Chapter 162 Religious Questions in Rome

"Camillous is finally here!" After entering the city of Rome and resting for a night, the pressure of the past history on Davos had been exhausted. At this moment, he looked calm and gave orders to Thormid: "Notify the commanders of each army to prepare for defense." After saying this, he continued to eat breakfast quietly.

Just after breakfast, another guard came to report: "Priest Cardias asks to see you."

"Cardias... let him in." Davos said, touching his chin, he was very interested in the Hades priest who was strongly recommended by Plessinas to follow the army to Rome, because of his experience Also quite legendary.

According to Greek tradition, the identity of temple priests is usually innate, either born into a priestly family or identified by a dying priest, and other people should not expect to take up this sacred profession at all. Of course, in the Kingdom of Dionia, the situation is different. Since Davos wants to vigorously promote the development of the Temple of Hades in the territory, many servants who are willing to serve the temple are selected among ordinary people, but in the end In order to become priests, they must eventually pass a sacred ceremony presided over by Davos himself, not only because Davos also serves as the high priest of the kingdom, but also because he is a descendant of Hades, by him Given personally, naturally the priests of Hades have the spirituality to communicate with God.

Cardias was a celestial, but he was not from a traditional Greek sacrificial family, but an ordinary citizen, but because of the favor of the temple of Hades, he decided to come to Turii to serve as a temple attendant. Afterwards, the Syracuse people's massacre of the city of Sirius made him doubly study in the temple. After a few years, he was proficient in divine tomes and good at communication, which was highly trusted by believers, and was eventually promoted to priest.

After that, he volunteered to go to Katana to preside over the Temple of Hades. During his tenure, the number of Hadean followers in Catanes increased significantly, even spreading the Hades faith to Syracuse. Of course, he was also accused of 'saying that he used the money donated by his followers to buy slaves from the Cilicia in Syracuse, and then set them free'. So a few years later, he was transferred back to Turii, but was promoted to Priest in Chief for his outstanding performance.

Before the army set off this time, Plessinas selected Hades priests who came to Ladum to build a temple. Although there were risks, there were many applicants, because those who could be promoted to chief priests were those with firm beliefs and desires Believers who preach for the temple. The reason why Cardias was selected was because Davos, as the high priest, presided over the annual Hades Priestess Gathering more than a year ago, and accidentally or unintentionally talked about the Latinum region in central Italy. and Rome will likely be the next expansion targets for the Kingdom of Dionia. After that, Cardias went to great lengths to buy a Latin slave. The main job given to this slave was to teach him to speak Latin, so he became the only one who was proficient in Latin among the priests of Hades and was finally selected. After all Relying on translators to develop followers of Hades among aliens would undoubtedly make it more difficult.

After Cardias came to Rome, he did not listen to the dissuasion of others, and insisted on going deep into the Roman people to communicate. Davos was worried about his safety, but he did not expect him to find him so quickly.

Davers opposed the way he treated officials and generals the day before,

He stood up immediately and strode out.

Cardias, who was nearly 50 years old, had hurriedly entered the Roman Senate, bowed down, raised his hands, palms up, and respectfully greeted Davos: "Good morning, high priest! Since its establishment, when the priests of the Temple of Hades called Davos, they did not use the title of 'His Majesty the King' in administrative positions, but the high priest of the highest position in the kingdom's religious sacrifices. In the beginning, it was God Hades. The strict regulations of the temple, and later other temples in the kingdom also began to practice this practice).”

"Good morning, Priest Cardias." Davos also solemnly returned the priestly ceremony and said with a smile, "Did you come to see me so early, did you find anything?"

"High Priest, I'm here to advise you," Cardias said directly.

"What advice?" Davers asked curiously.

"You gave a speech in the piazza yesterday 'Wish Roman commoners to be citizens of Dionia', but I found in my conversations with them yesterday that they were upset that we might destroy their temples and sacrifices ."

"Oh?!" Cardias reminded Davos. Yesterday, he really only announced some benefits for Roman civilians after becoming citizens of Dionysus. He was going to tell them about Dionysian after they became citizens. The religious tolerance of the Asian Kingdom, because it was done in the previous conquest of the Mesapi, Puchetti, and Dauni people in the Apulia region, so it continued this practice in Rome, but obviously Rome The situation was much more tense and dangerous than that of Aprilia, which made the Roman civilians even more uneasy.

