Cicero, the Roman philosopher once said: “Every people has its own religion, we have ours”. Religion and mythology, which in these times can be considered the same thing if not something so related to the other that for us the difference is blurry, played an important role in social identification and cohesion. Religions traditionally classified as polytheistic offered in their time advantages for social relationships between people and they tended to be very flexible in their understanding of the cults and beliefs of “others”. They were also more open to the reception of other gods and other religious practices. This is why Roman religion was called an “open religion“.

In Roman Foros it was common for the local population to allow traders from abroad to maintain their religious spaces dedicated to the gods of their place of origin, gods that could either remain with their original name or be mixed with other gods. In this way, the cult of Hercules was established in Rome, which had been brought by the Greeks and the Phoenicians.

Another way of incorporating foreign cults was the evocatio. The enemy’s divinity was invited to protect the Roman troops and, in gratitude, they would incorporate their worship alongside that of the other gods. For example, the goddess Juno was brought to Rome from the Etruscans, or the goddess Celeste, the protector of Carthage, which was added after the Roman conquest in 146 BC. For Romans, there was always a way to include alongside their gods any foreign god who could provide some special utility.

The people from the Iberian Peninsula came in contact with Roman culture as a result of the Punic Wars. The transition between Iberian religiosity and the cults of the Roman period was progressive, and there was coexistence between the indigenous mythology, mainly animist, and the new cult gods.

Because Roman mythology itself would require a whole page dedicated to it, in this case, we will only mention the Roman gods that were significant in the Iberian Peninsula.

• Jupiter was the most important of the Roman gods and was highly
  

  Temple dedicated to Diana http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Templo_de_Diana_en_M%C3%A9rida.jpg

  worshiped in the Iberian Peninsula. He was the equivalent of Zeus and he commanded over the sky and its meteorological phenomena that caused rain and fertility. Jupiter was also the father of the gods, the giver of light and agriculture, and in whose honor the festivals of the vinyards were celebrated.

• Mercury (Mercurio) was one of the gods that were assimilated the most to the local divinities. He was related to craftmanship and was thought to be who introduced trade to the Iberian Peninsula. He was considered the god of commerce, protector of the roads, and guide of the travelers, thieves, and all those who were related to the liberal arts.
• Diana, the goddess of hunting and fertility, is sometimes related to the personification of the Moon. She was the daughter of Jupiter. She was often depicted wearing a short tunic, long and flowy hair, armed with a bow, and backed by a pack of hunting dogs.

 

Sources:

Mangas Manjarres, J., 2015. The Religion of the Roman Hispania. [online] Revistas.ucm.es. Available at: <https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/article/download/75669/4564456556869>