Any individual in the Greco-Roman world would not have such a monotheistic attitude towards religion. He/she would not have a "focus," even if he/she were a priest or priestess of a particular god. Polytheistic societies are interwoven with many different gods and rituals. A merchant would certainly participate in festivals and/or sacrifices to Hermes/Mercury or Poseidon/Neptune, but so would many other members of the community, merchants and otherwise. Greco-Roman polytheism was not centered around the individual, but rather the group, and it was group-based ritual observance which was thought to attract divine attention and affect divine outcomes. There was room for personal ritual observance and personal sacrifice, especially in the realm of healthcare/healing and worship of ancestors, but the bulk of "religion" was carried out at the group level, not the individual level.

A typical well-off Roman could expect to attend half a dozen or more religious functions in the city of Rome. For instance, in any give year, in the month of April, he would (along with his community):

• pay homage to Venus in the Veneralia festival

• observe the popular Megalensia devoted to Cybele, the Magna Mater; she was an eastern import and related to fertility

• give a nod to Fortuna Publica, the iteration of the goddess of Fortune in her specific guise as protector of the Roman People

• pray for the good harvest to come in the Cerialia, devoted to Ceres

• make observance to Jupiter in his role as a victor and Liberator

• sacrifice a pregnant cow to the goddess Tellus=Gaia, for fertility and such

• similarly sacrifice a sheep on a different day but for the same purpose

• celebrate the coming of the time for wine production by having a little sip or three (Jupiter presiding)

• the Robigalia festival: the sacrifice of a reddish-colored dog to avert a particular harvest pestilence called grain rust

• and at the end of the month, the popular and fun Floralia, the festival of flowers, again connected with fertility of plants, animals, and girls.

In addition to all this, he would regularly (as an individual or as a small community, on the household and/or street- or neighborhood level) make observances for dozens of numina "spirits" inhabiting various aspects of daily life, like the goddess of the neighborhood fountain, local deities inhabiting local shrines or altars, the godhead of the Emperor (if an altar nearby and the right time period), etc etc.