From the rise of Rome, to its fall, the characteristics of ancient Roman religion encompassed traits that would understandably raise eyebrows in contemporary society. Whether a sacrificial ox’s life was abruptly cut short to please the god Jupiter (Jupiter-Encyclopedia Britannica), or the sacrifice of two Gauls and two Greeks after Rome’s defeat at Cannae (Felix), it becomes easy to become focused on the more barbaric qualities of ancient Roman religion. However, upon further examining their religious practices, one can see how ancient Roman culture and past influenced the more clandestine (to the common man or woman) features of this religion. Of such features include the innumerable gods worshipped, fetishism and animism, ritual and state religion, as well as sacrifices, prayers, and women’s role. When comparing these aforementioned features to those of modern monotheistic religions, such as Christianity, the similarities and differences help both those casually intrigued by ancient Roman culture and professional scholars understand more clearly what Rome, as a civilization, as a republic, and as empire was.
Where monotheistic religions worship a single divine being, ancient Roman religion worshipped a multitude, and even maybe an extreme, amount of deities. This made ancient Roman religion a polytheistic religion. As well as having an innumerable amount of their own deities, Rome also adopted gods from Greek religion (Hercules, Castor & Pollux, Apollo). Each of these seemingly innumerable Gods had a specific purpose: there was the god of war, god of the sea, god of fertility and even the god of plowing. 
This quote describes the quintessential quality of ancient Roman religion. It may seem like the Romans named numerous gods arbitrarily. However, they did so to better their quality of life. The Romans wanted to live a life of military dominance, if not peace, and prosperity; thus they attributed a god to different aspects of their lives, including inanimate objects, most in part so that no area of their lives was overlooked and no worry about pleasing a god was to be had. This attribution of significant value and sacredness to these inanimate objects is called animism (which developed from fetishism). For example, “ anyone plowing through a meadow would hope to keep on the good side of the spirits in that meadow, as well as the spirit of plowing…” (Shelton 361). In this example, the meadow and the plow act as numina (the actual presence of a deity in an inanimate object).
On the other hand, Christianity is a monotheistic religion. The Christian god is viewed as the sole determiner of one’s status and livelihood, so to live a good life one would worship and pray to the one and only god. However, like ancient Roman religion, Christianity holds some animistic qualities. For example, the holy cross that holds Jesus Christ is a very symbolic component of the religion. Many Christians believe the holy cross serves a powerful connection to Jesus Christ and god. Even in modern films can one see the belief of sacredness in the holy cross: in movies that feature vampires a cross is usually used to ward off the evil vampire.
