romikgosai/squad_modified huggingface dataset:
Other public festivals were not required by the calendar, but occasioned by events. The triumph of a Roman general was celebrated as the fulfillment of religious vows, though these tended to be overshadowed by the political and social significance of the event. During the late Republic, the political elite competed to outdo each other in public display, and the ludi attendant on a triumph were expanded to include gladiator contests. Under the Principate, all such spectacular displays came under Imperial control: the most lavish were subsidised by emperors, and lesser events were provided by magistrates as a sacred duty and privilege of office. Additional festivals and games celebrated Imperial accessions and anniversaries. Others, such as the traditional Republican Secular Games to mark a new era (saeculum), became imperially funded to maintain traditional values and a common Roman identity. That the spectacles retained something of their sacral aura even in late antiquity is indicated by the admonitions of the Church Fathers that Christians should not take part.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What type of festivals happened when events warranted them?
A: fulfillment of religious vows', '
Q: What is an example of an event organized religious celebration?
A: The triumph', '
Q: In what aspect of the festival did political figures try to out do each other?
A: public display', '
Q: Under what auspices did public displays  come during the Principate?
A: Imperial', '
Q: Who paid for the most lavish of festival events?
A: emperors']
The meaning and origin of many archaic festivals baffled even Rome's intellectual elite, but the more obscure they were, the greater the opportunity for reinvention and reinterpretation — a fact lost neither on Augustus in his program of religious reform, which often cloaked autocratic innovation, nor on his only rival as mythmaker of the era, Ovid. In his Fasti, a long-form poem covering Roman holidays from January to June, Ovid presents a unique look at Roman antiquarian lore, popular customs, and religious practice that is by turns imaginative, entertaining, high-minded, and scurrilous; not a priestly account, despite the speaker's pose as a vates or inspired poet-prophet, but a work of description, imagination and poetic etymology that reflects the broad humor and burlesque spirit of such venerable festivals as the Saturnalia, Consualia, and feast of Anna Perenna on the Ides of March, where Ovid treats the assassination of the newly deified Julius Caesar as utterly incidental to the festivities among the Roman people. But official calendars preserved from different times and places also show a flexibility in omitting or expanding events, indicating that there was no single static and authoritative calendar of required observances. In the later Empire under Christian rule, the new Christian festivals were incorporated into the existing framework of the Roman calendar, alongside at least some of the traditional festivals.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What did obscure festivals offer Romans the opportunity to do?
A: reinterpretation', '
Q: What did Augustus wish to do for Roman religion?
A: reform', '
Q: What poet wrote a long poem describing Roman religious holidays?
A: Ovid', '
Q: What was lacking in the presentation of religious events in Rome?
A: authoritative calendar', '
Q: Under whose rule were new Christian festivals added to previous Roman holidays?
A: Christian']
The Latin word templum originally referred not to the temple building itself, but to a sacred space surveyed and plotted ritually through augury: "The architecture of the ancient Romans was, from first to last, an art of shaping space around ritual." The Roman architect Vitruvius always uses the word templum to refer to this sacred precinct, and the more common Latin words aedes, delubrum, or fanum for a temple or shrine as a building. The ruins of temples are among the most visible monuments of ancient Roman culture.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Around what aspect did the Romans a lot space?
A: ritual', '
Q: What religious practice did Rome use to determine ritual?
A: augury', '
Q: What Roman word was used to refer to the scared precinct?
A: templum', '
Q: What common Latin words were used to mean a shrine or building?
A: aedes, delubrum, or fanum', '
Q: What monuments were the some of most visible of Roman culture?
