Religious Life in Roman London
From the earliest years of its Romanisation Londinium possessed temples.
From: 43 C.E. To: 476 C.E.
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Religious Life in Roman London” from Roman London by Gordon Home, 1926.
From the earliest years of its Romanisation Londinium possessed temples. This can be stated without hesitation, for it was impossible for any town possessing Roman citizens to fail to erect structures to the worship of their gods. As the city grew in wealth the size and elaboration of its temples advanced with it, yet so slight is the archæological material so far collected from the many excavations for building purposes in the last hundred years that no single site can be at all definitely located.
Epigraphy gives evidence for a temple to the Mother Goddesses; another to the glory of an emperor or emperors; and a third, perhaps in Southwark, to Isis. Sculptured fragments add to these three evidence for there having been temples to Diana, the Mother Goddesses, Jupiter and Juno, a river god, Bona Fortuna, and Mithras. In addition a number of bronze statuettes have been found representing several members of the Romano-Hellenic pantheon or the worship of virtues, which was a notable and inspiring feature of the Roman State religion at its best. Besides these there are the usual type of figurines representing the lares and penates of the household, and finally there are portable altars. Here the brief archæological list terminates, and until further discoveries are made, it is only possible to review in detail the small amount of information concerning each, and from the result to form, if possible, a somewhat vague idea of the pagan religious organisation of Londinium.
The worship with regard to which the archæological evidence is the least scanty is that of Deae Matres = the Mother Goddesses. This adoration of the Three Mothers was of great antiquity. Plutarch, who had religious antiquarian tendencies, says that it was Cretan in origin, in fact traces of the worship of a mother goddess have been found at Knossos and in Asia Minor. In Gaul and Britain there was a development of the idea into the form of a trinity usually associated with the name of a people or tribe. There are, for example, found in Gaul dedications to the Matres Treveri. At Winchester Roach Smith mentions one to the Italian, German, Gallic and British Mothers, at York there is an altar to the united Mothers of Africa, Italy and Gaul, while at Lyons there is a dedication to The Augustan Mothers.
Two indications of this worship have come to light in London. The most important in size was found in Hart Street, Crutched Friars, in 1837, typical of the treatment of the most precious relics of Roman London at that time that this sculptured stone, when brought to light during the excavation of a sewer, was for some time in the city stoneyard, not only neglected, but in daily danger of being broken up. Further, although it lay among the obvious ruins of a Roman building, no attempt was made to search for the missing portions of the group or other objects connected with it. Beneath Hart Street to-day, therefore, it may be inferred that the means of throwing further light on the question of this particular form of worship remains buried. It is at least probable that in this portion of Londinium there stood a temple of a once popular and widespread cult.
Deae Matres, from Hart Street Crutched Friars. Image from book.
The second indication of this worship is in the form of an inscription on a small piece of moulded stone, 151 inches in length, found in Budge Row on the west side of the Wallbrook. It is as follows; MATR[ibvs] VICINIA DE SVO RES[titvit], which may be interpreted as “Vicinia restored the shrine to the Mothers at her own expense.” Unfortunately the precise provenance in London of this important little piece of stone is not recorded.
A more purely Roman cult, that of the Glory of the Emperor (Numen Augusti), was diffused widely throughout the Empire, and evidence as to its prevalence in Londinium was found in June 1850 in Nicholas Lane. This piece of inscribed stone was also accidentally thrown up when a sewer was in course of construction. Concerning the circumstances of this important discovery Roach Smith says: “It was found at a depth of between 11 and 12 feet, lying close to a wall two feet in width.”
There was every reason to believe that other stones, having the remainder of the inscription were not far from the one extricated; but it was impossible to induce either the contractor... or the ‘City Authorities’ to countenance the slightest search.” The stone was nearly three feet in length and evidently formed only a small part of the original dedicatory tablet. From this circumstance, and from the large size and good quality of the letters (6 inches high), it may be inferred that the structure to which it belonged was of considerable pretensions and importance. From the position of its discovery it would appear that the building stood in the very heart of the city. The letters on the portion of the tablet discovered were:
NVMC
PROV
BRITA
The stone, which seems to have been subsequently stolen from the Guildhall, was not broken, and therefore formed one of the component parts of a composite whole. A most reasonable reconstruction of the three lines on the upper stones would read:
NVMCLAVG [Numini Claudii Augusti]
PROVINCIA [Provincia]
BRITANNIAE [Britannia]
that is, “To the glory of Claudius Augustus the Province of Britain.” If correct, this dedication has a quite exceptional interest. It indicates that in the early years after the Claudian Conquest a temple of considerable architectural pretensions was erected in the central portion of the city. The excellence of the lettering, as shown in the drawing preserved in the British Museum, supports the theory of an early date, certainly not later than the middle of the second century. Hiibner considers it to belong to the end of the first century. It is somewhat improbable that a temple to the glory of Claudius would have been erected after his death, and on this supposition it may be accepted that it was founded in his honour between a.d. 43 and 54.
