II. 4. Religion of the Romano-Britons

Before the invasion, Britons’ religion was based on local stories, superstitions and beliefs with no real order on consistency amongst the individual tribes. Every spring, every river, every cross-roads, lake or wood had its own local spirit with its own local shrine. Roman immigrants had brought their own brand of worship with them - the official cults of the emperor and the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, linked to other Olympian gods like Mars. The Romans knew that religion was fundamental to their existence. So the was no problem in combining all the British gods with their own ones, simply associating with the gods or goddesses who most resembled them. The Druids of Angelsey was the only tribe that the Romans despised because of their barbaric sacrifices of humans at an altar. This attitude was, however, hypocritical considering the legendary Roman gladiatorial battles and their treatment of early Christians.

The imperial cult was one of the first acts that the new Roman government in Britain undertook. This religion was first introduced through the form of an altar, a massive temple and a provincial centre in Colchester. Temples were usually dedicated to an emperor after his death. But the temple at Colchester was dedicated to the Emperor Claudius while he was still alive. Why this happened is unclear, as Claudius attempted to have him declared a god. But anyway the temple was not actually completed until after the death of Claudius. The cult continued in Colchester, London, and elsewhere, while at native temples, even in the deep countryside, the 'numen' (spirit) of the reigning emperor was worshipped alongside the true gods.

The Romans succeeded in adapting native cults to their own. Celtic deities were merged with their Roman equivalents. The famous temple bath complex was founded in Bath on the site of a local shrine to the water goddess Sul of the hot springs. For her healing qualities she was linked to Minerva, but there were images of other gods and goddesses in the temple, most especially Diana the Huntress, to whom an altar was dedicated. Right down to the end of Roman rule, belief in Roman gods remained vigorous among the native Britons.

Mithras is the best known Oriental deity today. An Indo-Iranian god of light was popular among certain elements in the Roman army, as archaeological finds from the Mithraeum ('temple of Mithras') in Carrawburgh and Housesteads, near Hadrian's Wall, show. The richest Mithraeum in Britain was found beside the Walbrook, in London; finds there include slabs of imported marble, with a dedication by a veteran of the Second Legion on one of them, so the devotees here were also mainly soldiers. However, high moral demands of Mithraism also appealed to the merchant class, which was very important in London.

Christianity spread slower in Britain than in some other parts of the Roman Empire, although there were British martyrs in the periods of persecution: St Alban of Verulamium and Saints Aaron and Julius of Isca Silurum. The new religion appears to have become established by the fifth century. Roman Britain is the place of origin of Saint Patrick and Pelagius, the former evangelizing Ireland, the latter leaving Britain to become the great adversary of St Augustine of Hippo in the debate on the efficacy of Divine Grace. Recent study of St Patrick's writings has revealed a remarkably complex and erudite use of Latin-evidence of an unexpectedly high level of education in fourth-century Britain.

The earliest evidence of Christianity in Roman Britain dates from the fourth century AD. A collection of silver vessels and other pieces found at Water Newton, Cambridgeshire, bear Christian dedications and appear to be church plate. Other vestiges of Christianity include paintings featuring the Chi-Rho (a symbolic emblem of Christ made up of the first letters of his name in Greek), orates (figures with arms raised in the attitude of prayer), from the Roman villa at Lullingstone, Kent, a baptistery within the fort at Richborough, Kent, and a cemetery church excavated outside the walls at Colchester.