A: temples']
All sacrifices and offerings required an accompanying prayer to be effective. Pliny the Elder declared that "a sacrifice without prayer is thought to be useless and not a proper consultation of the gods." Prayer by itself, however, had independent power. The spoken word was thus the single most potent religious action, and knowledge of the correct verbal formulas the key to efficacy. Accurate naming was vital for tapping into the desired powers of the deity invoked, hence the proliferation of cult epithets among Roman deities. Public prayers (prex) were offered loudly and clearly by a priest on behalf of the community. Public religious ritual had to be enacted by specialists and professionals faultlessly; a mistake might require that the action, or even the entire festival, be repeated from the start. The historian Livy reports an occasion when the presiding magistrate at the Latin festival forgot to include the "Roman people" among the list of beneficiaries in his prayer; the festival had to be started over. Even private prayer by an individual was formulaic, a recitation rather than a personal expression, though selected by the individual for a particular purpose or occasion.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What did each offering require to be valid in Roman religion?
A: prayer', '
Q: What did Pliny the Elder think that a sacrifice without prayer was?
A: useless', '
Q: What act alone had power in Roman thought?
A: Prayer', '
Q: What was missing in the formulas of prayer in Rome?
A: personal expression', '
Q: What knowledge was of importance in the potency of prayer?
A: correct verbal formulas']
Sacrifice to deities of the heavens (di superi, "gods above") was performed in daylight, and under the public gaze. Deities of the upper heavens required white, infertile victims of their own sex: Juno a white heifer (possibly a white cow); Jupiter a white, castrated ox (bos mas) for the annual oath-taking by the consuls. Di superi with strong connections to the earth, such as Mars, Janus, Neptune and various genii – including the Emperor's – were offered fertile victims. After the sacrifice, a banquet was held; in state cults, the images of honoured deities took pride of place on banqueting couches and by means of the sacrificial fire consumed their proper portion (exta, the innards). Rome's officials and priests reclined in order of precedence alongside and ate the meat; lesser citizens may have had to provide their own.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: When did the sacrifices to the deities of the heavens occur? 
A: daylight', '
Q: What color was the sacrifice mandated to be for heaven deities?
A: white', '
Q: What event was held after the sacrifice?
A: banquet', '
Q: What type of sacrifices were offered to gods with earth connections?
A: fertile', '
Q: Who ate the meat of the sacrifice during the after sacrifice  banquet?
A: officials and priests']
Chthonic gods such as Dis pater, the di inferi ("gods below"), and the collective shades of the departed (di Manes) were given dark, fertile victims in nighttime rituals. Animal sacrifice usually took the form of a holocaust or burnt offering, and there was no shared banquet, as "the living cannot share a meal with the dead". Ceres and other underworld goddesses of fruitfulness were sometimes offered pregnant female animals; Tellus was given a pregnant cow at the Fordicidia festival. Color had a general symbolic value for sacrifices. Demigods and heroes, who belonged to the heavens and the underworld, were sometimes given black-and-white victims. Robigo (or Robigus) was given red dogs and libations of red wine at the Robigalia for the protection of crops from blight and red mildew.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: When were the gods below and the dead celebrated?
A: nighttime', '
Q: What type of sacrifice victims were the dark gods offered?
A: dark, fertile', '
Q: How was the sacrifice to the gods below handled?
A: burnt offering', '
Q: What daylight event was not celebrated after the dark sacrifice?
A: shared banquet', '
Q: What feature had importance in sacrifices?
A: Color']
The same divine agencies who caused disease or harm also had the power to avert it, and so might be placated in advance. Divine consideration might be sought to avoid the inconvenient delays of a journey, or encounters with banditry, piracy and shipwreck, with due gratitude to be rendered on safe arrival or return. In times of great crisis, the Senate could decree collective public rites, in which Rome's citizens, including women and children, moved in procession from one temple to the next, supplicating the gods.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What elements had the power of benefit or harm in Roman religion?
A: divine agencies', '
Q: What was expected when the divine intervention benefited the patron?
A: gratitude', '
Q: What kind of intervention could be sought to avoid disasters?
A: Divine', '
Q: What act was decreed in times of crisis in Rome?
A: public rites', "
Q: What was the point of public procession to the god's temples?
