How did ordinary Romans worship the gods? Scientists have found hidden clues in Pompeii
When Roman religion is mentioned, what usually comes to mind is grand temples, state ceremonies and the emperor's official cult practices. But according to HistoryExtra's review, the everyday religious life of ordinary Romans — shopkeepers, slaves, freed slaves and lower-income families — is far less documented in the historical sources. The city of Pompeii, buried under ash by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, is one of the richest resources archaeologists have to fill that gap, because the city was frozen, preserving an instant cross-section of daily life.
Nearly every house in Pompeii contained a household shrine known as a 'lararium'. These small worship niches were dedicated to the family's protective spirits — the Lares and the Penates. Professor Mary Beard, a classical historian at the University of Cambridge, told HistoryExtra that the lararia are the most important archaeological witness to how Roman religion was lived at the household level rather than the level of the state. According to Beard, these shrines were woven into the family's daily rhythm — short offerings made before meals, celebrations of birth and marriage.
Wall paintings are also crucial to reconstructing popular religion. The frescoes on the walls of Pompeian houses often include serpent figures (a symbol of protective spirits), depictions of gods, and scenes of the family making offerings. Dr Massimo Osanna of the University of Naples archaeology department — the former director-general of the Pompeii Archaeological Park — describes these frescoes as 'a visual archive of religious practices that do not appear in the written sources.' Osanna says that some wall paintings revealed in recent excavations may point to previously unknown local cult practices.
The small shrines at street corners ('compita') carry the traces of neighbourhood-level religious life. These were the points where neighbourhood communities held shared celebrations, left offerings and performed festival rituals. As HistoryExtra's article notes, these structures show that Roman religion was organised not only at the individual and household level but also at the social-neighbourhood level — a structure close to 'community life' in the modern sense.
Votive remains reveal the material dimension of popular religion. The small terracotta figurines, food remains, lamps and coins found in Pompeii show concretely what ordinary people offered to the gods. Dr Esther Eidinow, a specialist in Roman religion at the University of Oxford, says these objects represent 'a layer of religious experience we would never see in the written sources' — the religious life of those who were illiterate or whose voices are not heard in the sources. Eidinow emphasises that the relationship between the economic value of votive objects and the social status of the person making the offering can also be examined.
Modern archaeological techniques are deepening this reconstruction. Soil analyses, molecular examination of organic remains and 3D scanning are extracting new data from finds that could previously only be assessed visually. For example, the chemical analysis of burnt layers in lararium remains can reveal which types of incense and offering substances were used. HistoryExtra notes that these techniques have opened a new door to reconstructing the 'sensory dimension' of Roman popular religion — smells, sounds, tactile experience.
How religious practice varied by class and status is also an important subject of the research. While the lararia in large villas were made of marble and precious materials, the shrines in modest homes were simple painted niches. These material differences show how religious experience in Roman society was interwoven with socio-economic stratification. Historians emphasise that slaves and freed slaves also had their own religious practices — sometimes participating in their masters' cult, sometimes continuing their own traditions.
The findings at Pompeii are also shaping academic debates about the understanding of ancient Roman religion. Traditionally, Roman religion was studied within a framework centred on the state cult and official ceremony; but the archaeological work of recent decades shows that everyday and local religious practice was far more varied and widespread. This shift in perspective is part of a broader debate about how the concept of 'religion' should be defined in the ancient world — the view that modern religious categories cannot be applied directly to ancient practices is becoming increasingly common in academia.
The Pompeii Archaeological Park continues its work in the as-yet-unexcavated parts of the city; roughly one third of the city remains under ash. The park's management says it has adopted an approach prioritising conservation for future excavation — meaning some areas are deliberately left closed to be examined with more advanced techniques in the future. HistoryExtra notes that this approach means future generations may uncover further layers of Roman popular religion with more precise methods.
The whole body of this work reveals that the relationship ordinary Romans had with the gods was far more personal, varied and everyday than commonly assumed. In the shadow of the state cult's monumental architecture, the religious life that millions of ordinary people maintained in the corners of their homes, at the entrances of their shops and in their neighbourhood streets becomes visible again thanks to the silence of Pompeii preserved under ash. The advance of archaeology in this field continues to offer a rare opportunity to access the experience of the ancient world's 'silent majority'.