Public vs. Private Religion. When studying ancient Roman religion, we must make some fundamental distinctions and define some basic terms. The first distinction, that between public and private religion, is in fact somewhat false, for Roman public religion was to a great extent an outgrowth of private religion. That is, as different clans joined to form the early Roman political state, some cults originally belonging to families, such as the worship of Hercules at the Greatest Altar, or, much later, Christianity, were eventually adopted as public cults, belonging to the whole people. It would seem best, therefore, to begin a study of Roman religion with private cults. It is important to keep in mind, though, that the systematic examination of a religion does not necessarily give us a complete or accurate picture. Real life, including religion, is not very systematic. The Romans'...