MANES

Also known as DI-MANES

The deified dead. Turn your dead relations into Gods today

In other words, ancestor worship with a Roman twist.

To become a God, all you had to do was die. Preferably leaving a few pots of gold behind to remind your relatives of their noble duty.

It was quite easy. You just got worshipped a bit. Nothing in JUPITER's league, of course. Perhaps the merest mention during a list of invocations. A smallish statue in your honor bearing the legend 'Dis Manibus' (to the Divine Souls). Modest shrine facilities.

Of course, by definition, if something is worshipped it must therefore be a deity in the opinion of its worshipper. So when the Romans worshipped their ancestors, they were quite literally turning them into Gods.

This practice was in everyone's interest. In return for a little consideration, the dead could look kindly upon the living and ensure health and happiness all round. And with the prospect of divinity to look forward to, death may well have lost its sting.

With such a mutually beneficial system, even the bitterest of family feuds could turn out nicely in the end.