THE ROMAN GODS

Prepared by: Kimberly May C. Winters

Hestia resigned, replaced by Dionysus / Bacchus
Romans believed in lots of gods. There
were gods for just about everything. The
Romans even took on many of the gods of
the people they conquered.

They especially liked the Greek gods.

Many Romans had a shrine in their house
to worship their personal household god.

The Romans adopted much of Greek

Mythology into their own. They took most
all of the Greek gods, gave them Roman
names, and then called them their own.
JUPITER
Title: King of the gods
Greek name: Zeus
Day of the Week: Thursday
Solar system: planet Jupiter
Wonder of the World:
Statue at Olympia

Relations:
• Son of Saturn
• Grandson of Uranus
• Husband of Juno
• Brother of Neptune and
Pluto

English words: Jovial

means jolly.
 Jupiter was king of the Gods. The
eagle was his messenger. His weapon
was the Thunderbolt (thunder and
lightning). All other gods were
terrified of him, although he was a
little scared of his wife Juno.

 Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto were the

three sons of Saturn. They divided
up the world between themselves.
Jupiter took the air, Neptune had the
sea and Pluto ruled under the earth,
the home of the Dead.
 Jupiter means Father Jove (Father in
Latin is "pater").

 There was a big temple on the

Capitol in Rome dedicated to Jupiter
Optimus Maximus (which means
Jupiter Best and Greatest). The
Romans thought that Jupiter
Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
JUNO
Title: Queen of the gods
Greek name: Hera
Month: June
Relations:
• Wife of Jupiter
• Mother of Mars and
Vulcan

English word:
Junoesque means a
large beautiful woman.
Juno is like the resemblance of Hera,
but she is the queen of all Roman gods
and goddesses. Some ways that Hera,
from the Greek myths, and Juno, from
the Roman myth, are similar is that
they are both the queen and the
mother of their own country and they
are both worshipped as the goddess of
marriage and birth, so they were both
very important, especially to women.

However, they are different in the

ways that Hera is often jealous of
Zeus’s various girlfriends, and she
spends most of her life putting curses
on them, when Juno is often shown a
kind and a graceful mother of Rome.
With Jupiter and Minerva, she was a
member of the Capitoline triad of deities
traditionally introduced by the Etruscan
kings. Juno was connected with all aspects
of the life of women, most particularly
married life. Ovid (Fasti, Book V) relates that
Juno was jealous of Jupiter for giving birth to
Minerva from his own head. After Flora gave
her an herb, Juno gave birth to Mars.

Capitoline Triad. A group of three deities

who were worshipped in ancient Roman
religion in an elaborate temple on Rome's
Capitoline Hill (Latin Capitolium). It
comprised Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.

Etruscan kings. The seven early kings

associated with the hills of Rome.
NEPTUNE
Title: God of the sea
Greek name:
Poseidon
Solar system: planet
Neptune
Relations:
•Son of Saturn
•Grandson of Uranus
•Brother of Jupiter and
Pluto
English words: Jovial
means jolly.
 Neptune was the god of the sea. He carried
a trident, which had three prongs. He rode a
dolphin or a horse. When the sea is rough
enough to show white tops to the waves,
these are called sea horses. On the right,
the back half of the seahorse is a fish.

 It may seem strange that Neptune was not a

more important god, since the Roman
Empire was based on the Mediterranean.
But the Romans were poor sailors. When
Julius Caesar invaded Britain, it was
considered an astounding adventure, even
though he was just crossing the English
Channel.

 Neptune was the god of earthquakes. He

was called the Earth- shaker. He was also
the god of horses and horse-racing. The
Romans loved watching horse-racing and
had great race tracks for chariot racing,
such as the Circus Maximus. You can see the
ruins of the Circus Maximus in Rome today,
see left.
APOLLO

Title: God of the sun

Greek name: Apollo is a
Greek name
Day of the Week:
Sunday
Solar system: Sun
Relations:
• Son of Jupiter
• Brother of
Diana

Wonder of the
World:
Colossus at
• Apollo was the god of the sun. Each
day he drove his chariot of fiery
horses across the sky to give light
to the world. Apollo had a son
called Phaethon, who was human.
Phaethon nagged at Apollo to let
him borrow the sun chariot and fly
across the sky. Finally Apollo
agreed.

• Phaethon proudly drove the sun

chariot up into the sky, but then he
lost control of the horses. The sun
chariot dived towards the earth,
burning everything. Finally Jupiter
had to stop him with a thunder bolt.

• Apollo was also the god of music,

and played the lyre.
 His most famous temple was at
Delphi in Greece, see right. There,
his priestess would prophesy the
future. But she wasn't easy to
understand. One day, a great king
asked the priestess if he should
invade a nearby kingdom. She
said, "If you do this, a great
kingdom will be destroyed." He
thought that she meant he would
be successful, and so started the
war. He lost disastrously. It was his
own kingdom that got destroyed.
DIANA

Title: Goddess of
the moon
Greek name:
Artemis
Day of the Week:
Monday

Solar system:
Moon
Relations:
• Daughter of
Jupiter
• Sister of
Apollo
 Diana was the goddess of the
moon. Her twin brother Apollo
was the god of the sun.

