The ancient Romans were a polytheistic culture who worshipped their gods by sacrifice and prayers. When worshiping the major, public gods, the Romans would raise their hands and shout at the sky. They would also offer sacrifices to the gods and request help or good fortune. Each individual public god had a different forte. For example, if the Romans wanted safe travels on the seas, they would pray and offer sacrifices to Neptune, god of the sea. The Romans believed that the gods and goddesses were part of their everyday lives, so at feasts, a place setting would be made for the gods and goddesses. It was believed that the gods not only attended the feasts, but participated in them as well. The public worship was much more organized and formal than private worship.
Private Worship
The private worship was based around the home gods called lares. Lares were the gods of the home, each household had a shrine or altar dedicated to their individual lare. The head of the family would lead prayers everyday at the shrine located in the home. Many Romans were more focused on worshipping the private gods, as opposed to the public gods such as Jupiter, Juno, and Neptune.