honor the gods

Classical deities, modern worship. • This blog focuses on the academic study of ancient Mediterranean religions, mythology, philosophy, archaeology, history, literature, art and the modern worship of the Greek and Roman deities and heroes. • I am utterly opposed to racism, identitarianism, nationalism, misogyny, misandry, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, ageism, antisemitism, and xenophobia. There’s probably a few more; you get the idea. • honorthegods has been vetted by the Valkyrie Squad as a safe space within the Pagan and Heathen community. • honorthegods proudly signed and fully supports the Xenia Declaration. - I invite you to sign, too! • All who seek wisdom, praise virtue, and strive to be just are welcome here, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, or thinking style. • Click here for The Monster Compilation of Free Online Resources for Classical Studies, my compendium of links to information about the ancient Mediterranean world, including archaeology, art, culture, history, language, literature, magic, mythology, philosophy, religion...and much more! • Click here for my Resources for Hellenic & Roman Polytheism" • Header Image Base: The Pantheon, Rome by Macrons, via Wikimedia Commons

[tridentandtales]

Bronze statue of Hypnos (personification of sleep) with wings sprouting from his temples

Roman copy of a Greek statue, 350 - 200 BCE

The British Museum 1868,0606.9

[agapidraws]

Ares & Harmonia dancing in her wedding 💙

[daciancatamite]

"you couldnt make seinfeld today" you couldve made seinfeld in 45 B.C.

[daciancatamite]

kramer: *barges in* *crowd cheering* jerry! caesar just made himself dictator perpetuo!

[kebriones]

A young princess of Thebes, doesn't know she's pregnant yet. She's incredibly optimistic and happy about life. She likes spending time outdoors (much to everyone's chagrin) and dreams of finding the courage to ask Zeus to just take her away from her miserable family and let her live with nymphs on some island far away. (Dionysus looks A LOT like his mom.)

[sztupy]

Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers

A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previou

[ayeforscotland]

Let’s fucking go

[made-in-manetheren]

This is HUGE.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

TL;DR Google reeeeeally stepped in it this time.

[alianoralacanta]

5. If the words are Google's, this solidifies the position of universities who demand that all answers from AI are fully cited. If all the in-line citations now have to be (Google, 2026), that's going to make it obvious when someone's trying to use Google as a source. There's still the difficulty with people who are academically dishonest by trying to pass off the AI writing as their own. 6. 91% accuracy is officially too low to use as a source of references, which means the AI can't be used as a source of references either. This makes it less legitimate for such purposes than Wikipedia of all places (Wikipedia might need date/time proof of when it was accessed for the reference to be valid, but at least it is possible to prove the link existed at a particular date and time). 7. This will help encourage the rollout of courses on how to avoid AI search for students who need academic accuracy, because it's statistically not good enough to use. 8. This strengthens the case intellectual property authors have against Google in the EU, as this is proof that an intellectual property transfer took place.

[honorthegods]

The image in the mosaic panel for the month of June depicts three figures in a small structure. June was the end of the wheat harvest in much of the Roman  world, so perhaps the trio represent agricultural workers taking a break at a taberna vinaria (tavern selling wine) or a thermopolium (shop selling hot food). 

However, since this calendar seems to center on the most important religious festival in each month, this scene may depict our theoretical harvesters purchasing torches at a booth for the Dies Lamparadum, the Day of the Torches, a festival on 24 June at the end of the wheat harvest honoring Ceres and Proserpina with a night-time torchlight procession. 

Though one may imagine there was at least a little wine-drinking afterwards…

🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾 🏺 🌾

Featured Image: June Fragment of a mosaic with the months of the year. First half third century CE. Discovered in the city of Thysdrus, Roman province of Byzacena, (modern El Djem, Tunisia).  Archaeological Museum of Sousse.  Photo: © Ad Meskens, 2012 via Wikimedia Commons (X). License:  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Read More:

MacKendrick, Paul Lachlan.The north African stones speak. University of North Carolina Press, 1980, p. 79.

