I know that after the conquest of Gaul, the Romans linked Cernunnos with Dispater.
The Romans just worshiped Epona as Epona.
I’m currently without referenceable notes, but from what I can recall the predominant theory is that the Roman Gods resulted from the juxtaposition of the Greek Gods on the more local Etruscan deities. (I wouldn’t necessarily call them minor.) The Roman names descend from the Etruscan, but the practice of the religion is a bit of both. The myths are borrowed from the Greeks, but like everything else the Romans adopted, they never left well enough alone.
Off the top of my head, the only major difference in worship that I can remember is that the Romans had the idea of the trinity with triptych temples. I’m certain that there were others, but without looking it up I can’t tell you with any certainty. Going off of hazy memories and guess work, I’d say that the perception and meaning of the myths depended on the culture. Roman and Greek culture are very different to be frank I think the Lars and Penates played a much larger role in the day to day religious life and morals of your average Roman (read “average” to mean literate upper class member of society that supplies us with an overwhelming majority of our information) well into the empire. That being said the practice and role of religion did shift over time, you merely have to look at the religious role of the emperor shifting from first among equals, although descended from gods (Augustus) to demi-god (Nero and a whole slew of others) to get a sense of that. If I get some time, I’ll look at some books and get back to you.
Cults were religious, but not always related to the pantheon. Roman cults changed over time, gradually gaining acceptance only after increased contact with Greece. Many foreign gods were introduced as cults as Roman conquest and contact expanded. Examples include Isis, Bona Dea, Mithrates, and Cybele. I don’t know of any Celtic cults, but I wouldn’t rule it out especially after the Western front became and issue and Romans increasingly used Celtic mercenaries in their wars.
Okay, I’ve got to go, but in the meantime both diotima and perseus are good sources for online info.
A decent layman’s source can be found under ‘Religio Romana’ at www.novaroma.org
I just lost a long post because the system didn’t have me logged in, so this will be shortened and probably choppy.
First, Tuckerfan, I assumed that yours was one of those off-the-wall I heard something somewhere posts to show up here all too often. It wasn’t and I apologize.
But my contention stands. I note that none of the posters since have said anything to show a verifiable instance of Celtic influence. Religion is closely held and jealously guarded. It takes extensive contact, usually by a dominanting culture to change indigenous religious beliefs. Nothing so far has shown any such contact.
Moreover, the Greeks themselves took much of their religion from the Myceneans who flourished around 1200 BCE. The Greek pantheon was well fixed by Homer’s time (whenever that was - pick your favorite theory). Is there any appreciable archaeological evidence of Celtic influence by that time? I’d need to be convinced.
I did a quick Google search, but most of the influence citations show the flow going the other way - that the Greeks influenced others. Here is a site that shows how the Celts could have influenced the Romans, but that is far more explicable than an influence a millennium earlier.
So while I would be very curious to see the evidence, I retain all my doubts.
I think maybe that part of the confusion is that when Rome conquered the gaelic world, instead of imposing their religion, it became blended with the local one. There was a tendency to draw parellels between the various gods. Minerva, for example, became blended with the Celtic water goddess known as Sulis, and is actually referred to when speaking of this amalgamation, as “Minerva-Sulis.”