Did the Ancient Greeks and Romans Worship the Same Gods?

Depiction of Jupiter from Roman metropolis of Herculaneum. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0

Modern sources often talk of Greco-Roman mythology. The crushed for this look is that some Greek and Roman mythology are intricately linked. In fact, the Romans, arsenic is known, adopted their gods straight from the Greeks. At least, that is what astir scientists claim. The reality, however, is much complicated.

Similar Greek and Roman gods

Undoubtedly, determination are galore similarities betwixt Greek and Roman gods. Reading immoderate past mythological substance makes this precise clear. The ancient Greek stories astir Zeus, for example, are precise akin to the past Roman accounts of Jupiter. They person fundamentally the aforesaid roles, families, and akin epithets.

Similarly, past Roman accounts of the demigod Hercules are fundamentally identical to past Greek accounts astir the demigod Heracles. In this case, the names are truthful akin that they are evidently related.

In galore cases, the Greeks would adjacent notation to their ain gods by the names of the Roman equivalents, depending connected the epoch and language. This shows that the Greeks and Romans decidedly recognized the 2 pantheons arsenic fundamentally 1 and the same.

Common origins

Zeus of Otricoli Ancient Roman transcript of Hellenistic Original. credit: Public Domain

However, this does not needfully mean that the Romans simply took the Greek gods and gave them antithetic names, arsenic radical sometimes assume. In astatine least some cases (although not all), the crushed for the extended similarities is due to the fact that some gods shared a communal origin.

This is the lawsuit with Zeus and Jupiter, 1 of the astir celebrated examples of an apparently-copied god. In reality, the Roman worship of Jupiter was primitively autarkic of the Greek worship of Zeus. Both Jupiter and Zeus had a communal origin. They were primitively the aforesaid entity god, the “Daylight-Sky Father.” Linguists person reconstructed his sanction arsenic “Dyḗus ph₂tḗr” (Zeus Father – Greek: Ζευς Πάτερ).

This deity was worshipped among galore Indo-European peoples, which is wherefore we tin find versions of him successful the mythologies of nations each crossed the past world. Among the Greeks, solely the archetypal portion of his sanction was preserved, evolving into Zeus. For proto-Italics, however, the ‘D’ disappeared and the remainder of the sanction evolved into “Iupiter.”

Roman gods successful Greek stories

Nonetheless, this does not mean that the similarities betwixt Greek and Roman gods are wholly owed to communal origins. Even successful the illustration of Zeus and Jupiter, the Romans did instrumentality immoderate things from the Greeks.

In particular, the Romans tended to follow stories, oregon mythological accounts, from Greek mythology. It appears that the Romans did not ascribe galore mythological accounts to their ain gods. If they did, they person mostly been lost. Yet, it does look that the gods the Romans worshipped were chiefly viewed arsenic personified attributes of antithetic parts of the world. Generally speaking, they did not person existent stories astir activities and doings of those gods similar the past Greeks did.

Therefore, scholars judge the Romans did instrumentality galore of the Greek myths and use them to their ain gods. Although the gods themselves did not travel from the Greeks, astir of the mythological stories seemingly did.

Genuine Greek gods successful Roman mythology

Apollo successful the temple of Zeus. Credit: wikimedia commons / Egisto Sani cc by 2.0

There are, nevertheless, immoderate instances of Romans adopting full gods from the Greek pantheon alternatively than conscionable the applicable stories. One specified illustration is Apollo for whom determination was nary wide equivalent successful the existing Roman pantheon.

Likewise, arsenic per the Roman deity Aesculapius’ name, helium was a mentation of the Greek deity of medicine, Asclepius. Regarding this Greek god, the Encyclopedia Britannica explains: “In 293 BC his cult dispersed to Rome, wherever helium was worshiped arsenic Aesculapius.”

Hence, though astir gods with striking similarities are simply a effect of communal origins, determination are a fewer genuine examples of the Romans straight replicating Greek gods.

When did this happen?

As we tin spot from the quotation from the Encyclopedia Britannica, astatine slightest 1 illustration of the Romans copying the Greek gods occurred successful the 3rd period BCE. However, different examples of this aforesaid improvement happened astatine antithetic times.

For example, the Romans adopted the worship of Apollo precise aboriginal successful their history. We cognize that the Etruscans, aboriginal neighbors of the Romans, worshipped Apollo astatine slightest arsenic aboriginal arsenic the sixth period BCE. Many scholars judge his worship dispersed to the Etruscans done the Romans, though the other is arsenic possible.

In galore cases, the adoption of Greek mythological accounts apt occurred successful this aboriginal period. There was a Greek beingness successful Italy from arsenic aboriginal arsenic the eighth period BCE, and the Etruscans besides had plentifulness of nonstop power from the Greeks. In fact, arsenic indicated by genetic studies, galore of them whitethorn person really been of Greek descent.

Therefore, from some the Greeks and the Etruscans successful Italy, determination was inevitably sizeable power successful presumption of Greek mythology among the Romans from rather an aboriginal period.