Lararium of Senex Caecilius

The Lararium of Senex Caecilius

The family shrine to the household gods is located in a small alcove just off the atrium. Included in our prayers are the genius of this house along with the lares and penates of our family. They are worshipped here on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides of each month, and at any notable family event, but they are also remembered at every meal. The table always has a salt cellar and a small offering of first fruits for them, and a portion of every meal is thrown into the flames of the hearth fire.

In addition to the prayers, libations, and offerings at home, we rely on public rites and ceremonies such as vows, sacrifices, and divinations to complete our worship. These religious observances are celebrated by the priests, and the festivals are decided by the head of the college of priests, the pontifex maximus.

Here are a few more facts about religious beliefs in ancient Rome.

Religion was mainly a matter of observing a cult rather than displaying spirituality.

A cult was the worship of a deity, hero, or emperor with formalized rituals.

There were no sacred writings apart from the formulae of prayers.

For additional information on Roman mythology and religion, consult these sources:

The Encyclopedia Mythica has an alphabetical listing of 300+ topics on Roman mythology supplemented with pronunciation and images.
Although Religio Romana is a neo-pagan site, it contains facts about ancient Roman holidays and festivals, rites and rituals, priests and cults.
The scholarly On the Roman Religion is "a compendious reference to organization, deities, rituals, and history of the Religion of Rome." Amen!

Some of the preceding information comes from Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, written by Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins and published in1994 by The Oxford University Press (New York).