What was the fate of the building when Boudicca and her followers sacked the town, cannot be known until the site has been discovered and excavated, but it is possible that it escaped entire destruction, for the British host was in haste to pursue Paulinus, and little time would have been available for laborious demolition. In any case the building would have been restored even if badly damaged by fire.
The finest relic of any religious cult so far discovered in London is the Mithraic relief found (without absolute certainty) in Bond Court, Wallbrook, in 1889, at a depth of 20 feet. Within a circle, adorned by the twelve signs of the zodiac, appears Mithras, with cloak flying out from his shoulders, slaying the bull, and attended by the two torch-bearers symbolising life and death, while beneath are the dog, the crab or scorpion, the serpent and basket. Without the circle, in the four corners of the slab, are shown the Sun in a four-horse chariot, the Moon in a chariot drawn by oxen, a bearded head and another, apparently a female, with flowing locks. It is suggested that the last two represent deities of the wind.
This sculpture was dedicated in fulfilment of a vow by Ulpius Silvanus, a retired soldier of Legio II, and from the quality of the work it may be inferred that he held at least non-commissioned rank. It is a mere coincidence that the badge of this legion, i.e. the Capricorn, appears in the circle of the signs of the zodiac. The name of the donor indicates a date in the second century.
Mithraism, with its high ideals of duty and self-sacrifice, was essentially the cult of the army, and seeing that Londinium, so far as is known, had no garrison, except for the guards of honour for high officials, the question might be asked how a temple of this deity came to exist in the capital. The only answer is that there was not improbably a considerable element of retired military men who, after long and hard service in the frontier camps, were only too keen upon ending their days as pensioned veterans amid the attractions and comforts of Londinium. Mithraic temples were almost invariably subterranean, in imitation of the cave sanctuaries in Asia, where the cult originated. Another fact in association with the belief which led to the making of underground shrines, was the legend of Mithras having chased the sacred bull into a cavern before he slew it. It is just possible, if the spot where this sculptured stone was found be correctly recorded, that the Mithraeum to which it belonged was excavated in the slope down to the Wallbrook.
The only clue to there having been a temple dedicated to Isis in the southern suburb is an inscription or graffito in cursive writing on a jug unearthed in Southwark. The wording is LONDINI AD FANVM ISIDIS = At Londinium by the Temple of Isis. Although it may be argued that a vessel of this small character (it is illustrated facing page 214) might have been brought to Southwark from any part of the city, and is therefore not necessarily to be associated with the actual site of the temple, yet this suburb is eminently the place where one would expect to find the shrine of such a form of worship. The transpontine suburb would naturally have been the abode of temporary cosmopolitan residents, among whom Isis was likely to find her most numerous votaries.
Secondly, although the cult had exalted ideals and also ascetic practices, it was for long regarded with considerable suspicion by the Roman Government as being associated with disreputable orgies. It was again and again suppressed at Rome, and it would be natural to find the Temple of Isis in the detached quarter, which retained until the Tudor period a somewhat disreputable character, playhouses, stews and the cheapest form of lodging being this suburb’s characteristic.
Another discovery of a religious character made in Southwark was a double head in stone resembling a Janus, but in this case one face was male and the other female. The male head had ram’s horns and a laurel wreath, and the goddess was wearing a sphendone in her hair. The sculpture may have represented (it has been lost) Jupiter and Juno, or possibly a deified emperor and empress. The horns seem to indicate the combination of Zeus with Amen-Ra, or, as the Graeco-Romans called him, Jupiter-Ammon. In that case, the twin heads may be those of Hadrian and Vibia Sabina, who made a tour up the Nile to Thebes in 130.
Despite the fact that most of the pagan cults disappeared somewhat passively in face of the oncoming of Christianity, including even Mithraism with its high ideals, yet the worship of Isis survived, even in Italy, until well into the fifth century.
