𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜.
Roman religion was very deeply connected to state and family, the destruction of Republic and its morals opened the doors for the Roman paganism to lose its meaning during the civil wars.

Parallel with the destruction of political institutions of the Republic, the institutions of Roman religions started to lose its meaning and it became an empty shell of what once was. Roman religion for high officials was, almost always, meaningless.

But, from the 3rd century BCE onwards, there were no big changes in the religion system - the triumphs and other rituals were still carried on officially. Many educated Romans studied the religion with scepticism and the religious offices became a step for building a career.

The example for this is Gaius Julius Caesar, a non religious person who was chosen for pontifex maximus just so he can build his career. Later he even made coins representing him, something which was before reserved for the images of ancestors, presenting himself as "living god".

Because of the degradation, the religion of Romans during this time started incorporating other non Roman elements which were popular among the commoners. For example, the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris was extremely popular at the time.

The cult of Cybele entered Rome during the war with Hannibal, becoming an official cult. During the war with Cimbri, a priest of Cybele from Pesinunt was staying in Rome which made Cybele extremely popular with people. Even Gaius Marius visited Pesinunt after ending the “revolt”.

This happened because people were still looking for a meaning in the religion and they were seeking the ancestral knowledge which the official religion started to lose. Gods and goddesses started being syncretized with the Roman ones because our paganism is essentially the same.

From Sulla’s time the Egyptian cults of Isis and Osiris, Serapis, Harpocrates and Anubis started being popular. In this time astrology and fortune telling started being popular – Lucius Tarutius calculated the date of birth of Romulus and building of Rome using Egyptian astrology

There were opponents to all of this, people who thought that accepting foreign influences is degrading the Roman religion. One of them was Lucius Paullus, consul in 50 BCE, who said the temple of Isis inside of pomerium has to be destroyed.

But, the cult of Isis was so strong in Rome that no worker dared to desecrate the temple of Isis. Lucius Paullus took the axe himself and started destroying the temple while people around him looked in horror.

As we see, at the end of the Republic even Roman religion was going through a crisis. It is a result of civilization which degraded the original meaning. What remained of this degraded religion was the religion worshipped in family, an ancestral cult.