Shaw, Brent D. Bringing in the Sheaves: Economy and Metaphor in the Roman World. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 2013. pp. 173-176 and 240-241.

[honorthegods]

EDIT 11 June 2026: Oops, forgot to reblog this on the first of the month. 🫣

[honorthegods]

DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List

Defense Secretary Hegseth previously announced the change due to an "impractical" system.

I was a pagan in the military before we were recognized. We're going back. 

(RNS) — Why the Department of Defense's recent decision to eliminate more than 180 religious affiliation codes has me deeply concerned. 

Pagan Organizations Respond to Pentagon Removal of Religious Affiliation Codes

The Pentagon's decision to eliminate more than 180 religious affiliation codes has prompted swift responses from Pagan organizations, vetera

The DOD's New Recognized Religion List Disrespects American Diversity

The U.S. Department of Defense has reduced its list of officially recognized religious affiliations from over 200 to 30 — and has drawn cont

More background:

Wiccans and pagans in the United States military - Wikipedia

Here are some links if you or someone you know are in the military and have questions, concerns, or need support:

Pagan Military Association

Pagan Military Association. 4,354 likes · 7 talking about this. Support for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens & other Nature Spirituality pr

[catchymemes]

[wumbreon]

May we all know decadence such as this

[monkeysky]

Minotaur is not a species

The Minotaur was named that because he was the son of King Minos. Anyone with a bull head has to be named after their dad, like the Kyletaur or something.

[supreme-leader-stoat]

[wintersoldierfell]

hang on i gotta google something

[supreme-leader-stoat]

I am so sorry.

[honorthegods]

Roman Polytheism - free (and reliable!) resources:

Updated 5 June 2026 

I added a link to a PDF book, “Archaeology of Roman Sanctuaries”

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

Adkins, Lesley and Adkins, Roy A. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome https://archive.org/details/handbooktolifein00adki_0 and https://archive.org/details/handbooktolifein01adki

Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome. Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Excerpts:

”Religion and Action,” Pages 42-54.              http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/festivals-seconary.pdf

“The Calendar,” pages 60-77.  http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/roman-calendar.pdf

Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome. Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 

“Festivals and Ceremonies,” pages 116-47.                             http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/festivals- and-ceremonies-primary.pdf

Beck, R. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire https://archive.org/details/TheReligionOfTheMithrasCultInTheRomanEmpire/page/n3/mode/2up

Benko, Stephen. Pagan Rome and the Early Christians  https://issuu.com/ireporter/docs/pagan-rome-and-the-early-christians-stephen-b

Bíró, Szilvia & Bianka Horváth (eds.): Archaeology of Roman Sanctuaries. Proceedings of the International Conference held between 3rd–4th October 2024 at the Iseum Savariense in Szombathely (HU).  http://iseum.savariamuseum.hu/editor_up/Archaeology_or_Roman_Sanctuaries_LQ.pdf

Bodel, John. Cicero’s Minerva, Penates, and the Mother of the Lares: An Outlineof Roman Domestic Religion https://www.academia.edu/2389328/Cicero_s_Minerva_Penates_and_the_Mother_of_the_Lares._An_Outline_of_Roman_Domestic_Religion_-_2008

Burkert, W. Ancient Mystery Cults             https://archive.org/details/AncientMysteryCultsWalterBurkert1987/page/n2/mode/2up

Carlson, Kaitlyn.(2014) Household Religion in Rome: An Examination of Domestic Ritual and its Role in Shaping the Roman Family [Unpublished Honors thesis.] Baylor University. https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/8960/Complete%20Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Carter, Jesse Benedict. The Religion of Numa and Other Essays On the Religion of Ancient Rome. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18222/18222-h/18222-h.htm

Champion, Craige B. “Introduction: Studying Elite Religion in the Middle Roman Republic,” from the book The Peace of the Gods. Princeton University Press, 2017. https://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i11014.pdf

