# Why Latin fills this grimoire: Roman polytheism and the clever strategy of stealing gods Historical statecraft and institutional analogy. Why are well-informed Latin words woven across every section of the Necromancer page? Beyond Latin’s role as the historical language of anatomy, neuroscience, and law, Latin is the language of the ancient Romans, who were unabashedly polytheistic (religio polytheistica) AND literally stole gods from other civilizations in a remarkably clever geopolitical strategy. Canonical page: https://givegigs.com/wiki/necro-chapter-roman-evocatio-polytheism Last updated: 2026-11-09T18:58:12.584Z Parent topic: [necromancer-neuroscience](https://givegigs.com/wiki/necromancer-neuroscience) ## Contents - [Overview](#wiki-section-overview-1) - [Chapter notes](#wiki-section-chapter-notes-2) - [Dossier section](#wiki-section-dossier-link-3) ## Overview Historical statecraft and institutional analogy. This page expands the “Why Latin fills this grimoire: Roman polytheism and the clever strategy of stealing gods” chapter in the neuroscience collection. ## Chapter notes Why are well-informed Latin words woven across every section of the Necromancer page? Beyond Latin’s role as the historical language of anatomy, neuroscience, and law, Latin is the language of the ancient Romans, who were unabashedly polytheistic (religio polytheistica) AND literally stole gods from other civilizations in a remarkably clever geopolitical strategy. In Roman military and diplomatic statecraft, this practice had an official ritual name: evocatio deorum (“summoning forth or calling away the gods”). Before assaulting a rival city, most famously during Marcus Furius Camillus’s siege of Etruscan Veii in 396 BCE, as recorded by Livy (Ab Urbe Condita 5.21), the Roman commander stood before the enemy walls and addressed the city’s patron deity (Iuno Regina), formally offering her a grander temple, richer cultus, and higher honors in Rome if she would defect and abandon her former city. Once Veii fell, her statue was reverently carried to the Aventine Hill and installed in the Roman pantheon. Paired with interpretatio Romana (translating and recognizing foreign deities as real powers) and the formal adoption of foreign cults, from Phrygian Magna Mater (Cybele) and Greek Aesculapius to Egyptian Isis, polytheistic Rome avoided the brittle trap of monotheistic or monocultural purity. Instead of waging endless wars to prove that a neighbor’s gods were false, Rome absorbed, recruited, and naturalized them (adlectio deorum), turning conquered or rival peoples’ sacred traditions into stakeholders of the Roman commonwealth (res publica). Necromancer’s grimoire applies the constructive side of that Roman insight, without the imperial conquest. In science, governance, and imagined interstellar diplomacy, a polycentric, syncretic mind is stronger than a dogmatic monolith. Rather than rejecting unfamiliar frameworks out of hand, our Wizards, Warlocks, and Bards practice intellectual evocatio: we invite the best methods, metaphors, classes, and alien innovations into our shared forum, test them rigorously under onus probandi, and let many traditions co-exist under one accountable charter. Finally, no understanding of Latin is complete without its irreverent wit. The grimoire preserves the classic Latin joke: Semper Ubi Sub Ubi, meaning literally 'Always Where Under Where', or in the immortal schoolboy pun, 'Always Wear Underwear'. Whether negotiating a Pax Galactica across alien star systems or presenting neural models in the laboratory, genuine wisdom begins with humility, pragmatic decorum, and good cheer. ## Dossier section [Open this exact section in the Necromancer dossier](/necromancer#roman-evocatio-polytheism). The original chapter status is “Historical statecraft and institutional analogy.” ## Sources - [Evocatio: Oxford Classical Dictionary & Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita \(5\.21, Siege of Veii\)](https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2593) --- This article is collaboratively maintained. Check the canonical page and cited sources for the latest context.