IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:

Religious life in Roman London

Pipe-clay Venus figurine from Roman London

Venus figurines were cheap religious offerings

During the four hundred years of the Roman occupation of London the native population must have been influenced by many aspects of Roman civilization. The result was a fusion of native and foreign lifestyles, cultures and fashions. This can be seen in religion which was integral to all aspects of Roman life, operating on many levels, both secular and spiritual, both formal and informal.

Personal religious beliefs were of a more superstitious nature, seeking permission from the gods for their everyday activities and asking them for favours.

Payment might have been with simple personal trinkets or figurines left for the gods in such accepted religious areas and shrines as the banks of the middle Walbrook stream or down religious shafts. The cemetery areas too can show an element of religious belief although it can be difficult to interpret.

Statue head of Mithras recovered from the site of the Walbrook Mithraeum

The eastern god Mithras, probably brought to London by the military

The surviving structural evidence for temples in Roman London is limited and what there is shows a mixture of classical, eastern and provincial cults. It does seem that the formal classical deities were superseded by religions that could provide greater emotional and spiritual satisfaction along with the belief of everlasting life while native beliefs were an additional insurance for those Britons living and working in Roman London.

Added to the general population was the rich mix of foreigners who worked for the administration, served in the army or were involved in trade, some coming from the closer provinces of Gaul and Germany but others coming from further afield. The result was a cosmopolitan melting pot of influences and beliefs and it is hardly surprising that London can show evidence for both public classical, eastern and Romano-British religions.

Inscription to Mars Camulus from Tabard Square temple site in Southwark

Dedicatory inscription to Mars Camulus from the temple complex in Southwark

Many excavations in the London area have found elements of religious life as even the houses would have had their own shrines to household and personal favoured deities. The temple of the eastern god Mithras was excavated in the 1950s (WFG44 and GM157); a possible classical-style religious complex in the 1980s (PET81) while Romano-Gallic temples were found in a complex in Southwark (LLS02) in 2002.

Information about these sites has been published in various excavation reports while the more personal items, found throughout the settlement, add to our picture of the religious beliefs of Roman Londoners.

Living In Roman London

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS:

Religious life in Roman London