We like to look back in history to learn practices of growth, teamwork, and strategy…

If we’re not learning from history, then what is the point of it?

The society that spawned from the homogenous Roman rule over the Mediterranean is among the most culturally forward thinking and impressive to come out of the Ancient period.

They were able to unite society under a common militaristic goal and use this to expand territory, society, urbanisation, and scientific practices.

A faucet of this that modern literature, films and general intrigue follows closely is Roman religion:

The pantheon of ancient Gods that includes Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, among a whole host of other divine faces.

This idea of religion creates the perception of a deeply rooted and far-reaching tradition that must surely have permeated through Italian culture long before Roman rise to power around the 3rd century BC.

However, Roman religion was a process of cultural revisionism that was not fixed over their period of hegemony – something that can prove vital in the modern day when understanding how to grow practices and ideas from study of business peers.

Initial religion around the Roman growth period in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC was more to do with Augural law, rather than spirituality.

Augural law was the process of how religion and political decision making were intertwined:

Roman augurs (interpreters) would seek the approval of the Gods for a military or political action and then look for signs the next morning to confirm the decision, which included (but was not limited to) birds and lightning bolts.

However, as scientific knowledge changed over the period, and an astrological interest grew in Rome, these divination practices changed; Augural law was still relied upon for decision making, however – rather than natural signs – interpreters looked to the stars to affirm decision making.

This was, perhaps, because divine mandate overwrote majority vote in the elite, so the introduction of a new divination system that relied less on chance was more useful in validating certain decisions.

Later, supplication was introduced, where the whole adult population was encouraged to spend a period in prayer to either offer thanks, or in reaction to a military catastrophe.

This was most popular in the 3rd and 2nd century BC, a time (not coincidentally) when Rome was fighting the Punic Wars.

The second Punic war arguably posed a real threat to the Roman empire, as Hannibal was able to hand them their greatest military defeat at the Battle of Cannae (261 BC), leaving an estimated 40,000 – 70,000 Romans dead, and Rome vulnerable to invasion.

Several later religious practices were incorporated into Roman culture from the areas that Rome conquered.

For example, votives were clay sculptures of wounded/diseased body parts, offered as sacrifices to the Gods – a practice adopted from the Greeks used to ask for divine medical intervention.

Additionally, the Roman pantheon of Gods was not immune to religious revisionism and change, as Gods were also taken from different provinces that had been conquered: the ‘Great Mother’ goddess from Asia Minor was brought into Rome in 204 BC.

However, this also came with confusion from the Roman people, as – in contrast to the humanoid presentation of Gods in roman tradition – the goddess Cybele was a large meteorite. Nevertheless, she was incorporated into Roman religion.

So, what can we take from Rome’s elastic religious practices then?

The incorporation of different cult practices was used effectively by the Roman elite and by politicians to shift mass opinion in favourable military and political decisions, whilst adaptation to new scientific discoveries allowed for religion to maintain its status at the heart of society.

It was also used situationally, like when supplication was used in times of military crisis, to unite the public under a common goal of aiding military favour, which would have played a part in maintaining order and morale in central Rome, even after their crushing defeat at Canne.

What we see as the most impressive development of their religion, is the adaptation of religious practices and Gods from provinces under Roman expansion: this shows the flexibility to adopt successful practices that can be worked into business expansion and change.

Learning from competition and business allies is important, but it is in the way that Rome failed with some of its religious adoptions that we can learn from.

For example, the addition of the Asia Minor goddess, ‘Cybele,’ wasn’t successful because she didn’t have the image of a traditional Roman God and therefore her inclusion in the Pantheon raised the question of ‘what actually made up the Roman identity?’ and upset the social balance.

We are constantly trying to learn from other businesses by absorbing information about successful techniques and practices and from leading figures from different successful environments, using their knowledge to evolve and provide increasingly effective office technology products and services.

However, this is done with adaptation in mind, where we assess how well a particular practice will fit into our team and business model and implement it in an edited way to ensure the best success.

You can read our article on John Wooden (here) which details how we have adapted Wooden’s advice on success and implemented it into our team and service approach.

As the Romans taught us, adaptation to different circumstances, new changes in the business world and new technologies are important, as is learning from others and implementing their techniques.

…although, this must be done with a level of caution to make sure that it does not upset the balance of your team and business.