The Romans called Apollo. Gods and goddesses of ancient rome and greece

Who were the gods of ancient Rome? What legends and real events were associated with deities? All these questions can be answered in this article, learn l...

By Masterweb

ancient culture has always fascinated humanity. After the dark period of the Middle Ages, people turned to achievements Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, trying to comprehend their art, attitude to life. The era following the Middle Ages became known as the Renaissance (Renaissance). Workers of culture and arts also turned to antiquity in the Enlightenment. This can be said about almost every historical segment of the existence of mankind. So what is it that attracts us so much in ancient Greece and Rome? Most of all, we know the myths and legends that contain the deep foundations of morality. The heroes of myths are people, fantastic creatures and, of course, gods.

Ancient gods of Rome

The ancient Roman gods are very similar to the ancient Greek ones. This is no coincidence: the two civilizations were close, and when the Roman Empire began to seize other states, it included foreign gods in its pantheon.

Although the pantheon of the gods of Ancient Rome grew significantly as a result, 12 gods remained the main ones - 6 men and 6 women - the so-called Council of the Gods. In addition, there are other revered gods.

Saturn

One of the significant ancient gods of Rome. Saturn was not a member of the Council of the Gods, but was highly revered. The question arises: Saturn - the god of what in Ancient Rome? Corresponding to the ancient Greek Kronus, Saturn is the patron vitality, agriculture. Of course, agriculture played an important role in antiquity, so the veneration of this god is quite natural.

Jupiter - god of lightning

Jupiter was one of the most revered gods in ancient Rome. He was associated with lightning and thunder, which were considered signs or punishments. It is interesting that the places struck by lightning were sacred, they were fenced off and sacrifices were made next to them. Any Roman commander, going on a campaign and returning with a victory, prayed to Jupiter. One of the most significant temples to Jupiter was in the Capitol, which was founded by Tarquin Gordius.

Juno - goddess of family

Juno is the patroness of family and marriage. Her temple, like Jupiter, was located on the Capitoline Hill (such an honor was given to few gods). The goddess was given many epithets, among which there is Moneta - giving advice. Its appearance is connected with an interesting legend.

In the 5th century BC, a war broke out between the Romans and the Etruscans, which lasted 10 years. From the captured city of Veio, they brought a statue of the goddess - Juno, who appeared to one of the soldiers and blessed. It was in honor of this event that a temple was built on Capitol Hill, where geese were sacrificed. When, much later, in 390 BC. e., the enemies surrounded the fortress of the Capitol, the geese woke up the leader of the fortress, and Rome was saved. It was believed that this was a sign from the goddess giving advice.

In the 3rd century BC, it was in the temple of Juno that a mint was founded.

Neptune - lord of the seas

Brother of Jupiter and patron of the sea, Neptune was the second most powerful god of Rome. According to legend, Neptune had a magnificent palace at the bottom of the sea.

An amazing fact about the god of the sea: it was he who gave man the first horse!

Neptune is depicted with a trident, a powerful weapon that can smash anything to pieces.

Ceres - goddess of fertility

The ancient Roman goddess of fertility and motherhood was revered in the pantheon of the gods of Ancient Rome. Farmers treated Ceres with special respect: holidays in honor of the goddess lasted several days.

The Romans made sacrifices to the goddess. Instead of the traditional killing of animals, Ceres was given half of the property of her husband, who for no reason separated from his wife. In addition, she was considered the protector of the rural community and the harvest from robbers.

Minerva - goddess of wisdom

Minerva was considered the goddess of wisdom, knowledge and just war, she was the patroness of sciences and crafts. Often the goddess is depicted armed, with an olive and an owl - a symbol of wisdom. Minerva was part of the Capitol triad, considered equal to Jupiter and Juno.

She was especially revered in Rome for her warlike character.

Apollo - god of music and arts

Apollo is considered one of the most beautiful gods, with a bright solar disk above his head. God is considered the patron of music and the arts. His father, Jupiter, was dissatisfied with the willfulness of Apollo and even forced him to serve people!

Diana - goddess of the hunt

Diana was considered in ancient Rome the goddess-huntress. While her brother Apollo represented the sun, Diana was associated with the moon. In Rome, she patronized the lower classes. The traditions of rituals associated with Diana were sometimes cruel - they could not do without human victims. The priest of the temple, for example, the first one erected on the Aventine Hill, was necessarily a fugitive slave. The priest was named Rex (King), and in order to become a priest of the goddess, one had to kill his predecessor.