So Davos hurriedly asked, "Kaldias, what is your proposal?"

"High priest, from my contact with the Roman commoners, I found that they very much believed in the Roman goddess of hunting, Diana, the goddess of hearth, Vesta, and the gods Keres, Liber and Libera, who were exclusively Roman commoners— —”

"Roman commoners have their own gods?!" Davos was a little surprised, it was the first time he heard of this.

"Yes, although the Romans also believed in polytheism, they believed in more gods than we did in Greece, and the Roman nobles and commoners each had their own dedicated gods, and these gods were only the most respected by them. Cardias said seriously: "And Diana, Vesta, Kyles, Libera, Libera, the five Roman gods, all have temples on the Aventine Hill in the city, especially Daisy. The Temple of Anna, I heard that it is also worshipped by the civilians of the entire Latham area..."

Aventine... It was the main residential area of ​​Roman civilians... Davos pondered: For Rome, in the past, he paid more attention to the collection of its political, economic, military and other intelligence, and less attention to religion, also because There are too many gods in Rome for too many reasons. Every river, every road, every forest, every crossroad, every door, every house has its own god, and even the priests of Rome can't figure out what Rome is. How many gods there are. Moreover, the Romans were far less pious than the Greeks in their worship of gods. They were more practical and utilitarian, so he ignored the in-depth study of this area, and he did not know that the commoners in Rome still had their own gods!

But it seems like a good thing! As the ruler of the kingdom, Davos immediately understood the importance of this matter, and he asked: "You mean to let me worship these gods to show Dionia's respect for the Roman commoners' own beliefs? "

"Yes, high priest." Cardias replied affirmatively. As the chief priest of Hades, he actually wanted his high priest to sacrifice to the gods of aliens, which seemed absurd.

But in fact, in the kingdom of Dionia, King Davos is not just the high priest of Hades, but is in charge of the sacrifices of all the temples in the kingdom. And Davos established the dominant position of the temple of Hades in the kingdom's religion in the "Law of Dionia", giving them the power to supervise other temples in the kingdom, and every year in the Hades of Turii The main temple will hold a meeting of the kingdom's priests, chaired by the high priest Davos, and the scepter priests of the temples across the country will attend to negotiate and solve some problems encountered.

If Rome is conquered, these gods of Rome may be incorporated into the people's beliefs of the kingdom. As the priest of Hades, the leader of the kingdom's religion, Cardias must understand them clearly, and develop Hades here in the future. At the same time, the believers should also try their best to ensure that the supervision of these temples and their relationship are relatively harmonious.

"Then I will go to the temples on Aventine Hill to worship these Roman gods worshipped by the Roman commoners. I will go today!" Davos made a decisive decision and asked: "What do you think about these temples? Do you understand the sacrificial ceremony?"

"I understand." Cardias replied.

It's quite prepared! Davos glanced at him approvingly, then turned back and said, "Herni, immediately send someone to Aventine Hill to inform the priests of these temples, and arrange for someone to announce to the whole city, 'I am going to sacrifice to the Roman gods'. thing."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Henepolis stood up knowingly.

Davos remembered one more thing and continued: "And... immediately go and call Amelius for me."

Davos suddenly realized that this time to go deep into the city of Rome to worship, maybe it is a good opportunity to lead snakes out of their holes.

………………………………

The Roman civilians who had just joined Dionia and became inspectors held shields and spears, and led by the legionnaires, they walked in the streets and alleys of the city of Rome, shouting loudly at the same time.

On the gentle slope of Mount Silio, in a house that looks larger than the surrounding buildings and has more ornate exterior walls, a young Roman man is lying in the bedroom of the main building. His wife was replacing the bandage on his wound, and there was a long, newly healed scar on his left thigh.

He vaguely heard shouting outside, and he listened carefully, but he couldn't hear it clearly, so he said, "Konya, go and see what's going on outside?"

His wife went out of the bedroom at once, and soon returned, with a strange expression on her face, and said, "The pariahs who have taken refuge in the enemy say, 'That goddamn King Dionysus is going to sacrifice to their god'. "

. Literature Museum m.