 Diana carried a bow and arrows.

She was the goddess of hunting.
Once she was bathing in a forest
pool. A hunter called Actaeon
spied on her. So Diana turned
him into a stag and he was
chased by his own hunting dogs.

 She helped women in child-

birth, because her mother Leto
gave birth to her and her twin
brother so easily.
MARS

Title: God of war

Greek name: Ares
Month: March
Day of the Week: Tuesday

Relations:
•Son of Jupiter
•Father of Romulus and
Remus

English word: Martial

means warlike.

Solar system: planet Mars

 The Romans were great soldiers and
thought Mars, the god of War, was very
important. They said that he was the
father of Romulus and Remus, the
founders of Rome. When Romulus and
Remus were babies, they were left to die.
But they were found by a mother wolf,
who suckled them. Romulus gave his
name to Rome.

 The Campus Martius or field of Mars,

was next to the river Tiber in in ancient
Rome. It was used to train soldiers and
hold horse races. March was called
after Mars because that was when the
soldiers started fighting again after
winter.

 Here is a painting of Mars and Venus.

Mars is fast asleep. The little fauns
with goats legs are playing with his
armour. One of them is just about to
blow his horn very loud in Mars's ear.
VENUS

Title: Goddess of love

Greek name:
Aphrodite
Day of the Week:
Friday

Relations:
• Daughter of
Jupiter
• Mother of Cupid

Solar system:
 Venus was born in the sea and
first came to shore at Cyprus,
floating on a scallop shell.

 There was a Golden Apple with "For the

Fairest" written on the side. Venus, Juno
and Minerva all wanted it. They decided to
let a man, Paris, judge between them. They
were all so beautiful that he couldn't make
his mind up. So Juno said she would make
him powerful. Minerva said she would make
him wise. Venus offered him Helen, the
most beautiful woman in the world. He
chose Venus, and Helen. Unfortunately
Helen was married to someone else, and
when Paris carried her off to his home at
Troy, her husband came with his allies to
get her back. Paris and all his family were
killed and Troy was destroyed.

 One of the few Trojans to survive the Trojan

War was Aeneas, the son of Venus. He went
to Italy, and was the ancestor of the
Romans.
MERCURY

Title: Messenger of the gods

Greek name: Hermes
Day of the Week:
Wednesday
Solar system: planet
Mercury

Relations:
• Son of
Jupiter
• Son of Maia

English
words:
Mercury or Quicksilver
 Mercury was the god of travellers. He
had a winged hat and sandals, so he
could fly. He carried a staff which also
has wings and two snakes winding
round it.

 He was also the god of thieves. When he

was only a few days old, he stole the
cows of Apollo. Mercury made special
shoes for the cows and made them walk
backwards, so no-one could follow their
tracks. Eventually Apollo noticed that
Mercury was playing a new musical
instrument called a lyre, strung with
cow-gut and worked out that Mercury
had stolen his cows. Apollo was furious
with Mercury, but thought the lyre was
wonderful. So they agreed that Mercury
could keep the cows and Apollo would
get the lyre.

 Mercury was also the god of science and

business.
The caduceus is the traditional
symbol of Hermes and features
two snakes winding around an
often winged staff.

It is often mistakenly used as a

symbol of medicine instead of
the Rod of Asclepius, especially
in the United States.

The snake that's wrapped

around the rod may symbolize
rejuvenation, because snakes
shed their skin, or it could
simply represent the healing of
snakebites.
MINERVA

Title: Goddess of
wisdom
Greek name:
Athena

Relations:
Daughter of
Jupiter

English words:
Intellect
 Minerva was the goddess of
wisdom. Her symbol was the owl.
Her Greek name was Athene, and
Athens was her city.

 She had a strange birth. One day,

Jupiter had a bad headache.
Nothing would cure it. Eventually
Vulcan split open Jupiter's head.
Out jumped Minerva in armour
with shield and spear! Jupiter felt
much better afterwards. She had
devoured her mother (Metis) in an
unsuccessful attempt to prevent
her birth.

 Minerva was the goddess of arts

and crafts. She was particularly
good at weaving. Once a woman
called Arachne wove a beautiful
picture. Minerva tried to find
 Minerva helped the hero
Perseus to kill the gorgon
Medusa, who was a monster
with snakes instead of hair.
Anyone who looked at a
gorgon turned to stone! But
Minerva told Perseus to look
at Medusa's reflection in a
polished shield. That way he
could cut the head off without
looking directly at the gorgon.
He gave the head to Minerva,
who put it on her shield, so it
would turn her enemies to
CERES

Title: Goddess of agriculture,

grain, and the love a
mother bears for her child.
(Earth goddess)
Greek name: Demeter
Relations:
•Daughter of Jupiter

English words: Breakfast

Cereal (Grain)