Cicero.De Divinatione http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Divinatione/1*.html

Cicero De Natura Deorum  http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Natura_Deorum/1A*.html

Cicero. De Officiis https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47001/47001-h/47001-h.htm

Connor, Peter. “Lararium—Household Religion”. In J.P. Descoeudres, Pompeii Revisited: The Life and Death of a Roman Town (Sydney: Meditarch, 1994). http://www.u.arizona.edu/~afutrell/404b/web%20rdgs/tour%20pomp/larartour.htm

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Books 1-2 https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/home.html

Dumezil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religion.     https://archive.org/details/ArchaicRomanReligion/mode/2up

Ferguson, J. The Religions of the Roman Empire. No longer available at archive.org  

Fowler, W. Ward. The Religious Experiences of the Roman People: From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus       https://archive.org/details/religiousexperie00fowl/page/n6/mode/2up  https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=23349

Fowler, Willaim Warde. The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic; an introduction to the study of the religion of the Romans.            https://archive.org/details/romanfestivalsof00fowluoft/romanfestivalsof00fowluoft/  

Frankfurter, D.  Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance. No longer available at archive.org

Gasparini, Valentino, ed. Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World:  Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics. https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/37602/9783110557596.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

“Glossary of ancient Roman religion.” Wikipedia.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion

Grant, Michael. Roman Myths.    https://archive.org/details/romanmyths0000gran/page/n1/mode/2up?q=Roman+Myths                                   

Killgrove, KristinaHow The Ancient Romans Gave Us ‘Bones Of the Dead’ Cookies For Halloween.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/10/31/how-the-ancient-romans-gave-us-bones-of-the-dead-cookies-for-halloween/#5933ea81438a

King, Charles W. “The Organization of Roman Religious Beliefs.” Classical Antiquity, vol. 22, no. 2, 2003, pp. 275–312. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/ca.2003.22.2.275. 

King, Charles W. “The Roman Manes: The Dead as Gods,” Academia.  https://www.academia.edu/9356677/The_Roman_Manes_The_Dead_as_Gods

Kirsch, Jonathan. God against the gods. No longer available at archive.org.  

Kraemer, Ross Shepard. Her share of the blessings : women’s religions among pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman world. No longer available at archive.org  

Laing, Gordon. “The Origin of the Cult of the Lares.” Classical Philology, vol. 16, no. 2, 1921, pp. 124–140. https://www.jstor.org/stable/262829

Lambert, Royston.  Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous    http://www.antinopolis.org/religion/documents/

Lane Fox, R.  Pagans and Christians.      https://archive.org/details/PagansAndChristians

Lind, L. R. “Roman Religion and Ethical Thought: Abstraction and Personification.” The Classical Journal, vol. 69, no. 2, 1973, pp. 108–119. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296650

MacNallen, Ramsay. Paganism in the Roman Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981. No longer available at archive.org

Macquarie University. Pompeii and Herculaneum: Investigating and interpreting the sources - Religion. https://www.mq.edu.au/about/about-the-university/faculties-and-departments/faculty-of-arts/departments-and-centres/department-of-ancient-history/resources-for-schools-main-page/pompeii/investigating-the-sources/cities-of-vesuvius-religion

Martin, Gladys. “The Roman Hymn.” The Classical Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, 1938, pp. 86–97. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3291447. 

