erings to the temples. Enormous numbers of livestock and cattle went to augment the wealth of the temples, and to swell the incomes of the priests and attendants, many of whom became extremely wealthy. Temple worship was no essential part of Roman life. If it had been, it is difficult to understand why there were not more than about a hundred within the city confines, which is no large number in a city of some million inhabitants. Romans kept their religious faith because they grew up with it in their homes. Its strength did not depend so much upon visits to the temples or upon the services of the priests because every home had a domestic shrine and alter before which daily act of reverence could take place. There were lares of the cross roads also, who could be worshiped out doors by the homeless or by those too poor to maintain their own family shrine (Handbook To Life In Ancient Greece). Roman religion had been heavily influenced by its surrounding civilizations, especially Greek and Etruscan. Characteristic for early Roman religion are the so called function gods : gods that perform only one specific function that was mostly agricultural. Rome used to be an agricultural community before evolving into a world power. Apart from these , gods as Stercutus the god of the power of manure , nature itself was full of godly powers. In a later stage the Romans transformed under Greek influence. Since the beginning of their existence Romans tended to take over other cults and incorporate them into their own religion ; cults like the one of Cybele, originally from Anatolia, Mithras from the Persians and even Isis from Egypt where adapted and incorporated in Roman society. During the Empire an important new cult was institutionalized , the cult of the Emperor. Starting from Augustus onwards the emperor was deified and worshiped (Home Work Help : History). This was very handy to unify the empire and show loyalty to the emperor. Roman religion was...