A: supplicating the gods"]
Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary sacrifice: in one of the many crises of the Second Punic War, Jupiter Capitolinus was promised every animal born that spring (see ver sacrum), to be rendered after five more years of protection from Hannibal and his allies. The "contract" with Jupiter is exceptionally detailed. All due care would be taken of the animals. If any died or were stolen before the scheduled sacrifice, they would count as already sacrificed, since they had already been consecrated. Normally, if the gods failed to keep their side of the bargain, the offered sacrifice would be withheld. In the imperial period, sacrifice was withheld following Trajan's death because the gods had not kept the Emperor safe for the stipulated period. In Pompeii, the Genius of the living emperor was offered a bull: presumably a standard practise in Imperial cult, though minor offerings (incense and wine) were also made.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What type of circumstances were called for in times of extreme difficulties?
A: Extraordinary', '
Q: What offering was Jupiter promised during the Second Punic War?
A: every animal born', '
Q: From whom was Rome asking for protection?
A: Hannibal', '
Q: What happened to the sacrifice if the god failed to uphold the agreement?
A: withheld', '
Q: What was the offering for the Emperor in Pompeii?
A: bull']
The exta were the entrails of a sacrificed animal, comprising in Cicero's enumeration the gall bladder (fel), liver (iecur), heart (cor), and lungs (pulmones). The exta were exposed for litatio (divine approval) as part of Roman liturgy, but were "read" in the context of the disciplina Etrusca. As a product of Roman sacrifice, the exta and blood are reserved for the gods, while the meat (viscera) is shared among human beings in a communal meal. The exta of bovine victims were usually stewed in a pot (olla or aula), while those of sheep or pigs were grilled on skewers. When the deity's portion was cooked, it was sprinkled with mola salsa (ritually prepared salted flour) and wine, then placed in the fire on the altar for the offering; the technical verb for this action was porricere.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What were the exta of a sacrifice?
A: entrails', '
Q: How were the exta read in Roman religious practice?
A: disciplina Etrusca', '
Q: What part of the sacrifice were reserved for the gods?
A: exta and blood', '
Q: What part of the sacrifice was shared among humans?
A: meat', "
Q: Into what was the god's portion of the sacrifice placed?
A: fire on the altar"]
Human sacrifice in ancient Rome was rare but documented. After the Roman defeat at Cannae two Gauls and two Greeks were buried under the Forum Boarium, in a stone chamber "which had on a previous occasion [228 BC] also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings". Livy avoids the word "sacrifice" in connection with this bloodless human life-offering; Plutarch does not. The rite was apparently repeated in 113 BC, preparatory to an invasion of Gaul. Its religious dimensions and purpose remain uncertain.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What type of sacrifice was rare in Rome?
A: Human', '
Q: What act was repulsive to Romans?
A: Human sacrifice', '
Q: How were sacrifices of humans carried out in Rome?
A: buried', '
Q: Before the invasion of what area was human sacrifice carried out?
A: Gaul', '
Q: When was the invasion of Gaul by Rome?
A: 113 BC']
In the early stages of the First Punic War (264 BC) the first known Roman gladiatorial munus was held, described as a funeral blood-rite to the manes of a Roman military aristocrat. The gladiator munus was never explicitly acknowledged as a human sacrifice, probably because death was not its inevitable outcome or purpose. Even so, the gladiators swore their lives to the infernal gods, and the combat was dedicated as an offering to the di manes or other gods. The event was therefore a sacrificium in the strict sense of the term, and Christian writers later condemned it as human sacrifice.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: During what war was the first gladiator munus held?
A: First Punic War', '
Q: How was the gladiatorial combat described? 
A: funeral blood-rite', '
Q: What was not the ultimate purpose of gladiatorial rites?
A: death', '
Q: In what way was gladiatorial combat considered?
A: as an offering', '
Q: How did later Christians view Gladiatorial combats?
A: human sacrifice']
The small woolen dolls called Maniae, hung on the Compitalia shrines, were thought a symbolic replacement for child-sacrifice to Mania, as Mother of the Lares. The Junii took credit for its abolition by their ancestor L. Junius Brutus, traditionally Rome's Republican founder and first consul. Political or military executions were sometimes conducted in such a way that they evoked human sacrifice, whether deliberately or in the perception of witnesses; Marcus Marius Gratidianus was a gruesome example.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who was the founder of the Roman Republic?