Mars - god of war

Undoubtedly, the Roman Empire was a powerful power, constantly expanding through wars. In the ancient world, without the help of the gods, no deeds could be done. Therefore, Mars, the god of war in Ancient Rome, always had enough admirers. It is curious that, according to legend, it was Mars who was the father of Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome. In this regard, he was revered above other gods, which the Greek Ares could not boast of.

Venus - goddess of love

The beautiful goddess of love, fertility, eternal spring and life, Venus had amazing abilities. Not only people, but even gods, with the exception of a few, obeyed her authority. Venus was the most revered goddess among women. Its symbol is an apple. In honor of Venus, the Sicilian temple was built, she was the patroness of the descendants of Aeneas, the son of Venus, and all the Romans. One of the greatest Roman commanders, Gaius Julius Caesar, considered Aeneas his ancestor, therefore he respected the goddess very much.

Vulcan - blacksmith god

Unlike Apollo, who was famous for his beauty, Vulcan was lame and ugly. But this did not prevent him from becoming a talented blacksmith. According to legend, it was Vulcan who forged Jupiter's formidable weapon - lightning. It is impossible to forge a sword without fire, so Vulcan was also considered the patron of this formidable element. Every year on August 23, the inhabitants of the Empire celebrated Vulcania.

And the following fact can no longer be fully attributed to the legend. In 79 BC, on August 24, the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius occurred, which was the last for the city of Pompeii. Perhaps the inhabitants angered God with their ignorance that Mount Vesuvius is a volcano?

Mercury - god of trade

Herald's rod and winged sandals... It is easy to guess that we are talking about the messenger of the gods - Mercury. He was considered the patron of trade, intellect, eloquence and even ... theft! It was he, according to the legends, who invented the alphabet, units of measurement, and then bestowed this knowledge on people.

The rod of Mercury was called the caduceus, it was wrapped around two snakes. There is a myth that when Mercury received a rod capable of subduing anyone, he placed it between two snakes, which at that moment were fighting among themselves. They wrapped themselves around the staff and became part of it.

Vesta - goddess of the hearth

Vesta in ancient Rome is the goddess of the hearth and family. In Rome, a temple was dedicated to her, in which fire was constantly maintained. The flames were watched by special priestesses - vestals. The manners and customs of ancient civilizations are sometimes cruel, and priestesses were required to remain celibate for 30 years. If the unfortunate woman violated the ban, she was buried alive.

You can list the gods of Ancient Rome ad infinitum - there are very, very many of them. The most significant are listed above. It's amazing how much connects the ancient Roman gods and our modernity. In honor of some of them, the planets were named - Venus, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter. We know the month of June, named after Juno.

As can be seen from the description of the gods, they were not harmless, they could stand up for themselves, many were associated with military affairs. Who knows, maybe the gods really helped the Romans found one of the most powerful empires in human history.

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In ancient Rome, as in ancient Greece, religion consisted of cults of different gods. At the same time, the Roman pantheon had many deities similar to the Greek ones. That is, here we can talk about borrowing. This happened because Greek mythology was older than Roman mythology. The Greeks created colonies in Italy, when Rome did not even think about greatness. The inhabitants of these colonies spread Greek culture and religion to nearby lands, and therefore the Romans became the successors of Greek traditions, but interpreted them taking into account local conditions.

The most significant and revered in ancient Rome was the so-called council of the gods, corresponding to the Olympic gods of ancient Greece. The father of Roman poetry Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC) systematized the deities of Ancient Rome and introduced six men and six women to this council. He gave them Greek equivalents. This list was subsequently confirmed by the Roman historian Titus Livy (59 BC - 17 AD). Below is a list of this council of celestials, Greek counterparts are given in brackets.

Jupiter(Zeus) - the king of the gods, the god of heaven and thunder, the son of Saturn and Opa. The main deity of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The rulers of Rome took an oath to Jupiter and honored him annually in the month of September on the Capitoline Hill. He was personified with law, order and justice. In Rome there were 2 temples dedicated to Jupiter. One was built in 294 BC. e., and the second was erected in 146 BC. e. This god was personified by an eagle and an oak. Juno was his wife and sister.

Juno(Hera) - daughter of Saturn and Opa, wife and sister of Jupiter, queen of the gods. She was the mother of Mars and Vulcan. She was the protector of marriage, motherhood, family traditions. The month of June is named after her. She was part of the Capitoline triad along with Jupiter and Minerva. There is a statue of this goddess in the Vatican. She is depicted wearing a helmet and armor. Not only mere mortals, but all the gods of Ancient Rome revered and respected Juno.