Ever since the days of Henry III. (i.e. 1220) a tradition has been current that a temple of Diana stood on, or near the site of St Paul’s Cathedral during the Roman period. Wren was a sceptic in regard to this idea, for he discovered nothing in the course of his extensive excavations for the new cathedral which would justify such a belief—at least for a Roman temple within the area of the cathedral site.
The great architect’s opinion, however, in no way invalidates the possibility of a temple dedicated to the huntress goddess in the immediate neighbourhood, and there is certain archaeological evidence worthy of careful consideration. Summarised, it is as follows:
A stone altar to Diana, feet high, found 15 feet below the surface, and built into the foundations of the Goldsmiths’ Hall, in Foster Lane (N.E. of St Paul’s), when the old hall was rebuilt in 1830.
In association with the altar above mentioned were masses of stonework so admirably cemented that they had the consistency of rock, and had to be broken up with the help of gunpowder. The thickness of these walls is given as 2 feet.
A bronze statuette of Diana, 2 ½ inches high, was found between the Deanery of St Paul’s and Blackfriars, i.e. S.W. of the cathedral.
On the south side of the cathedral, at the rebuilding after the Great Fire, “were found several Scalps of Oxen, and a large Quantity of Boars’ Tusks, with divers earthen Vessels, especially Paterae of different shapes.”
In the cathedral archives of the year 1220 a messuage on the south side of the cathedral is mentioned as “ Domum que fuit Diane.”
Altar to Diana, found on the site of Goldsmith’s Hall, in Foster Lane, to the North-East of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Image from book.
Taking the first two together, there is some ground for thinking that the altar may have been associated with the building whose walls were found close by. That the statuette was found so far away as between the Deanery and Blackfriars weakens its significance, but it is nevertheless the only small representation of Diana recorded among the discoveries made in London, and is certainly in the same quarter, but that the area connected with a single temple in a moderate-sized town such as Londinium should have extended from Foster Lane (behind the site of the old General Post Office) to the slope towards the Fleet River at Blackfriars is very unlikely. A link between the two sites may perhaps be that indicated by the fourth piece of evidence recording the discovery on the south side of the cathedral of what were taken to be the remains of sacrifices accompanied by paterae. But these remains may have a totally different significance from that which was ascribed to them.
The fifth fragment of evidence, by which the name of Diana is associated with a messuage on the south side of the cathedral as early as the thirteenth century, would be of great value if it could record of the sixth or seventh century. Without this earlier connection the use of the name may or may not be of any significance. It is just possible that some figure of the goddess in stone or metal, since lost, may have been found on the site designated and recognised by ecclesiastics having sufficient knowledge.
Summing up the whole evidence, one is compelled to admit that the only item which carries real weight is the stone altar found in association with very well-built walls a little to the north-east of the cathedral.
The worship of Diana seems not to have been very popular in Britain, for apart from the shrine in Londinium, only one other locality, namely Newstead, near Melrose, has so far revealed any association with her. It is possible that, like Isis, she was worshipped mainly by foreign elements, perhaps from central Italy or the Hellenic lands, where her cult was anciently very widespread.
At Londinium, as at Rome, adoration of the god of the river upon which the city so much depended would have been popular. It is therefore not at all surprising to find in London a life-size statue in marble of a river deity. It must have been, judging from the head and part of the torso which remain, quite a fine work of art, having distinctly Hellenic characteristics. The eyes show exceptional feeling, quite remote from the hard, almost staring expression of Roman busts of the fourth century. The discovery of this sculpture was made, it appears, in Bond Court, close to the Wallbrook, in the same place as the Mithraic slab, and a decapitated marble statue perhaps representing Bona Fortuna or, more probably, Bonus Eventus, for the figure appears to be male.
It may be noted that the discovery of the two figures in marble is not without significance, for, with a community the prosperity of which depended very largely on sea commerce, the erection of a fane to the deity of the Thames, in conjunction with Good Fortune, was precisely the idea which would occur to the average merchant. The quality of the sculptures shows them to have been importations, and this, in view of the fact that the mercantile fraternity would have possessed facilities for such acquisitions, lends colour to the idea.
Two significant names are connected with gates of London which probably point to a survival in Roman times of the obscure Celtic deities of pre-Roman Britain. The first is Lud, also called Nodons or Nudens. As far as is known he was a kind of combination of Neptune and Jupiter, with some of the attributes of Mars. In Roman times a temple was built to him at a place which still preserves his name—Lydney on the Severn, and his characteristics are borne out by marine scenes in the mosaic pavements.
