Rites and Festivals
Roman gods were manifested everywhere, in nature and in the everyday events of peoples lives. Faith, prayer and philosophical reflection all played their part. However central to the relationship between man and God's was the idea of contract. Man believed that the goodwill of one party could be secured by the offer of a balancing benefit.
Typically the worshipper would go to the temple and record a contract with the priests to the effect that if the god or goddess was good enough to protect him or her, secure a good harvest, cure an illness or punish a malefactor in return that deity would be given the sacrifice of an animal, a stone altar, coins or some other gift such as jewellery, a figurine, plaques in the form of palm leaves, models of parts of the human body or even clothing. The contract was called a nuncupatio ('an announcement'); it was not binding on the god and the worshipper was under no obligation to give the god anything unless or until they believed some benefit was received. Assuming the request was answered, as it often seemed to be, the votary was bound to meet his or her obligations. The debt had to be discharged, this being called the solutio; moreover it was important not to grudge one's obligation which should be undertaken freely (libens), gladly (laetus) and deservedly (merito). So standard was the formula for paying one's vow to the gods that the phrase votum solvit libens laetus merito so often inscribed on altars and other objects was generally abbreviated VSLLM.
Special examples of nuncupationes do, however, survive even in some quantity at certain sites. These are tablets of lead containing requests that a wrongdoer should be punished. Over a hundred have been found in the sacred spring of the goddess Sulis Minerva at Bath of which the following is a sample. 'I have given to the goddess Sulis the six silver coins, which I have lost. It is for the goddess to exact them from the names written below...'.
The practice of solutio, 'the payout' to the gods, has left considerably more traces. Often the floors of temple compounds or pits cut into them are full of bones, the remains of animals sacrificed and consumed on site, where they were roasted or boiled for the gods - and for their human votaries who shared in the sacrificial feast. Sometimes the types of animals were specific to the deity venerated. At Bath cows were evidently preferred for the goddess Sulis Minerva.
