Cults of Rome

 Introduction
There several prominent religious cults in Rome.  They are as follows: Colleges, Saturn, Asclepius, Venus Imperial cult, Cybele, Isis, Sabazios, Eleusinian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries, Cabeiri Mysteries, Mithraism, and Valentinianism.  These cults had a big impact on Christ-insanity, which became the state religion.     

Cults

The original Romans were the Latins.  They had there own religion.  It was later influenced by the Etruscans, then the Greeks.  After Rome became an empire, people from various parts of the world came to Rome.  They brought their religions with them.  That why there was so many cults in Rome.  There was a plethora of religious ideas.  All of these cults were mini-religions.  

Religious Colleges: These were organizations that performed rituals 4 a certain deity and/or did divination.  The members of College of Pontiffs were politicians.  There wasn't a separation between church and state.  It had a a chief high priest, high priests, priests, and Vestal virgins.  The high priests were called pontiffs just like priests in the Catholic Church.  The pope is the modern version of the chief high priest.  

There was 18 priests/priestesses that served 18 deities.  They were called flame and flaminica.  These priests had the power to pardon criminals and they couldn't eat certain food.  To be a priest he had to married to a upper class women.  He also had to do a certain marriage ceremony.  His wife had to be a virgin that wasn't married b4.  She became a priestess to the deity her husband was serving.  Jupiter priestess sacrificed rams to him on market days.  These couples worked together, even though they had different duties.  If one of them died, the other one had to step down.  Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus were the most important deities.  

The virgins were priestess of Vesta.  There was 6 of them and they had to serve for @ least 30 years.  Once they got finished they could marry.  The virgins were chosen when they were kids.  They had to keep the fire going in Vesta temple and keep the temple clean.  They got holy water from a spring, prepared food 4 public rituals and attended festivals.  If the fire went out that virgin was in trouble.  If one of them had sex while a serving Vesta, they were buried alive.  Nuns are based off the Vestal virgins. 

Augur college consisted of diviners.  Some divined for people, while others got omens from deities.  They got omens from thunder, lighting, birds, 4 legged animals, etc.  The bird diviners had 2 different ways of diving.  By the sound of the bird or it's position in the sky.  

Quindecimviri sacris faciundis college read and protected the Sibylline Books.  They interpreted scripture when the Senate asked them.  They also divined by seeing omens.  There were 15 priests in this college.  

Epulones college arranged the feast @ festivals.  They took the role from the pontiffs in 196 BCE.  Members of this college were commoners and there was 7 of them.  They used a special bowl 4 libation.  The Eucharist plate the Catholic Church uses was inspired by that bowl.  

Saturn: He is the god of time, farming, abundance, etc.  Cronus was merged with him after the Roman conquest of Greece.  He overthrew his father Uranus by castrating him.  Someone told him a prophesy, one of his kids will knock off his crown.  So he swallowed all his children, except Zeus.  His wife gave him a stone, which he thought was his son.  Zeus defeated him and he throw up his children fully grown.  This cult wasn't common outside Rome.  Saturnalia was his holiday, which was a lot like Christmas.       

Asclepius: He was the Greek god of medicine.  Imhotep maybe the inspiration for Asclepius.  He is the son of Apollo.  This cult was widespread throughout the Roman Empire.  Members of the cult treated patients in there temples.  They were doctors and their symbol was a snake.     

Venus: Julius Caesar founded this cult in Rome.  Julius believed she was his ancestor.  It probably existed in other places b4 then.  Venus was merged with Aphrodite after Rome conquered Greece.  She is the goddess of love, beauty and femininity.  Zeus is her nephew and she came from the foam of Uranus severed penis.  The Romans thought she would switch sides during the 2nd Punic War if they build her a "magnificent" temple and she did.  The first Venus cult was only for rich people.  Then decades later a Venus cult 4 poor people was created.  She had many different paths and 4 festivals.           

Imperial: It started when Augustus was emperor.  The senate would vote on a emperor to make a god.  Then people would worship them.  Rome was a empire when this was going on.  The idea of this cult was to promote cohesion in a cosmopolitan society.  This cult reminds me of Catholic saints.  This cult dried up after Christianity became the state religion.  But a lot of the beliefs and practices lived on in Catholicism.    

Cybele: This cult comes from Phrygia.  She is a mother and mountain goddess.  She was a great protector.  Members of the cult would sing and dance, while in a trance.  They also drunk a lot of wine and the priests were feminized eunuchs called Galli.  Rome was introduced to cult during the 2nd Punic War.  The Roman Senate checked the Sibyline Books and from that reading they assumed by worshiping Cybele they would win the war.  They were right, because they won the war.   Cybele became the goddess of Rome after Augustus became emperor.  In March there was an Holy Week in which she and Attis were celebrated.  He was her husband.  Her festival started on 4/1.  There were chariot races in her honor and parade.  The Galli wore helmets and carried swords in the parade.  Members of the cult may have bathed in blood, practiced incest and orgies.            

