Maurizio Bettini in 'Rome, city of the gods

We have forgotten the Roman religion. Overtaken, erased by the triumph of Christianity, the gods of Rome have been reduced to mere interpreters of Ovid's Metamorphoses or of much Renaissance, 18th-century, Romantic poetry. Of course, Jupiter, Juno, Venus we can still “see them” in the splendid forms of the statues that adorn our museums; but they are now only works of art, not living objects of worship. Yet, these literary and figurative figures were once powerful deities, honoured in Rome by solemn rituals. Above all, however, the Romans' conception of religion still has much to teach our modern culture.