The ancient Romans worshipped their gods primarily in temples and shrines, which were often open-air spaces called "templum," marked out ritually through augury, rather than the enclosed temple buildings themselves. Public religious ceremonies, including sacrifices, typically took place at altars outside the temple buildings. The main room inside a temple housed the cult image of the deity and served as a sacred place for offerings, but public access to interiors is unclear. The city of Rome itself was considered a sacred space, and temples like the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and others dedicated to major gods such as Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Venus, and Vesta were central places of worship. In addition to public temples, Romans also worshipped household spirits at small shrines or household temples within their homes, where they offered food and drink for protection and good fortune. The Romans were religiously inclusive, adopting gods from conquered peoples, like the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Persian god Mithras, sometimes establishing large temples for these deities in places like Rome and provincial cities. Overall, Roman worship was a mix of public state religion centered around grand temples and official cults, and private family worship in domestic shrines, reflecting their polytheistic and syncretic religious practice.