Neptune(Poseidon) is the god of the sea and fresh water. Brother of Jupiter and Pluto. The Romans also worshiped Neptune as the god of horses. He was the patron saint of horse racing. In Rome, a temple was erected to this god. It was located near the circus Flaminius in the southern part of the Champ de Mars. The circus had a small hippodrome. All these structures were built in 221 BC. e. Neptune is an extremely ancient deity. He was a household god even among the Etruscans, and then migrated to the Romans.

Ceres(Demeter) - Goddess of harvest, fertility, agriculture. She was the daughter of Saturn and Ope and the sister of Jupiter. She had an only daughter, Proserpina (goddess of the underworld) from a relationship with Jupiter. It was believed that Ceres could not see hungry children. This brought her into a state of grief. Therefore, she always took care of the orphans, surrounded them with care and attention. Every year in the month of April, a festival dedicated to this goddess was held. It lasted 7 days. She was also mentioned during marriages and ritual ceremonies associated with the harvest.

Minerva(Athena) - the goddess of wisdom, the patroness of art, medicine, trade, military strategy. Often, gladiator battles were held in her honor. Considered a virgin. She was often depicted with an owl (the owl of Minerva), which symbolized wisdom and knowledge. Long before the Romans, this goddess was worshiped by the Etruscans. Celebrations in her honor were held from 19 to 23 March. This goddess was worshiped on the Esquiline Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome). A temple to Minerva was erected there.

Apollo(Apollo) - one of the main gods of Greek and Roman mythologies. This is the god of the sun, light, music, prophecy, healing, art, poetry. It should be said that the Romans, regarding this god, took the traditions of the ancient Greeks as a basis and, in practice, did not change them. Apparently, they seemed extremely successful to them, and therefore they did not change anything, so as not to spoil the beautiful legends about this god.

Diana(Artemis) - the goddess of hunting, nature, fertility. She, like Minerva, was a virgin. In total, the gods of Ancient Rome had 3 goddesses who took a vow of celibacy - these are Diana, Minerva and Vesta. They were called girl goddesses. Diana was the daughter of Jupiter and Latone, and was born with her twin brother Apollo. Since she patronized hunting, she wore a short tunic and hunting boots. She always had a bow, a quiver and a diadem in the form of a crescent. Deer or hunting dogs accompanied the goddess. The Temple of Diana in Rome was erected on the Aventine Hill.

Mars(Ares) - god of war, as well as the protector of agricultural fields in the early Roman period. He was considered the second most important god (after Jupiter) in the Roman army. Unlike Ares, who was treated with disgust, Mars was respected and loved. Under the first Roman Emperor Augustus, a temple to Mars was built in Rome. During the Roman Empire, this deity was considered the guarantor of military power and peace and was never mentioned as a conqueror.

Venus(Aphrodite) - the goddess of beauty, love, prosperity, victory, fertility and desires. The Roman people considered her their mother through their son Aeneas. He survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed to be the ancestor of this goddess. Subsequently, in Europe, Venus became the most popular deity of Roman mythology. She was personified with sexuality and love. The symbols of Venus were the dove and the hare, and of the plants, the rose and the poppy. The planet Venus is named after this goddess.

Volcano(Hephaestus) - the god of fire and the patron of blacksmiths. He was often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer. This is one of the most ancient Roman deities. In Rome there was a temple of Vulcan or Vulcanal, built in the 8th century BC. e. on the site of the future Roman Forum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. The festival dedicated to Vulcan was celebrated every year in the second half of August. It was this god who forged lightning for Jupiter. He also made armor and weapons for other celestials. He equipped his forge in the mouth of the volcano Etna in Sicily. And the golden women, whom God himself created, helped him in his work.

Mercury(Hermes) - the patron of trade, finance, eloquence, travel, good luck. He also acted as a conductor of souls to the underworld. Son of Jupiter and Maya. In Rome, the temple of this god was located in the circus, located between the Avetine and Palatine hills. It was built in 495 BC. e. A festival dedicated to this god was held in mid-May. But he was not as magnificent as for other gods, since Mercury was not considered one of the main deities of Rome. The planet Mercury was named after him.

Vesta(Hestia) - a goddess extremely revered by the ancient Romans. She was the sister of Jupiter and was identified with the goddess of the home and the family hearth. In her temples, the sacred fire was always burning, and the priestesses of the goddess, the virgin vestals, supported it. It was a whole staff of female priestesses in ancient Rome, enjoying unquestioned authority. They were taken from wealthy families and were required to remain celibate for 30 years. If one of the Vestals violated this oath, then such a woman was buried alive in the ground. Celebrations dedicated to this goddess were held annually from June 7 to 15.

