To understand about the part the gods and fate played in the lives of people in ancient Rome we must first understand something about the workings of Roman religion from its spiritual basis and the details of its rituals to the nature of mans’ relationship with his own fate. We can see from this how men attempted to influence the gods and affect their fate.

The Roman system of belief was primarily based around numina. These were faceless deities who were present in all things in nature and were surrounded with a system of ritual and superstition. In the epic poem The Aeneid many aspects of Greek culture, mythology and philosophy were adopted into Roman religion that were not actually present in their popular practices. This was done to fit The Aeneid more into the mould of Homeric...