The challenge of forging a society from diverse peoples is not unique to modern America. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman empire spread onto three continents and held more than one-fifth of the Earth's population. Rome allowed its diverse peoples to practice their own religions as long as they also made offerings to Roman gods. People of most religions agreed to this arrangement. Jews and Christians couldn't.
Today, the area of the ancient Roman empire holds more than 25 separate nations. At its peak, the Roman empire reached north to Britain and south halfway up the Nile River. Rome controlled all the land surrounding the Mediterranean, making the large sea, in effect, a "Roman lake." Its conquered peoples represented many different cultures and spoke a multitude of languages, such as Greek, Celtic, Aramaic, Egyptian, Numidian, Berber, and Phoenician. Each had its own religion, which it held sacred.
Rome won its empire by force. But to control such a vast empire, it needed to win the cooperation of its subject peoples. It did this in various ways. Instead of punishing conquered nations, Rome often treated them as allies, encouraging them to take part in the glory and wealth of building the empire. To the more primitive peoples in Gaul (France), Britain, and Spain, Rome offered an advanced civilization with a written language (Latin), a legal system, and well-run cities. The people in the eastern part of the empire—Greece, Asia Minor, Middle East, and Egypt—had already been deeply influenced by Greek civilization. Rome recognized and honored this civilization, allowing Greek to continue as the language of educated people in this part of the empire. To all its subject peoples, Rome granted religious toleration as long as they also honored Roman gods.
The Roman religion included many major and minor gods headed by the sky god, Jupiter. In Roman belief, a sort of contract existed between the people and their gods. In exchange for the Romans practicing the required religious rituals, the gods would ensure prosperity, health, and military success.
Like the Romans, almost all the conquered peoples were polytheistic. They worshiped their own gods, who they thought protected them. Since they believed other peoples had their own gods, they found it relatively easy to take part in festivals celebrating Roman gods. It was simply a matter of paying respect to the Romans.
In return, the Romans built temples and made animal sacrifices for the conquered peoples' gods. In fact, at various times other peoples' gods became wildly popular among Romans. The Romans actually identified the Greek gods with their own. Jupiter and Zeus, for example, were viewed as the same god. When Greco-Roman gods didn't meet their needs, many Romans joined mystery cults from the east. The cult of Isis, an Egyptian goddess, swept the empire at the beginning of the first century. The cult of Mithras, the Persian sun god, proved particularly popular to soldiers (and useful to the empire because it idealized courage).
The Romans generally tolerated these cults, but there were exceptions. Crowds celebrating Dionysus, a Greek god associated with wine and drunkenness, grew so frenzied that Rome suppressed the cult for a while. But within a few years, Rome relented and allowed it as long as no more than five worshiped at any one time. When a priest from the cult of Isis seduced an innocent Roman woman, Roman Emperor Tiberius ordered the temple destroyed and its priests executed. But the next emperor once again permitted the cult.