In London the name of this Celtic deity survives to this day in Ludgate, a most significant fact suggesting that this gateway, facing the Fleet River, was regarded as being placed under his special protection. Another Celtic god, of obscure attributes, bore the name Belinus, and Sir John Rhys has doubtfully associated him with Billingsgate, east of the northern end of London Bridge.
Viewed as a whole, it must be admitted that evidence for the existence of temples of the pagan deities in Londinium is meagre, but, at the same time, in view of the wholesale destruction of massive buildings which has undoubtedly taken place in the last fourteen centuries, this is not at all surprising. All Londinium’s great structures have vanished from sight, apart from fragments of the defensive wall, but the mere fact that the base of a column, composed of red granite 5 feet 3 inches in diameter, has come to light, is sufficiently strong evidence to demonstrate the scale of the more important edifices. It has been shown that there were at least temples in honour of an Emperor, to the Mother Goddesses, Mithras, Diana, and Isis, and it cannot be doubted that other Roman divinities, pre-eminently Jupiter, as well as Juno, Mars and Minerva possessed fanes on a suitable scale in the greatest city of Roman Britain.
Who can tell how many Roman columns which had been utilised in the construction of mediaeval churches and public buildings were calcined in the two devastations of London during the reign of Alfred; in the many known fires throughout the Middle Ages; and in the Great Fire of 1666, which swept away almost every trace of the antiquities of the city?
No site of any Christian Church in Londinium can be traced and, in addition, the testimony to the existence of Christianity in Londinium is so extremely slight that were there no literary evidence to establish its reality, one might almost be led to doubt the prevalence of the new faith in the British capital.
The first and most important piece of archaeological evidence is to be found at St Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place. It is a curiously archaic bowl-shaped font of limestone of similar form to the two which are preserved at Brecon Cathedral. It was found buried in the centre of the undercroft, and in that respect affords a parallel with those at Brecon which were unearthed in the cloister. Of the St Etheldreda’s font Sir Gilbert Scott said, “You may call the bowl British or Roman, for it is older than the Saxon period,” and some support to this statement is provided by the fact that Roman bricks have been found on the site. The position is on the crest of the western slope of the hollow through which the little Fleet River flowed (and continues to flow, although out of sight), and is therefore well outside the walled area of the city, in other words, just where one would expect to find an early Christian church before, or even after, the new faith had been officially recognised. I have already stated that everything points towards the Christian Church in Britain having been without wealth, and such a condition would naturally militate against the acquisition of a site in the heart of the busy and crowded capital, where land could only be purchased at a high figure.
Font at St. Ethelreda’s Church, Ely Place, Holborn. Image from book.
Having considered all the evidence available, I am bound to confess that this hitherto overlooked relic is more convincing as to the presence of a Christian place of worship than any of the small items about to be mentioned.
There are two small earthenware lamps in the Guild-hall Museum bearing the Chi-Rho monogram conspicuously in the centre. They may have been imported, but their presence in Londinium testifies to their being in demand. At Battersea were found eight lumps of pewter bearing two types of Christian stamp, in conjunction with the late Gallo-Roman name of Syagrius. In Lothbury was discovered a silver pin with an ornamental head in the form of a flat disc, bearing upon it a representation of a helmeted Emperor gazing upwards at a cross in the heavens among stars. This can only represent the vision of Constantine, the cross being in place of the Chi-Rho.
Other very uncertain indications are a bronze chain-bracelet bearing upon it a cross in the form of two short pieces of tube intersecting one another, but its significance is doubtful; the central design of a mosaic pavement found on the site of the Bari of England consisting of a floriated cross ; an enamelled plate, on which the ornamentation includes two winged beasts apparently drinking from a vase; and lastly, a funeral cist of lead found in Warwick Square (E.C.), bearing upon it a double-cross monogram. The stone sarcophagus found on the north side of Westminster Abbey has an inscription, of which the form is decidedly Christian, and may perhaps, in spite of the fine quality of the lettering, belong to a late epoch, perhaps surprisingly late.
Here is all the archaeological material bearing any remote association with Christianity, and its total is so meagre and unsatisfying that there is scarcely anything to be deduced from it. In fact there is so little to discuss that one must be content with the fact which history records, that a Christian community in Londinium did exist, and that it was ruled by a bishop as early as the third century.
Home, Gordon. Roman London. Ernest Benn Limited, 1926.
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