Isis:  This cult originated in Egypt.  She is very magickal and full of wisdom; she had many traits, so she was known as the Goddess with 10,000 Names.   Queen of Heaven, Great Virgin and Giver of Life is sum of her epithets.  Isis is a mother goddess and member of a trinity.  She has a husband (Osiris) and son (Horus the Younger).  That's the most famous trinity in Egypt.  She helped Osiris resurrect after he was killed by Set.  He was able to resurrect because she fanned his corpse with her wings.  There are statues of her breastfeeding Horus, which was the inspiration of pictures of Mary breastfeeding Jesus.  Her priests/priestess used holy water from the Nile.  You had to be a virgin 2 be one of her priestess.  If she wanted someone to get initiated in her cult, she would visit them in dream.  Romans from all classes were members of this cult.  From politician to slave, even though membership was low compared to other cults.  But the cult had mostly poor people and women.  She gave salvation to her followers by giving them a pleasant afterlife.  There were several Isis festivals that dealt with prayer, her finding her husband's body and giving birth to Horus.  Sometimes birds were sacrificed 2 her.  Roman soldiers spread the cult throughout the empire.  Barbarian (foreign) tribes worshiped her.  Christians in Alexandria destroyed her temples and statues.    

Sabazios:  This cult was created by Thracians and Phrygians.  He was depicted as a horseman battling a serpent.  He castrated himself, died and resurrected.  Cybele may have been his mom.  Members of the cult were snake handlers; also praise singers and dancers.  This cult was even in France!           

Eleusinian Mysteries: It started in Greece than it moved to Rome.  Members of this cult worshiped Demeter and her daughter.  Anyone could join as long as they haven't murdered anyone.  The mysteries dealt with Kore being kidnapped by Hades.  Demeter made the Earth barren until Hades gave Persephone back.  This cult may have stared with the Mycenaeans.  It was practiced throughout the Roman Empire.  It faded out when Christianity became popular.          

Dionysian Mysteries: Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and members of his cult drunk a lot of it.  They had a big party.  Music, dancing, eating, drinking and a great big orgy.  This cult may have been created by the Thracians.  They used drugs to go into altered states of consciousness and invoked spirits.  The people most attracted to this cult were women, slaves and barbarians.      

Cabeiri Mysteries:  It started in Greece, then spread from there.  The Cabeiri were 8 deities that were siblings.  They were the children of Hephaestus and his grand-niece Cabeiris.  They were connected to nature, life, death, Earth, the sea, and fertility.  They had the ability to cause earthquakes and fires.    

Mithraism: Mithra is a Persian Sun god that made his way to Rome in 60 BCE.  It was practiced by Roman soldiers for 300 years.  This religion existed throughout the Roman empire.  There were 7 degrees within this cult, which were associated with the 7 planets.  They had temples underground.  This cult was homosexual because it only allowed men in it.  They had rituals similar to baptism and communion.  The Christians suppressed it centuries later.      

Valeninianism: This form of Gnosticism was created by Valentinus.  He was taught in Alexandria and almost became a bishop in Rome, so he started a cult.  They believed the Father came from the void.  Sophia was his daughter; she became confused when she tried to understand him.  In that confusion she gave birth to Yahweh.  He was all alone, so he thought he was the only god.  In his ignorance he created the phenomenal universe.  Christ is her son, his job was to redeem humanity.  They believed humans were body, mind and soul.  Spirit is good and matter is evil.  Salvation comes from knowledge, not faith and baptism was one of there sacraments.  Several texts were written by them.  

Impact on Christ-insanity

These pagan cults had a very big impact on Catholicism.  The pope is based on pontifex maximus.  Nuns are based on Vestal Virgins.  Isis is the prototype of Mary.  Mary is similar to Cybele as well.  The saints remind of defied ancestors, which you can find in the Imperial cult.  People gave each other gifts during Saturnalia, which took place in late December.  Sounds like Christmas!!!!!!  Mithra was a Sun god, so was Jesus.  People in that cult had baptism and communion.  Several of the cults dealt with resurrection.     

The New State Religion

The Roman government persecuted Christians, until Christianity became the state religion.  Once that happened, they persecuted pagans.  The Roman brand of Christ-insanity became Catholicism.  Emperor Constantine had a dream.  It was a cross and in the middle it said by this sign you will conquer.  Remember the Catholic Church controlled Europe throughout the dark ages.  It's all politics @ the end of the day.        

Conclusion

Rome had many different cults because there were many different tribes that lived there.  I only wrote about 13 of them.  Dogmatism wasn't popular when paganism was the rave.  They had a big impact on Christ-insanity.  It wouldn't even exist without paganism.  Once it became a state religion, Christians became oppressive and dogmatic.  Monotheism is foolish!!!!  Stay away from it.       

References

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mystery-religion/ 

wikipedia.org

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501560/7-greco-roman-mystery-cults-you-should-know

https://docslib.org/doc/5338269/the-cult-of-sabazios-the-cult-of-a-gallo-roman-god-on-a-relief-from

duckduckgo.com

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/isis-is-a-virgin-mother/

Roman sacrifices to Aset

https://new.exchristian.net/2012/06/great-virgin-isis-ancient-mythology-is.html

https://spells8.com/lessons/isis-goddess-worship/

https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/traditions/the-mysterious-eleusinian-mysteries-part-1/

https://issuu.com/haleyclassicaljournal/docs/the_haley__issue_ii_final/s/10730817

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)76654-X/fulltext