A: L. Junius Brutus', '
Q: What were stand-ins for child sacrifices to Mania?
A: woolen dolls', '
Q: Who was Mania in Roman religion?
A: Mother of the Lares', '
Q: What leader was the first consul of the Roman Republic?
A: L. Junius Brutus', '
Q: What acts were sometimes arranged so as to be sacrifices?
A: executions']
Officially, human sacrifice was obnoxious "to the laws of gods and men." The practice was a mark of the "Other", attributed to Rome's traditional enemies such as the Carthaginians and Gauls. Rome banned it on several occasions under extreme penalty. A law passed in 81 BC characterised human sacrifice as murder committed for magical purposes. Pliny saw the ending of human sacrifice conducted by the druids as a positive consequence of the conquest of Gaul and Britain. Despite an empire-wide ban under Hadrian, human sacrifice may have continued covertly in North Africa and elsewhere.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What act did Romans view as obnoxious?
A: human sacrifice', '
Q: To whom was human sacrifice usually attributed?
A: enemies', '
Q: What did Rome do about human sacrifice?
A: banned it', '
Q: As what  did the law of 81 BC view human sacrifice?
A: murder', '
Q: What ruler banned human sacrifice empire wide?
A: Hadrian']
A pater familias was the senior priest of his household. He offered daily cult to his lares and penates, and to his di parentes/divi parentes at his domestic shrines and in the fires of the household hearth. His wife (mater familias) was responsible for the household's cult to Vesta. In rural estates, bailiffs seem to have been responsible for at least some of the household shrines (lararia) and their deities. Household cults had state counterparts. In Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneas brought the Trojan cult of the lares and penates from Troy, along with the Palladium which was later installed in the temple of Vesta.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Which individual in the household was responsible for the Vesta cult?
A: wife', '
Q: Who was the senior priest of the household in Rome?
A: pater familias', '
Q: Which ancient hero brought the lares cult to Rome?
A: Aeneas', '
Q: From what city did Aeneas bring the lares cult?
A: Troy', '
Q: What was put in the temple of Vesta?
A: Palladium']
Religious law centered on the ritualised system of honours and sacrifice that brought divine blessings, according to the principle do ut des ("I give, that you might give"). Proper, respectful religio brought social harmony and prosperity. Religious neglect was a form of atheism: impure sacrifice and incorrect ritual were vitia (impious errors). Excessive devotion, fearful grovelling to deities and the improper use or seeking of divine knowledge were superstitio. Any of these moral deviations could cause divine anger (ira deorum) and therefore harm the State. The official deities of the state were identified with its lawful offices and institutions, and Romans of every class were expected to honour the beneficence and protection of mortal and divine superiors. Participation in public rites showed a personal commitment to their community and its values.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: On what kind of system was Roman religious law focused?
A: ritualised', '
Q: What form of religion was atheism considered to be? 
A: Religious neglect', '
Q: What results did proper religious practices produce?
A: harmony and prosperity.', '
Q: What could deviations from proper religious practices cause?
A: divine anger', '
Q: What did participation in public religious rites show about the individual?
A: commitment']
Official cults were state funded as a "matter of public interest" (res publica). Non-official but lawful cults were funded by private individuals for the benefit of their own communities. The difference between public and private cult is often unclear. Individuals or collegial associations could offer funds and cult to state deities. The public Vestals prepared ritual substances for use in public and private cults, and held the state-funded (thus public) opening ceremony for the Parentalia festival, which was otherwise a private rite to household ancestors. Some rites of the domus (household) were held in public places but were legally defined as privata in part or whole. All cults were ultimately subject to the approval and regulation of the censor and pontifices.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What organization payed for the maintenance official cults?
A: state', '
Q: Who funded non-official religious cults?
A: private individuals', '
Q: What group benefited from non- official cults? 
A: own communities', '
Q: What group presented the opening ceremonies of the Parentalia festival?
A: Vestals', '
Q: What individuals had the right to regulate all cults?