McDaniel, Spencer. “No, the Romans Did Not Just “Steal” All the Greek Deities.“ Tales of Times Forgotten, 29 September 2019.  https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/09/29/no-the-romans-did-not-just-steal-all-the-greek-deities/

Meyer, Marvin W. The Ancient mysteries : a sourcebook Sacred Texts of the Mystery Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean World    https://archive.org/details/ancientmysteries0000unse_p7i2

Michels, A. K. The Calendar of the Roman Republic. No longer available at archive.org      

Nock, Arthur Darby. The Roman Army and the Roman Religious Year. The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Oct., 1952), pp. 187-252.  http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UU8smY2q5TAJ:rbedrosian.com/Rome/Nock_1952_Roman_army_religious_year.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

North, John. “The Religious History of the Roman Empire.” Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Published online 19 December 2017.  https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.114

Ogilvie, Robert Maxwell. The Romans and their gods in the Age of Augustus.  https://archive.org/details/romanstheirgods00ogil

Ovid. Fasti (The Festivals). Translated into English by A. S. Kline, 2004. (Unfinished work, covers January through June.)  https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Fastihome.php

Pais, Ettore. Ancient Legends of Roman History (available free online here)

Phillips, C. “Manes”. Oxford Classical Dictionary.  https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-3912. 

Pirenne-Delforg, Vinciane and and Francesca Prescendi. Feeding the gods? Sacrifice and representation of the divine.   https://books.openedition.org/pulg/1604

Plutarch. Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. Life of Romulus (available free online here)

Price, Simon. Rituals and Power:The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor  https://archive.org/details/ritualsandpower.theromanimperialcultinasiaminor/mode/2up

Raia, Ann R. and Sebesta, Judith L., ed. Online Companion to the Worlds of Roman Women. https://feminaeromanae.org/

The World of Religion https://feminaeromanae.org/religion.html

Sacerdotes extra Romam https://feminaeromanae.org/sacerdotes.html

Rogers, Dylan. 2020. “The Hanging Garlands of Pompeii: Mimetic Acts of Ancient Lived Religion” Arts 9, no. 2: 65. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/9/2/65/htm

Rüpke, Jörg, ed. A Companion To Roman Religion.  https://archive.org/details/ACompanionToRomanReligion/mode/2up

Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion      https://archive.org/details/introductiontoro00sche

Sheldon, Natasha. Appeasing the Ancestors: The Parentalia and Feralia.  https://historyandarchaeologyonline.com/appeasing-the-ancestors-the-parentalia-and-feralia/

Sheridan, James J. The Altar of Victory - Paganism’s Last Battle   https://www.persee.fr/doc/antiq_0770-2817_1966_num_35_1_1466

Smith, William. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities John Murray, London, 1875. Articles on Roman (and Greek) religion, including divination, festivals, funerals, magic, priestly officers, and rituals:  https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA/Religion/home.html

Symmachus. “The Plea to Valentinian II for the restoration of the Altar of Victory in the Roman Senate.“ https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/symmachus_plea.htm

Toynbee, J.M.C  Death and Burial in the Roman World          https://archive.org/details/deathburialinrom0000toyn

Turcan, Robert.The Cults of the Roman Empire. No longer available at archive.org          

Virgil. Aeneid.

Translation by Patric Dickinson  https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780451622778                 

 Translation by Kevin Guinagh   https://archive.org/details/aeneid0000virg_l7n8  

Translation by Rolfe Humphries   https://archive.org/details/aeneidofvirgil00slpu  

Translation by A.S. Kline   https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Virgilhome.php?textLinkTarget=YWVuZWlk

Waites, Margaret C. “The Nature of the Lares and Their Representation in Roman Art.” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 24, no. 3, 1920, pp. 241–261. https://www.jstor.org/stable/497689

Warrior, Valerie M. Roman Religion. A Sourcebook. Newportbury, MA: Focus Publishing, 2002. 

