Modern name for Roman religion

[CorvusCorax]

The fantasy series I've been working on for a long time now is set on an alternate Earth.

Some of the many many differences between this world and ours include there being no Christianity (at least not as we know it) and the Roman Empire having had a much greater cultural influence on Britain.

As a result of this, the state religion of Britain is the religion we would call Roman paganism or something similar. The worship of gods such as Jupiter, Minerva, Mars, etc.
But for various reasons Roman paganism doesn't really work as an in-universe name for the religion.

So far all I've got is a fairly obvious one: Romanism. Aside from being a real-world (often derogatory) term for Roman Catholicism, there's just something about it that doesn't feel quite right to me. I'll use it if I have to, but I'd prefer to find something that I feel fits better.

Does anyone have any ideas for a more updated name for this religion? Something that wouldn't seem out of place alongside names such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.
If, in our world, it had survived to this day as an organised religion, what might it be called?

 

[trentonian7]

I've done a little research and from what I can tell, the Romans and Greeks didn't really have a name for their religion, nor did many ancient religions. Because of this, many religions often borrowed from eachother, as seen by the Romans.

 

[FifthView]

I haven't found a specific name they would have used for their style of religious practice (as opposed to their view of Judaism or Christianity.)

Depending on your goal, the rest of the society as affected by Rome, you might be able to use "Pietas." It is one of the Romans' prized virtues. Our word "piety" comes from that word. Generally, pietas meant reverence for those who deserve reverence, including the gods, the parents, one's ancestors, the state. (Various Roman thinkers applied the term variously, and the term seems to have evolved over time in Rome.) The fabric of Roman society depended on this, according to Cicero.

Here's one longish exploration of some aspects of pietas: Pietas erga patriam: ideology and politics in Rome in the early first century BC. The evidence from coins and glandes inscriptae

 

[trentonian7]

While the roman religion didn't explicitly have a name, there were various cults usually from other places in the empire with distinctive names. "Cult of ____" etc.

 

[skip.knox]

The very act of putting "-ism" on the end of nouns is a modern practice. As others have pointed out, the Romans did not have a term. Actually, they did have a name. It was called "religion". It's a Latin word. religio

There's nothing at all wrong with just calling it religion. I do like the added touch of calling it the Cult of This or That, though "cult" has some unfortunate and distracting modern connotations. You could go back to the Latin and call it a cultus. That might be enough to distance your religious practices from real-world weirdness.


Aside from that, I can't really think of a way to modernize the vocabulary of religion.

 

[WooHooMan]

Hellenism (when referring to religion) can refer to both the Greek and Roman religion from 300 BC to 300 AD. So, there's an option.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Firstly, thank you to everyone for the answers and suggestions.

Though it seems I didn't explain quite as well as I thought I did.

I'm aware that the Romans, like many cultures throughout history, had no real name of their own for their religion.
I'm not quite looking for the Romans' name for it. I'm more looking for a hypothetical name it might have eventually become known by if it had survived to the present as a widely practiced organised religion.

As skip.knox said, naming conventions such as the -ism suffix are a modern practice. But a more modern name along those lines is exactly what I want.

Simply calling it religion, as skip.knox also suggested, would be perfectly fine, except that my story features multiple religions. I feel it needs a specific name to identify it for clarity and brevity's sake.

Calling it the Cult of _____ (suggested by both trentonian7 and skip.knox) is also a good suggestion but, by this point in my world's timeline, this is a millennia old religion. It underwent significant changes just during the period it was widely practiced by the Romans in reality. Add on another sixteen or so centuries and it's going to continue to evolve.
One of the ways I imagined it might change, in a world closer to the one we know than to the one the Romans knew, was that it would become more unified. Rather than how ever many confusing cults and groups devoted to one god or another or different versions of the same gods, it would become a single, unified religion with one name.

WooHooMan's suggestion of Hellenism is also a good one. I hadn't actually considered that one. Though I think hellenism and hellenic and other related words, at least in my mind, are a bit too inherently connected to Greece.

On a related note, while doing a quick bit of fact-checking while writing this post, I read something (I've already forgotten what) that gave me a couple of ideas. I think my best options, rather than Romanism, are now Roman Deism or Roman Divinism.
I shall wait to see if anyone has any further thoughts or suggestions. If not, those are at least far more agreeable backups than Romanism.

 

[skip.knox]

Random ideas. Call the believers Latins. Again, unwanted modern connotations. But I'm trying to stay away from -ism.
Ecclesia?
The Western Church?
Our Church or Our Faith (on the model of Mare Nostrum) -- it might be entirely appropriate for the faithful to have one name for themselves while outsiders call them something else.
The Orthodox
Universalists (playing off catholic)
Jovians (though that sounds a bit too close to jovial as well as sounding like someone from Jupiter)
...

my random well is only so deep ...

 

[Gurkhal]

Taking inspiration from the modern neo-pagan movement I'll call in two suggestions for you. Can't say if the translations are accurate, however.

Religio Romana (roman religion)
Cultus Deorum Romanorum (worship of the Roman gods)

 

[Ban]

I actually quite like the term Romanism because it makes a lot of sense. The worshippers know (at least i assume) that their religion hails from rome and would thus call it romanism. Christianity was created by christ so romanism is created in rome.

A way to distinguish this religion from roman catholicism (which i don't think is necessary) might be to put something in front of it that determines that this religion is practised in Britain such as British Romanism/ Anglian Romanicism/ English Romanism/ Brittanic Romanism (depending if the invasion by the angles happened or not in this universe)

 

[FifthView]

Using a geographical reference for naming a religion has some pedigree; e.g., Hinduism, from "Hindu" which was Persian in origin and only became used for self-identification afterward. This is also an example of the way outsiders might reference a religion that has a foreign origin.

If the story is set in modern times, then a long history would permit the permutation or evolution of the name used to reference the religion over time. I would say that historical events would have influenced the method of naming that has settled by modern times. The current name could be almost anything relating to the people, religion, and language of Rome.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I actually quite like the term Romanism because it makes a lot of sense. The worshippers know (at least i assume) that their religion hails from rome and would thus call it romanism. Christianity was created by christ so romanism is created in rome.

A way to distinguish this religion from roman catholicism (which i don't think is necessary) might be to put something in front of it that determines that this religion is practised in Britain such as British Romanism/ Anglian Romanicism/ English Romanism/ Brittanic Romanism (depending if the invasion by the angles happened or not in this universe)

You have a good point..
I agree it's not exactly necessary to distinguish it from Catholicism but, as I said in my original post, there's just something that doesn't feel quite right about it. I can't explain it. Adding something in front of it actually helps a bit. I like the sound and look of British Romanism a lot more than simply Romanism. It also makes sense as, in-universe, the religion did evolve into it's current form largely in Britain.

I think that may be the one to go with.

Once again, thank you to everyone for the answers and suggestions

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Rome was said to be started from the twins Romulus and Remus so perhaps something stemming from their names. Or from the name of the one of the main gods in charge Uranus, Saturn or Jupiter.