Roman mythology

Altar consecrated in honor of Jupiter and Juno, Palatinate

Roman mythology, that is, the mythological beliefs of the inhabitants of Ancient Rome, can be considered to be made up of two parts: the first, mostly ancient and ritualistic, represented autochthonous myths and cults; the second, mainly late and literary, consists of the fusion of the previous one with various borrowings from Greek mythology.

Nature of ancient Roman myths

The Romans had no sequential accounts of their gods, comparable to the Titanomachy or Hera's seduction of Zeus, until their poets began to adopt Greek models in the late republican period. However, what they did have was:

• A very developed system of rituals, priestly schools and pantheons of related gods.
• A rich set of historical myths about the foundation and boom of his city by human actors with occasional divine interventions.

Ancient mythology about the gods

Altar of the twelve gods of the Roman Pantheon (Museum of the Louvre)

The Roman model had a very different way of defining and conceiving the gods than the ancient Greeks. For example, in Greek mythology Demeter was characterized by a well-known story about her grief over the kidnapping of her daughter Persephone by Hades. The ancient Romans, by contrast, conceived of their equivalent Ceres as a deity with an official priest named Flamen, subordinate to the flamins of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, but superior those of Flora and Pomona. He was also considered grouped in a triad with two other agricultural gods, Liber and Libera, and the relationship of minor gods with specialized functions that assisted him was known: Sarritor (weeding), Messor (harvesting), Convector (transportation), Conditor (storage), Insitor (planting), and several dozen others.

So archaic Roman "mythology," at least as it related to the gods, was not made up of stories but rather the intertwining and complex interrelationships between gods and humans.

The original religion of the early Romans was modified by the addition of numerous contradictory beliefs in later times, and by the assimilation of large portions of Greek mythology. What little is known about early Roman religion is thanks not to contemporary accounts but to later writers who sought to preserve the old traditions from the oblivion into which they were falling, such as the century scholar I a. C. Marco Terence Varro. Other classical writers, such as the poet Ovid in his Fasti ('calendar'), were heavily influenced by Hellenistic models, and in his works Greek beliefs are often used to fill in the gaps. of the Roman traditions.

Rhomulus and Remo breastfeeding by the mud (Museo Nuovo, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome)

Ancient mythology about Roman history

The Romans had a rich panoply of legends about the founding and early expansion of their own city. In addition to these mostly locally sourced traditions, material from Greek heroic legends was added to this assortment at an early time, making Aeneas the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, for example.

The Aeneid and the early books of Livy are the best exhaustive sources for this Roman mythology.

Roman and Italic Native Gods

Statue of Ceres bearing fruit

Roman ritual practices of official priests clearly distinguished two classes of gods: the di indigetes and the di novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see Di indigetes), and their name and nature are indicated by the titles of the oldest priests and by the fixed festivals of the calendar. The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historic period, usually at a known date and in response to a specific crisis or perceived need.

Early Roman divinities included, in addition to the di indigetes, a host of so-called specialist gods whose names were invoked when performing various activities, such as harvesting. Fragments of the old rituals that accompanied these acts such as plowing or sowing reveal that in each part of the process a different deity was invoked, the name of each being regularly derived from the verb for the operation. These divinities can be grouped under the general term of assistant or auxiliary gods, who were invoked together with the major deities. The ancient Roman cults were more polydemonism than polytheism: the worshipers' concepts of the beings invoked consisted of little more than their names and functions, and the being's numen or 'power' was manifested in highly specialized ways.

A head of Minerva found in the ruins of the Roman baths of Bath (England)

The character of the indigetes and their festivals show that the ancient Romans were not only members of an agricultural community but also proud to fight and heavily involved in warfare. The gods distinctively represented the practical necessities of daily life, as felt by the Roman community to which they belonged. They scrupulously indulged in the rites and offerings they considered appropriate. Thus, Jano and Vesta guarded the door and the home, the Lares protected the field and the house, Pales the pastures, Saturn the sowing, Ceres the growth of the grain, Pomona the fruit, and Consus and Ops the harvest. Even the majestic Jupiter, king of the gods, was honored for the help his rains gave to farms and vineyards. In his broadest character he was considered, through his ray gun, the director of human activity and, through his broad domain, the protector of the Romans in their military expeditions beyond the borders of their own country. Prominent in the earliest times were the gods Mars and Quirinus, who were often identified with each other. Mars was a god of war honored in March and October. Modern researchers believe that Quirino was the patron of the military community in peacetime.

At the head of the primitive pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus (whose three priests, or flamins, held the highest rank), and Janus and Vesta. These ancient gods had little individuality, and their personal histories lacked marriages and genealogies. Unlike the Greek gods, they were not considered to function in the same way as mortals, and thus there are not many accounts of their activities. This early cult is associated with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who was believed to have had as his consort and advisor the Roman goddess of fountains and childbirth, Egeria, who is often identified as a nymph in the fountains. later literary However, new elements were added relatively early. The royal house of the Tarquins was credited in legend with the establishment of the great Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, which assumed the supreme place in Roman religion. Other additions were the cult of Diana on the Aventine Hill and the introduction of the Sibylline Books, prophecies of world history that, according to legend, were purchased by Tarquin at the end of the 4th century BC. C. to the Sibyl of Cumae.

Minerva Hendrick Goltzius	Classical Capitoline: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva Jacopo Zucchi	Juno Jan Nagel

Foreign Gods

The absorption of neighboring local deities took place as the Roman state conquered neighboring territory. The Romans used to grant the local gods of the conquered territory the same honors as the ancient gods that had been considered proper to the Roman state. In many cases the newly acquired deities were formally invited to take their domicile to new sanctuaries in Rome. In 203 B.C. C., the representative cult figure of Cybele was removed from Pesino (Phrygia) and ceremoniously received in Rome. In addition, the growth of the city attracted foreigners, who were allowed to continue worshiping their own gods. In this way Mithras came to Rome and his popularity among the legions spread his worship as far as Britain. The god Sol Invictus derives from Mithraism, had a fairly widespread cult among the military from the 3rd century on, and appears represented on some coins minted by Constantine I the Great. In addition to Castor and Pollux, the conquered settlements in Italy seem to have contributed to the Roman pantheon with Diana, Minerva, Hercules, Venus and other lesser deities, some of whom were Italic deities, others originally deriving from the Greek culture of Magna Graecia.. The important Roman deities were eventually identified with the more anthropomorphic Greek gods and goddesses, and assumed many of their attributes and myths.

The main gods