Cicero wrote:
“By piety, reverence for the gods and wise confidence that everything is guided and controlled by the will of the gods, we Romans have surpassed all tribes and peoples.”

The Romans almost completely adopted the Greek gods - they just gave them different names. Their images, colors, symbols and spells remained the same; all you have to do is just replace Zeus with Jupiter, and so on; however, this does not mean that they are completely identical.

There is little difference between Roman and Greek gods that different names help to better understand them. As a rule, the Roman gods are more serious and firmer than the Greek ones; they are more virtuous and reliable. Some consider the Roman gods to be too limited and a bit closed, but they certainly have good qualities. For example, some cruelty of Aphrodite is less expressed in Venus, Jupiter is not as despotic as Zeus.

The expression "return to native penates", which means returning to your home, to the hearth, is more correct to pronounce "return to native Penates". The fact is that the Penates are the Roman guardian gods of the hearth, and each family usually had images of two Penates next to the hearth.

Starting from the III century. to i. e. Greek religion began to have a very strong influence on the Roman religion. The Romans identified their abstract gods with the Greek gods. So, Jupiter was identified with Zeus, Mars with Ares, Venus with Aphrodite, Juno with Hera, Minerva with Athena, Ceres with Demeter, etc. Among the numerous Roman gods, the main Olympic gods stood out under the influence of Greek religious ideas: Jupiter is the god of the sky, thunder and lightning. Mars is the god of war, Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, the patroness of crafts, Venus is the goddess of love and fertility. Vulcan is the god of fire and blacksmithing, Ceres is the goddess of vegetation. Apollo is the god of the sun and light, Juno is the patroness of women and marriage, Mercury is the messenger of the Olympic gods, the patron of travelers, trade, Neptune is the god of the sea, Diana is the goddess of the moon.

The Roman goddess Juno had the title Moneta - "warning" or "adviser". Near the temple of Juno on the Capitol there were workshops where metal money was minted. That is why we call them coins, and in English language from this word came the general name of money - money.

One of the revered purely Italic deities was Janus, depicted with two faces, as the deity of entry and exit, of every beginning. Olympic gods considered the patrons of the Roman community and revered by the patricians. The plebeians especially revered the divine trinity: Ceres, Libor, Proserpina - the goddess of vegetation and the underworld, and Libor - the god of wine and fun. The Roman pantheon never remained closed; foreign deities were accepted into its composition. It was believed that the reception of new gods strengthened the power of the Romans. So, the Romans borrowed almost the entire Greek pantheon, and at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. the veneration of the Great Mother of the Gods from Phrygia was introduced. The conquest of many overseas territories, especially the Hellenistic states, introduced the Romans to the Hellenistic and Oriental gods, who find admirers among the Roman population. The slaves who arrived in Rome and Italy professed their cults, thereby spreading other religious beliefs.

The Roman emperor Caligula once declared war on the god of the seas, Neptune, after which he led the army to the shore and ordered the soldiers to throw spears into the water.

In order for the gods to take care of people and the state, they had to make sacrifices, offer prayers, requests and perform special ritual actions. Special boards of knowledgeable people - priests - observed the cult of individual gods, the order in temples, prepared sacrificial animals, monitored the accuracy of prayers and ritual actions, could give advice on which deity to turn to with the necessary request.

When the emperor died, he was ranked among the gods, and the title Divus, Divine, was added to his name.

The Roman religion bore the seal of formalism and sober practicality: they expected help from the gods in specific matters, and therefore scrupulously performed the established rites and made the necessary sacrifices. In relation to the gods, the principle “I give so that you give” worked. The Romans paid great attention to the external side of religion, to the petty performance of rituals, and not to spiritual merging with the deity. Roman religion did not arouse the sacred awe, the ecstasy that seizes the believer. That is why the Roman religion, with outward very strict observance of all formalities and ceremonies, little affected the feelings of believers, gave rise to dissatisfaction. This is connected with the penetration of foreign, especially Eastern, cults, often distinguished by a mystical and orgiastic character, a certain mystery. The cult of the Great Mother of the gods and the cult of Dionysus - Bacchus, enrolled in the official Roman pantheon, were especially widespread. The Roman Senate took action against the spread of orgiastic Eastern cults, believing that they undermined the official Roman religion, which was associated with the power of the Roman state and its stability. So, in 186 BC. e. unbridled bacchanalia associated with the rites of the cult of Bacchus - Dionysus were banned.

