Religion in Rome was in no way dominated by only one religion. Throughout time Rome has had many uprisings in different religions among its people. Long before Christianity had really established its foothold in the Roman society, there were many other small religions. These "mystery-religions" all had an influence on people, but none of them were all that widespread and did not ever attain the lasting appeal that Christianity did with the people of Rome.
             The mystery religions were usually not originated in Rome, many that came Romeward came from Syria, Egypt, Anatolia, and Persia. As there were few native Roman mysteries these mystery-religions did not evolve from any other kind of Roman religion. They were thought to represent the yielding of the old Roman spirit to older Oriental thought and practice.
             The mystery religions had a cult-like following in Rome. Some of the rituals and festivals of these religions, such as the festival of the Megalenisia, were found to be menaces to morality. The rituals were very un-roman and were very different from what the general public was used to, or was ready to accept. At the annual festival of Megalenisia in the Cybele Cult, a bull was sacrificed on the Ides. After a week on the twenty-second, a pine tree was cut down and prepared with woolen fillets and violets to represent a corpse. It was then carried by the Dendrophori to the temple. On the twenty-third the log was buried. The next day the high-priest drew blood from his arm onto the alter while the lower priests danced and gashed their bodies with knifes to show that they shared in the sorrows of the god.
             Another ritual, also part of the Cybele Cult that was seen as de-moralizing was the communion in a bath of bulls blood. A trench was dug which had a platform with holes through it placed on top. The initiate below was symbolically buried in the pit while a bull was led ove
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