A: censor and pontifices']
Rome had no separate priestly caste or class. The highest authority within a community usually sponsored its cults and sacrifices, officiated as its priest and promoted its assistants and acolytes. Specialists from the religious colleges and professionals such as haruspices and oracles were available for consultation. In household cult, the paterfamilias functioned as priest, and members of his familia as acolytes and assistants. Public cults required greater knowledge and expertise. The earliest public priesthoods were probably the flamines (the singular is flamen), attributed to king Numa: the major flamines, dedicated to Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus, were traditionally drawn from patrician families. Twelve lesser flamines were each dedicated to a single deity, whose archaic nature is indicated by the relative obscurity of some. Flamines were constrained by the requirements of ritual purity; Jupiter's flamen in particular had virtually no simultaneous capacity for a political or military career.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What was lacking as to the profession of a priest class in Rome?
A: separate priestly caste', '
Q: What authority in a community sponsored religious rites? 
A: highest', '
Q: What type of religious participants were available for consultation?
A: Specialists', '
Q: What were the earliest priesthoods? 
A: flamines', '
Q: Which member of a family functioned as priest?
A: paterfamilias']
In the Regal era, a rex sacrorum (king of the sacred rites) supervised regal and state rites in conjunction with the king (rex) or in his absence, and announced the public festivals. He had little or no civil authority. With the abolition of monarchy, the collegial power and influence of the Republican pontifices increased. By the late Republican era, the flamines were supervised by the pontifical collegia. The rex sacrorum had become a relatively obscure priesthood with an entirely symbolic title: his religious duties still included the daily, ritual announcement of festivals and priestly duties within two or three of the latter but his most important priestly role – the supervision of the Vestals and their rites – fell to the more politically powerful and influential pontifex maximus.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who supervised sacred rites during the era of kings?
A: rex sacrorum', '
Q: What type of authority did the rex sacrorum lack?
A: civil', "
Q: What group's power increased after the rise of the Roman Republic?
A: Republican pontifices", '
Q: What individual became more powerful during the late Republic?
A: pontifex maximus', '
Q: By the late Republic, what position had become largely symbolic?
A: rex sacrorum']
Public priests were appointed by the collegia. Once elected, a priest held permanent religious authority from the eternal divine, which offered him lifetime influence, privilege and immunity. Therefore, civil and religious law limited the number and kind of religious offices allowed an individual and his family. Religious law was collegial and traditional; it informed political decisions, could overturn them, and was difficult to exploit for personal gain. Priesthood was a costly honour: in traditional Roman practice, a priest drew no stipend. Cult donations were the property of the deity, whose priest must provide cult regardless of shortfalls in public funding – this could mean subsidy of acolytes and all other cult maintenance from personal funds. For those who had reached their goal in the Cursus honorum, permanent priesthood was best sought or granted after a lifetime's service in military or political life, or preferably both: it was a particularly honourable and active form of retirement which fulfilled an essential public duty. For a freedman or slave, promotion as one of the Compitalia seviri offered a high local profile, and opportunities in local politics; and therefore business. During the Imperial era, priesthood of the Imperial cult offered provincial elites full Roman citizenship and public prominence beyond their single year in religious office; in effect, it was the first step in a provincial cursus honorum. In Rome, the same Imperial cult role was performed by the Arval Brethren, once an obscure Republican priesthood dedicated to several deities, then co-opted by Augustus as part of his religious reforms. The Arvals offered prayer and sacrifice to Roman state gods at various temples for the continued welfare of the Imperial family on their birthdays, accession anniversaries and to mark extraordinary events such as the quashing of conspiracy or revolt. Every January 3 they consecrated the annual vows and rendered any sacrifice promised in the previous year, provided the gods had kept the Imperial family safe for the contracted time.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: What group selected public priests in Rome?
A: collegia', '
Q: What was the term of office for a priest in Rome?
A: lifetime', "
Q: What limited an individual's access to religious offices?
A: law", '
Q: Because of the lack of pay, what was the type of honor in being a priest?
A: costly', '
Q: What did a priesthood in the Imperial cult gain a provencial?
A: Roman citizenship']