Roman Gods and Goddesses

There were two parts of Roman religion, household religion and the state religion.    Romans believed that the gods and spirits controlled everything they did-from falling in love to killing food for dinner..  The spirits were invisible.  They were called numina, and there was a numen for practically everything--the night, the day, hills, home, rivers, mountains, fields, almost everything.   It was important to plead to the numna for help. 

The gods and goddesses of Rome were taken from the gods and goddesses of Greece   The Romans took the ancient Greek gods and gave them new names.  It was probably easier to worship a deity (god) as a statue in a temple than an invisible numen.  The Romans also accepted into their religion gods and goddesses form other countries that they conquered.  So they had gods from Egypt, Persia, Britain and others. 

From the Greeks, the Romans borrowed ideas from clothing, games, art, and language.  

The temple was the house for the gods or goddesses (like our church). They built grand temples to honor their god and goddesses.  This was where their statue was cared for by the priests.  The Romans didn't have any regular church meetings with prayers. Instead, the Romans went to the temples to pray and give gifts such as animals to their gods.  They thought that the gifts would please the gods.  If the gods were happy, Romans thought they would receive good luck in return.   If something went wrong, they believed that the gods were angry with them. 

There were also personal and family gods that the Romans worshiped in their homes--the Lares looked after the home and Penates looked after the cupboards.  They believed that the gods would protect their house and family.  The father (pater) of every Roman family set up a shrine or an alter in the home to these household gods. 

When an emperor died, the Romans believed he too became a god .  This was important because they believed that only the gods had eternal life.  All others went to live in the underworld. 

Here is a list of some Roman and Greek gods:

                                          _   ROMANS                                        GREEKS                      

King of the Gods                  Jupiter                                         Zeus

Queen of the Gods                Juno                                             Hera

God of the Sea                      Neptune                                      Poseidon

Goddess of Love                  Venus                                          Aphrodite

Goddess of Wisdom             Minerva                                      Athena

God of Underground            Pluto                                           Hades

God of War                             Mars                                            Ares

Messenger of the Gods       Mercury                                       Hermes

Goddess of the Harvest       Ceres                                           Demeter

Father of Zeus/Jupitor          Saturn                                          Cronus

Additional information about Roman gods and how they influence our lives today:

Even though it has been many, many hundreds of years since anyone has believed in ancient Roman gods and goddesses, some of the names and stories of those gods and goddesses are still around today.  For example, many of our planets in the solar system are named after a Roman god and goddess.  ----Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto

On Valentine's Day cards, the plump little figure with wings is called Cupid.   Cupid is the Roman name for the god that the Greeks called Eros.  The Romans believed that Cupid was the son of Venus, the goddess of love.  In the stories about their gods, the Romans said that when Venus wanted someone to fall in love, she would send Cupid to shoot that person with a magic arrow.  If one of those magic arrows hit you, then you would fall in love with the next person you saw!

As you know, the Romans borrowed most of their gods and goddesses from the ancient Greeks.  But the Romans did have some of gods all their own.  One of these gods was named Janus.  Janus was the Roman god of gates and doorways, as well as the god of new beginnings.  The Romans believed that Janus had two faces that looked in opposite direction: one face looked back to the past and the other face looked ahead to the future.  From the name of this god, Janus, we get the name of the month January.   Why?  January was a new beginning, the beginning of the year, and Janus was the Roman god of new beginnings.  The Romans believed that Janus had 2 faces, one looking ahead to the future (new year), the other looking behind to the past (December).   January is the month from which you can look ahead to the new year or look back on the old year. 

MYTH OF THE SEASONS:

The ancient Romans believed that their gods and goddesses controlled what happened on earth.  They told stories about their gods and goddesses to explain why the world worked the way it did.  We call these stories myths.  We know that these myths aren't true, but we still read them because they are stories.

There is a moth about why we have different seasons:  spring, summer, autumn and winter.  In this myth you will meet Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and her daughter Proserpina.

The Romans said that long time ago there were no seasons.  The fields were always full of grain and there was plenty of fruits on the vines.  Everyday, Ceres would watch over all growing things.  Nothing made Ceres happier than her lovely daughter. Proserpina.  She would go everywhere with her mother.  Pluto, the god of the underworld,  wanted to marry Proserpina but he knew that she would not want to live in the dark, gray world underground.  And he knew that Ceres would never let him marry her.  But he waited and plotted and planned.  One day while Proserpina was playing in the fields Pluto was waiting for her.  He stole her and took her back with him into the underworld.  He offered her beautiful black and marble throne to sit on and gave her 12 sweet pomegranates to eat, but she would not eat and only sobbed.   "I want the sun and the fields of grass and the flowers and trees!! I want my mother." 

Above on the Earth, Ceres searched desperately for her daughter.  She searched the whole over but could not find her anywhere.  During this time nothing grew.  Not a single seed sprouted.  The flowers wilted, the trees threw down their leaves and the land turned brown and lifeless.  The people and animals began to starve.   Jupiter, the king of gods, heard about Ceres' search and about how the earth was dying.  So he called the messenger of gods, Mercury, to go quickly to the underworld to tell Pluto to let Proserpina go as long as she has not eaten the food of the underworld (If she would have then she must stay in the Underworld). 

But when Mercury spoke to Pluto he noticed that Proserpina has eaten several of the pomegranates that Pluto gave her.  This met that she needed to stay in the Underworld.  BUT Jupiter heard all that had happened and he gave a command:   "Let Porserpina return to earth with her mother, but because she ate the pomegranates sees, Proserpina must return to live with Pluto for part of the year."