Here's more from Wikipedia "Roman Religion"
Note that the Romans fused Greek religion with their
own
Just as Americans in the South fused their religion
with glossolalia from West Africa and snake handling
from Native Americans
Roman polytheism was the religion of the Etruscans,
Romans, and most of their subjects. The Romans
originally followed a rural animistic tradition, in
which many spirits were each responsible for specific,
limited aspects of the cosmos and human activities,
such as ploughing.
The early Romans referred to these as numina. Another
aspect of this animistic belief was ancestor, or
genius, worship, with each family honoring their own
dead by their own rites. Rome had a strong belief in
gods. When they took over Greece, they inherited the
Greek gods but fused them with their Roman
counterparts.
Based heavily in Greek and Etruscan mythology, Roman
religion came to encompass and absorb hundreds of
other religions, developing a rich and complex
mythology. In addition, an Imperial cult supplemented
the pantheon with Julius Caesar and some of the
emperors.
Eventually, Christianity came to replace the older
pantheon as the state religion of Rome, and the
original Roman religion faded, though many aspects of
its hierarchy remain ingrained in Christian ritual and
in Western traditions.
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