by Angel Edwards

Created on: January 05, 2011

Religion and temples were introduced into Britain during the Roman occupation. Prior to the Roman invasion of Britain, various different deities had been worshiped in a polytheistic religion, much like the rest of Europe at the time. Each locality had its own favoured deity with many different variations of the Gods being favored and used in each area. (Webster 1986) The north if Britain may very well have had Gods that did not exist to the knowledge of the South and vice versa.

Romans too had multiple Gods and were therefore more willing to accept the possibility that there were other Gods that they had not yet come across from all over the world. It was possibly because of this that the Classical cults appear to have slotted nicely into place next to the British ones, creating what can almost be seen as a Romano-British religion. However, the Roman hostility towards the ‘Druids’ should also be observed, as although on the surface it may appear that the Romans were accepting of the British culture, this would suggest otherwise. But it must also be considered that this was potentially a Roman ploy to gain backing from the Roman public, for what otherwise may be seen as a maneuver very much made simply for the gain of the British resources. However, as there is little evidence of the druids, only the Roman perception can be commented on and treated with caution. (Lewis, 1966)

The main cults introduced into Britain were from the ‘Capitoline Triad’ – Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. This was possibly due to the fact that these were the cults favored by the Roman Army and since these were the main Roman influence which Britain would have had at the beginning of Roman occupation, it is hardly surprising that this was the result. The Army made gestures to the native British religious beliefs, associating some of their own Gods with British ones. As a result of this, over time, there grew in time a wide spectrum of religious beliefs which incorporated both classical and native deities. (Wacher, 1978) ‘Celtic beliefs received a classical veneer, while at the same time classical cults became acceptable to the Britons’ (Wacher, 1978 p.249). It could be considered that is was this acceptance by the Romans which allowed a sort of fusion, or at least acceptance to occur.

There were classically styled temples in Britain, however, these tend to be rare and restricted to towns and cities, basically, more Romanised areas, such as Bath and

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