All the planets in the solar system, except Earth, are named after Roman gods.

The mighty ruler of the sky, the personification of sunlight, thunderstorms, storms, throwing lightning in anger, striking them against those who disobeyed his divine will - such was the supreme lord of the gods Jupiter. His abode was on high mountains, from there he embraced the whole world with his eyes, the fate of individuals and nations depended on him. Jupiter expressed his will with peals of thunder, a flash of lightning, the flight of birds (especially the appearance of an eagle dedicated to him); sometimes he sent prophetic dreams in which he revealed the future.

very cool but i want to add
Roman; the same Greek;
jupiter zeus
pluto hades
Juno Hera
diana artemis
phoebus apollo
minerva athena
venus aphrodite
ceres demeter
liber dionysus
hephaestus volcano
mercury hermes
mars ares
01.03.12 Diana

The Romans evolved. Initially, there was a polytheistic religion - paganism. The Romans believed in many gods.

Structure and main concepts of ancient Roman religion

Like any other polytheistic faith, Roman paganism did not have a clear organization. In fact, this is a collection of a large number of ancient cults. The ancients were responsible for various aspects of human life and natural elements. Rites were revered in each family - they were performed by the head of the family. The gods were asked for help in domestic and personal affairs.

There were rituals that were held at the state level - they were performed at different times by priests, consuls, dictators, praetors. The gods were asked for help in battles, intercession and assistance in combat with the enemy. Fortune-telling and rituals played a large role in solving state issues.

During the reign, the concept of "priest" appeared. It was a representative of a closed caste. The priests had a great influence on the ruler, they possessed the secrets of rituals and communication with the gods. During the time of the empire, the emperor began to perform the function of the pontiff. It is characteristic that Rima were similar in their functions - they only had different names.

The main features of the religion of Rome

Important characteristics of Roman beliefs were:

• great influence of foreign borrowing. The Romans often came into contact with other peoples in the course of their conquests. Contacts with Greece were especially close;
• religion was closely linked to politics. This can be judged on the basis of the existence of a cult of imperial power;
• characteristic is the endowment with divine qualities of such concepts as happiness, love, justice;
• close connection of myth and beliefs - defines, but does not distinguish the Roman religion from other pagan systems;
• a huge number of cults, rituals. They differed in scale, but covered all aspects of public and private life;
• the Romans deified even such trifles as the return from a campaign, the first word of a baby, and much more.

ancient roman pantheon

The Romans, like the Greeks, represented the gods as humanoid. They believed in the forces of nature and spirits. The main deity was Jupiter. His element was the sky, he was the lord of thunder and lightning. In honor of Jupiter, the Great Games were held, a temple on Capitoline Hill was dedicated to him. The ancient gods of Rome took care of various aspects of human life: Venus - love, Juno - marriage, Diana - hunting, Minevra - craft, Vesta - hearth.

In the Roman pantheon there were father gods - the most revered of all, and lower deities. They also believed in spirits that were present in everything that surrounds a person. Researchers believe that the worship of spirits was present only at an early stage in the development of the religion of Rome. Initially, Mars, Quirinus and Jupiter were considered the main gods. At the time of the emergence of the institution of the priesthood, tribal cults were born. It was believed that each estate and noble family was patronized by a certain god. Cults appeared among the clans of Claudius, Cornelius and other representatives of the elite of society.

At the state level, Saturnalia was celebrated - in honor of agriculture. They organized grandiose festivities, thanked the patron for the harvest.

The social struggle in society led to the formation of a triad of gods or a "plebeian triad" - Ceres, Liber and Liber. The Romans also identified celestial, chthonic and earthly deities. There was a belief in demons. They were divided into good and evil. The first group included penates, lares and geniuses. They kept the traditions of the house, the hearth and protected the head of the family. Evil demons - lemurs and laurels interfered with the good ones and harmed the person. Such creatures appeared if the deceased was buried without observing the rituals.

The gods of Ancient Rome, the list of which includes more than 50 different creatures, have been objects of worship for many centuries - only the degree of influence of each of them on the consciousness of the people has changed.

During the empire, the goddess Roma, the patroness of the entire state, was popularized.

What gods did the Romans borrow?

As a result of frequent contacts with other peoples, the Romans began to incorporate foreign beliefs and rituals into their culture. Researchers tend to think that the whole religion is a complex of borrowings. The main reason for this is that the Romans respected the beliefs of the people they conquered. There was a ritual that formally introduced a foreign deity into the pantheon of Rome. This rite was called evocation.

