this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
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Not quite - most peoples of antiquity were generally nonchalant about the gods of their subjects continuing to be worshipped, and certainly the Romans were not shy about killing leaders or abusing civilians during the conquest.
The big difference in this theology/pluralism comes in toleration vs. acceptance. The usual scenario for this period is the conquerors going "You have your gods, we have our's. Clearly your's are weak if they're different from our's, but you can keep them if you want." - the Romans come in and essentially say, "I see you worship the gods too! Very good, very pious, we do the same thing!" It changes what is a fairly major cultural divide (different pantheons) into a nearly literally nominal difference ("You call the gods different names than we do? That's quite alright, I'm sure the gods don't mind") that makes conqueror and conquered share in a common religious-cultural tradition. People are generally more amiable when they feel they have something in common with you, even something as abstract as religion.
Other culturally imperial powers of the period will build shrines to their own gods and exclude your gods - very annoying, especially since that's YOUR tax money they're spending. The Romans will build shrines and tell you that worshipping your gods at these shrines is a-okay, because it was always meant for those gods, and make sacrifices to your gods ("OUR gods"). That's nearly a public service! Maybe these toga-wearing weirdos aren't ALL bad?
The Achaemenid approach was slightly different - more of a "You have your gods, we have our's, but we will guard your religious traditions and buildings from abuse just as we guard our own." Which is also preferable to the "I'm going to use your taxes (or plunder your temples) to worship MY gods" approach-by-neglect by culturally imperial powers of the time without deeply ingrained notions of tolerance.
*note - the Romans plundered temples too, but it was okay, because they would use some of that plunder to build other, grander temples to the same gods. The gods basically won't notice if their summer home gets a little 'renovated' and moved a few miles to the west, right?
They did steal the entire inventory of the temple, including the god(s) that resided there. They even had a formal procedure for doing exactly that, evocatio deorum. They basically called for the local gods to abandon the place about to be conquered and promised a better temple in Rome in return for that favour.
I love evocatio, I'd just like to note that it was a specific ritual, and that it isn't always recorded as accompanying Roman looting of temples.
No need to perform an evocation on a god who isn't powerful enough to interfere with your conquest, I guess...
"Lenus is basically Mars, and we already have Mars." - Romans, trying to Catch 'em All
Right, Mars Lenus agreed with this, he already has a much better temple in Rome, and surely will greatly appreciate some of the inventory of this pathetic attempt of a temple being transferred there.