“Religious Celebrations and the Calendar,” pages 59-69.     http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/celebrations-and-calendar-primary.pdf

“Control of Non-Roman Cults,” pages 99-113.   http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/non-roman-cults-primary.pdf

Weddell, Poly. Touching the Gods: physical interaction with cult statues in the Roman world. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/555/1/Touching_the_Gods.pdf?DDD3+

Wilken, Robert Louis. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them      https://archive.org/details/christiansasroma0000wilk  https://archive.org/details/christiansasroma0000wilk_x8g0

Wiseman, T. P.  Remus: A Roman Myth      https://archive.org/details/timothypeterwisemanremusaromanmyth1995/mode/2up

_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

More information is available in my Megapost: Resources for Hellenic & Roman Polytheism: https://www.tumblr.com/honorthegods/782543513141329920

2024 NOTE: I’m sorry to report that a number of books in this list which were formerly available to read online free at internet.org are now currently listed as “Borrow Unavailable” as a result of the 2023 judgement in Hachette v. Internet Archive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachette_v._Internet_Archive.  You can find updates on the case at https://blog.archive.org/

[miles-crow]

All the Trojan War horses that I made (a quick reminder before I answer one last horse related ask):

Percheron Agamemnon

Welsh Cob Odysseus ft. little owl Athena

Meme ft the two

Ardennais Ajax the Great

Akhal-Teke Hector and Astyanax

Fjord Diomedes

Arabian Neoptolemus

Marwari Paris

Andalusian Helen & Gypsy Vanner Menelaos (nobody asked for him, so I added him, because Menel is literally my favorite??)

Caspian Andromache

Dales Pony Priam

Criollo Aeneas

Throughbred Achilles (referencing a meme)

Clydesdale Zeus

Connemara Pony Hermes

Comtois Hera

Aegidienberger based hippogriff Athena

Friesian Poseidon

Hippocamp Poseidon

[honorthegods]

Ancient Sanctuary Reveals Mithras Worship Adapted to Local Traditions Across Roman Empire - GreekReporter.com

A new study finds that Mithraism adapted to local landscapes, challenging the idea of a uniform Roman mystery cult.

As it turns out, this is a new survey of a site first described by Sir Arthur Evans in 1883.

Findings in a Mithras Sanctuary in Croatia Force a Rethink of How This Roman Cult Was Practiced

An article by Ian S. Wilson, from Harvard University, and Matthew McCarty, from the University of British Columbia, questions some of the mo

Here's an article on the site from the Journal of Roman Archaeology, 02 June 2026:

Situating a rock-born god: place, practice, and geologies of Mithras-worship at Močići (Croatia) | Journal of Roman Archaeology | Cambridge

Situating a rock-born god: place, practice, and geologies of Mithras-worship at Močići (Croatia)

[honorthegods]

Happy Pride!

Image: Color by Angelica Kauffmann, 1780.

License: Public Domain.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angelika_Kauffmann_Color.jpg

Image description: An allegorical image representing the art of painting. I'm wondering whether the image may also represent Iris, the Greek goddess associated with the rainbow. A woman with pale skin and long, fair hair (a self-portrait of the artist) sits in a natural setting upon artistically stacked boulders in the center of the painting, basically facing the front of the work. The figure wears vaguely Greco-Roman garments; her left breast is bare. She holds a large oval artist's palette and a cluster of paint brushes in her left hand at roughly chest level and lifts aloft a paint brush in her right hand to add color to a rainbow she is painting over her head which extends from the top left to the bottom right of the canvas. Storm clouds fill the sky behind her and a few trees are visible to each side behind her; a chameleon sits near her feet.

[beardedmrbean]

[starweaverblog]

Yes Ariadne sleeps in the t-rex hand position trust the vision 🙂‍↕️

[honorthegods]

Why modern witches are making pilgrimages to an ancient Turkish temple

The ruins of Lagina in southwestern Turkey are home to what is believed to be the largest shrine to Hekate, an ancient goddess associated wi

A refreshingly positive article about modern devotees making pilgrimages to this ancient sanctuary.

[honorthegods]

The Classical Association of Scotland is once again proud to present Ancient Voices language school for 2026! This will be running from the

The aim of Ancient Voices is to offer accessible entry points to the ancient world (broadly conceived) to as wide a global audience as possible. This will be running from the 1st until the 28th of June via online classes so you can learn from the comfort of your own home.

Click the link for fees and class schedule.