from El, a Semitic word for God, and Gabal, an Arabic word for mountain, god of the mountain. Bassianus was a member of the royal family, which I just had described, tracing its roots back to the royal families of Ptolemy, Seleucus, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and the Romans knew that this was a real royal priesthood that existed in the Eastern Roman Empire. Now, Bassianus had a daughter named Julia Domna, who married the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. Julia Domna was so famous and so revered by the Romans, she was deified as Augusta Soteria. In Athens, we have a Greek inscription from 211 of the Common Era. The inscription records a decree of honors granted to her by the Athenians. She is given the title Savior, implying that decree was in gratitude for some protection. According to Athens, the surviving sections of the texts are concerned particularly with honors that identified Julia Domna with the ancient protective goddess of Athens, Athena Polias. So her full title becomes the Savior of Athens, Julia Sebaste, translated in late Latin is Augusta.
"Here is the translation that we get from Mary Beard: 'Of her inherent philanthropy, cooperating for all, the Savior of Athens, Julia Sebaste. I propose that in all other respects it should be done as my colleague in office, Elpodapharos, son of Eudotos from Phaleron, during my absence proposed. All the annual are contests are to sacrifice to Good Fortune on the most holy birthday of Julia Sebaste Augusta, and to make Soteria, the Savior of Athens, Julia Augusta, Athena Polias. The general over the hoplites, the archon, the day of the month is to be holy, the day in which Athens dedicated the ancient temple to her. The war archon is to sacrifice to the mother of the forces on the first day of the Roman year, and these sacrifices are to be started by the priestess of Athena, and she will receive the prerequisites. And a golden statue of Julia Domna is to be set up in the Parthenon, and the general is to perform the preliminary sacrifice to Good Fortune in the are contest, and all the priests and the herald are to pour libations, and the priestess and the queen of the king archon are to sacrifice and to offer esteria of the priesthood of Athena Polias, and retiring araforai are also to sacrifice and raise the torch and dance at the festival, in order that through these events also our reverence towards the Savior of Athens, Julia Sebaste, may be evident. The account of these matters shall be inscribed on a tablet and set up by the altar of the augustoi sebastoi on the Acropolis.'"
No woman in the history of the Roman Empire has ever been granted such high deification other than the wife of Augustus himself. She was seen as Athena incarnate and a savior, a Soteria. Now, with that being said, I've just laid out to you there's a royal priesthood that's in Syria that traces its roots back to some of the most famous people in in world history, according to the Romans and the Greeks. And we also have a deified woman, Julia Domna. And why did I tell you all this? You're looking at the title of saying, what does this have to do with Elagabalus? And when Severus died in 211, became the mediator between their two sons, Caracalla and Geta, who inherited the throne, and she was the actual Empress, the most powerful woman, the most powerful person, actually, in the entire Roman Empire, more powerful than Caracalla and Geta. And this royal family of Emesa produced a young boy named Elagabalus, who actually became the Roman Emperor himself. This is what would change Roman religion forever.
In 218 of the Common Era, he would transform Roman religion forever. Herodian tells us that when Elagabalus entered the city and was acclaimed the princeps, he enshrined Heliogabalus on the Palatine Hill next to the Temple of the Emperors and built a temple for him, being eager to transfer to that temple both the emblem of the mother goddess and the fire of Vesta, the Palladium, the sacred shields, and all the objects sacred to the Romans. So that no god should be worshiped at Rome except Heliogabalus. He used to say, furthermore, that the religion of the Jews and the Samaritans and the rites of the Christians ought to be transferred there, so that the priesthood of Heliogabalus might include the mysteries of every cult. This would be the move that would change the old pagan ways forever, coinciding with the rise of Neoplatonism and the rise of monotheism. This sun god worship religion became the central religion of Rome itself.
A few decades later, Aurelian would dedicate a temple to Sol Invictus and would combine this Sol Invictus sun god worship that Elagabalus brought to Rome with the Mithraic religion and made the super-Neoplatonous religion of Rome. Meanwhile, the Sibylline religion itself, as well as the Orphic religion, begin to blend with Judeo-Christianity in Alexandria, Egypt. And a movement known as the Hipsistarian religion, a Greek monotheism, is rising in Anatolia.
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The letters of Saint Paul and the Gospels are circulating throughout the Eastern Roman Empire at the same time as the rise of the Sol Invictus religion. And these Hipsistarians, or God worshipers, Theos worshipers, Greek monotheists, are becoming Christian. Christianity takes over in the Eastern realms of the Roman Empire, and the Sibylline Oracles have texts about Jesus as well as Nero being the Antichrist. So the Sibylline books that were so central to Roman paganism are now central to Christianity. And as that is happening, Sol Invictus is the main god of Rome. He is a triad of Jupiter, Mithras, and Helios, or Apollo.
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The time Constantine becomes the emperor, these are the two major religions: Christianity and Sol Invictus. And Christianity becomes legalized because of how popular it is at this time among ecclesias, among Christ's association groups, monastic orders throughout the Roman Empire. They now have their own funding. And within a couple decades after Constantine, Theodosius and his dynasty decide that Christianity would be the only religion going forward. They shut down the Academy in Athens, they shut down the Temple of Serapis, they shut down the Mithraeum of Mithras, they shut down the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, they shut down the Temple of Athena, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. All of these major pagan sites are now shut down. In response to Julian the Apostate, at the final attempt to restore the old ways of Rome, which was a failure, and Christianity would be the only religion in the Western World for the next thousand years.
When Aurelian dedicated the temple to Sol Invictus on December 25th, this became a national holiday. But Theodosius transferred this holiday to the birthday of Christ, which became Christmas. And many of the festivals throughout the Roman Calendar were either completely removed or transferred into some sort of Christian festival, like Easter, for example. And Saturnalia would slowly morph into the holiday season. And that is the story of the evolution of Roman religion. Let me know what you guys think about that. If I left anything out, I really wanted to sweep through it quickly because there's a lot. These all these subjects can be an hour by itself, but I wanted to attempt to do a wide macro sweeping of history of the evolution of religion and focus on these key game-changer moments of the Roman Empire and how it changes religion forever. And so that being said, you have attained true gnosis.
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