DrZoidberg
Contributor
Rome had a ste religion as part of overnce, common rituals.
Did the Romans or Greeks actually believe the gods as more than a reflection of human behavior?
Greek and Roman religion is fundamentaly different than Christian. Not human behaviour, but natural behaviour. The pagan gods are more embodiments of the forces of nature. They are powerful and destructive and don't care about humans other than what they can get humans to gve them.
That's why the pagan gods behave like a bunch of entitled children. You worship them because they can fuck you up. Not because they have earned your reverence.
Among the Roman elites 100 BC - 400 AD they were predominantly stoics or epicurean. Which is atheism. Technically stoics believed in a kind of god, but that God followed laws of nature