The ancient gods of Rome appeared in the pantheon as a result of close cultural ties with the conquered peoples and the active development of their own culture. The most striking borrowings are Mithra and Cybele.

Table "Gods of Ancient Rome and Greek correspondences":

Mythology of Ancient Rome

In all pagan cultures myths and religious beliefs are closely related. The theme of Roman myths is traditional - the foundation of the city and the state, the creation of the world and the birth of the gods. This is one of the most interesting aspects of culture to study. Researchers on the mythological system can trace the entire evolution of the beliefs of the Romans.

Traditionally, legends contain many descriptions of miraculous, supernatural events that were believed in. From such narratives, features can be distinguished political views people who are hidden in a fantastic text.

In the mythology of almost all peoples, the theme of the creation of the world, cosmogony, is in the first place. But not in this case. It mainly describes heroic events, the ancient gods of Rome, the rituals and ceremonies that must be carried out.

The heroes were of semi-divine origin. the legendary founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus - were the children of the militant Mars and the vestal priestess, and their great ancestor Aeneas was the son of the beautiful Aphrodite and the king.

The gods of ancient Rome, the list of which includes both borrowed and local deities, has more than 50 names.

The most ancient beliefs of people were reduced to endowing natural phenomena with a soul and to the cult of ancestors. With the passage of time and the development of civilizations, more vivid images are defined from a huge number of obscure mythical deities: Mars - the god of war, Janus - the god of the beginning and end, Jupiter - the god of daylight, Thunderstorm, sending terrible downpours to the lands of people, and others. The culture and beliefs of ancient people have always been greatly influenced by the culture of their closest neighbors. So, the goddess of arts Minerva was borrowed from the Etruscans by the Romans. Also, the cultural life of Rome, in turn, had a significant impact more than Greece. Today, it is undeniable that the development of ancient Roman society as a whole was significantly influenced by Roman mythology, the gods of which were mostly borrowed from the Greeks.

The mythology of the ancient states today is of great interest to researchers of the history of civilizations that have sunk into the past, collecting artifacts of their culture bit by bit over many hundreds of years. Thanks to their efforts, he has an idea of ​​​​how people lived long before the appearance of his ancestors, what they believed in and what was the meaning of their life.

Ancient Roman mythology was built on the belief in the existence of life after death. The Romans of those times worshiped the souls of their ancestors. At the heart of this worship was the fear of the supernatural powers that the Romans believed these souls possessed. The first Roman gods were identified with nature, they could command it, cause rain or send an unprecedented drought to the settlements. In order not to be left without crops, the inhabitants of Ancient Rome tried in every possible way to appease these gods. They were worshiped and sacrificed.

Greek and Roman gods: differences

According to some sources, Ancient Rome did not have its own mythology for centuries. At the same time, in neighboring Greece, the cultural and religious life of the people flourished. Many modern researchers who are fond of history tend to believe that most of the myths were borrowed by it earlier from the more culturally developed Greeks, and the Roman gods are gods endowed with the same powers and features as the Greek ones. The only difference is in their names. So, in Roman mythology - Venus - is an exact copy of the Greek Aphrodite. The patron of ancient Roman arts - Phoebus - like no one else resembles the Greek Apollo, etc.

Initially, the Roman gods had neither a genealogy, nor even their habitat - Olympus, and were depicted in the form of certain symbols: Jupiter had the appearance of a stone, Mars - the appearance of a spear, Vesta - the appearance of flames. According to legend, the first gods of Rome did not leave any offspring after themselves, and after the completion of all the work they had begun, they did not die, but went nowhere. The Greek gods were very prolific and immortal.

Merging culture and mythology of Rome and Greece occurs around the turn of the fourth and third centuries BC. The main religious beliefs of the Greeks and part of their mythology reigned in Rome after a collection of sayings of the Greek oracle was delivered to the capital of the empire, which subsequently predicted the plague of 293 BC.

The Roman gods are more moral. According to the ideas of the ancient Romans, guardianship human life, they were the defenders of justice on Earth, property rights and many other rights that a free person should have. The moral influence of religion is especially great during the period of prosperity of Roman civil society (2-4 centuries AD). The inhabitants of ancient Rome were very devout. We can still meet the praise of this piety on the pages of the works of Roman and Greek writers of those times. The external piety of the Romans proves their respect for customs, on which the main virtue of the Roman people, patriotism, was based.