Solar System: A celestial

body orbiting between Mars
 Ceres was the Earth goddess and
goddess of corn. She carried the
cornucopia, a horn full of vegetables
and fruit. Her daughter was Proserpine.
 Pluto fell in love with Proserpine, and
carried her off to the Underworld. Ceres
searched everywhere, but couldn't find
her. Eventually Ceres refused to let the
plants grow any more, and everyone
begun to die of hunger. So Pluto
admitted he had Proserpine, but said
she could only go back home if she had
eaten none of the food of the Dead.
Proserpine had eaten almost nothing, as
she was so sad at being kept
underground, but she had eaten six
seeds from a pomegranate. This means
that she could go home, but had to
return to her husband for six months
every year. When this happens, Ceres
stops everything growing, and winter
comes.
VULCAN

Title: god of fire

Greek name: Hephaestus
Relations:
• Son of Jupiter and Juno
• Husband of Venus.
English words: volcanoes
Solar System:
Vulcan was the smith of the gods,
and made Jupiter's thunderbolts. His
smithy was in the volcano Etna, in
Sicily, where you can see fire from his
forget. Once, he made Jupiter angry,
and Jupiter threw him out of Heaven.
Vulcan fell to Earth and broke both
legs, which made him lame. This
picture from a Greek vase shows him
in a sort of winged wheel-chair.

He made women of gold to help him

in his smithy - possibly the first robots
in the new generation.
VESTA

Title: goddess of the hearth,

home, and family
Greek name: Hestia
Relations:
• Daughter of Saturn and Ops,
• Sister of Jupiter, Neptune,
Pluto, Juno, and Ceres.
English words: To stay,
dwell.
Solar System: The largest
asteroid in the solar system is
called "2001 KX76."
 She was the first-born of the titans
Kronos and Rhea and, like the others,
was swallowed by her father. When
her brother Jupiter (the Greek Zeus),
who managed to escape their father's
appetite, freed his siblings, Vesta was
the last to be released (because she
was the first swallowed) and so is
regarded as both the oldest and the
youngest of the gods. She was very
beautiful and attracted the attention
of both Apollo and Neptune who
fought for her hand. Vesta rejected
them both, however, and begged
Jupiter to allow her to remain forever
a virgin. When he consented to this,
Vesta was pleased and took care of
his home and hearth; thus identifying
her with domestic life but, more
importantly, with domestic tranquility.
 The lack of an easy source of fire in the
early Roman community placed a special
premium on the ever-burning hearth fire,
both publicly and privately maintained;
thus, from the earliest times Vesta was
assured of a prominent place in both family
and state worship. Her worship was
observed in every household along with
that of the Penates and the Lares, and her
image was sometimes encountered in the
household shrine.

 Vesta is represented as a fully draped

woman, sometimes accompanied by her
favourite animal, an ass. As goddess of the
hearth fire, Vesta was the patron deity of
bakers, hence her connection with the ass,
usually used for turning the millstone, and
her association with Fornax, the spirit of
the baker’s oven. She is also found allied
with the primitive fire deities Cacus and
Caca.
BACCHUS

Title: god of agriculture, wine

and fertility
Greek name: Dionysus
Relations:
• Son of Jupiter
• His mother was a mortal
named Semele

English words: wine and

giver of ecstasy
Solar System: The smallest
planet in the Outer Solar
System, just barely smaller
 Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, a god.
His mother was a mortal named
Semele. Jupiter was married to Juno but
had an affair with Semele, resulting in
the conception of Bacchus.

 Bacchus was the god of wine. He was

accompanied by Maenads, or wild
dancing women, see right. They carried
the thyrsus, a staff of giant fennel,
covered with ivy leaves, with a pine
cone on top. There is a wonderful
description of a Bacchanalia, or feast in
honour of Bacchus, in Prince Caspian,
one of the Narnia books, by C.S.Lewis.

 Bacchus was also the god of the theatre,

since the first plays in Greece were
performed in his honour. There were
tragedies, serious stories about heroes
and gods, and comedies, which laughed
at politicians and were often very rude!
 Summary
 Jupiter - Came from the Greek god Zeus. Jupiter was the king of
the gods and god of thunder and lighting. He was the Patron God of
Rome.
 Juno - Juno was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera. Juno
was Jupiter's wife and queen of the gods. Juno was considered the
protector of Rome.
 Mars - Mars came from the Greek god Ares. Mars was the god of
war and Jupiter and Juno's son.
 Mercury - Mercury was the equivalent of the Greek god Hermes.
He was the god of trade.
 Neptune - Neptune came from the Greek god Poseidon. He was
the god of the sea and brother to Jupiter. He also was the patron of
horses. Neptune's weapon was a great trident.
 Venus - Venus was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.
She was the god of love and beauty.
 Apollo - Apollo was taken directly from Greek god Apollo. He was
the god of music, poetry, and archery. His twin sister was Diana.
 Diana - Diana was taken from the Greek goddess Artemis. She was
goddess of the hunt, archery, and animals. Her symbols included
the moon, the snake, and the bow and arrow.
 Minerva - Minerva comes from the Greek goddess Athena. She was
the goddess of wisdom.
 Ceres - Ceres was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Demeter.
She was goddess of agriculture and the seasons. It's from the name
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

https://www.historyhit.com/the-gods-and-goddesses-o
f-pagan-rome/