The mythology and religion of the Romans were greatly influenced by neighboring peoples - the Etruscans and Greeks. But at the same time, the legends and myths of ancient Rome have their own identity.
The origin of Roman mythology
The date of the religion of ancient Rome is difficult to determine. It is known that at the end of II - beginning of I millennium BC. e. there was a migration of Italians (the so-called peoples who inhabited the Apennine peninsula before the formation of the Roman state on it), which for several centuries settled in Italy and then assimilated with the Romans. They had their own culture and religion.
In 753 BC, according to legend, Rome was founded. From VIII to VI centuries. BC e. the tsarist period lasted, when the foundations of the social, state and religious life of the empire were laid. The official pantheon of the gods and myths of ancient Rome developed around this period. Although it should be noted right away that with the conquest of new territories by the Romans, they willingly included other gods and heroes in their mythology and religion, so the list of deities and legends was constantly updated.
Distinctive features of the religion of ancient Rome
As in Greece, there was no strict organization of dogma. The gods and myths of ancient Rome were partially borrowed from neighboring countries. The difference between the Roman religion and the same Greek was significant.
If for the Greeks a deity is first of all a person with his own, completely human, character traits, then the Romans never imagined the gods as anthropomorphic creatures. At the very beginning of the formation of their religion, they could not even name their gender. The Greeks presented their pantheon of divine powers as a large family in which scandals and disagreements constantly occur between relatives. For the Greeks, gods are individuals endowed with supernatural powers and possessing ideal qualities. Therefore, a halo of myths was created around them.
The attitude of the Romans towards the deities was different. The world in their view was inhabited by hostile or supportive of the human world entities. They are everywhere and constantly accompany a person. The myths of ancient Rome say that before adulthood, a boy or girl was under the auspices of a large number of divine entities. He was the god of the cradle, first steps, hope, sanity and others. As they grow older, some deities left the person, while others, on the contrary, took him under their care - these are the six gods of marriage, good luck and health, wealth. On the last journey, the dying man was accompanied by as many higher beings as at birth: depriving the light, taking away the soul, bringing death.
Another distinctive feature of the Roman religion is its close relationship with the state. Initially, all religious rituals associated with the life of the family were performed by its head - the father. Later, many family and tribal festivals acquired national importance and turned into official events.
The position of the priests was also different. If in ancient Greece they stood out as a separate population group, then the Romans were civil servants. There were several priestly colleges: vestals, pontiffs, and augurs.
Religion and the ancient myths of Rome were mixed. The foundation is the original Roman deities. The pantheon of the gods included borrowed characters from the Greek and Etruscan religions and personified concepts that appeared much later. These include, for example, Fortuna - happiness.
Pantheon of Roman Gods
The Romans initially had a special relationship with the gods. They were not connected by family relations, like Greek deities, myths were not written about them. The inhabitants of Rome for a long time refused to give their gods character traits and appearance. Part of the legends about them was ultimately borrowed from the Greeks.
The ancient myths of Rome indicate that the list of Roman gods was very extensive. This included Chaos, Tempus, Cupid, Saturn, Uranus, Ocean and other deities, as well as their children - the Titans.
The third and fourth generations became the main ones in the pantheon and were represented by 12 gods. They are aligned with the Olympians among the Greeks. Jupiter (Zeus) - the personification of thunderstorms and lightnings, Juno (Hera) - his wife and patroness of the family and marriage, Ceres (Demeter) - the goddess of fertility. Minerva and Juno were borrowed from the Etruscan religion.
The Roman pantheon also included personified creatures who became gods:
Victoria - Victory;
Fatum - Fate;
Libertas - Freedom;
Psyche - Soul;
Mania - Madness;
Fortune - Good Luck;
Juventa - Youth.
The most important for the Romans were agricultural and tribal deities.
The influence of Greek mythology
The myths of ancient Greece and Rome are very similar, since the Romans learned a lot about the gods from their close neighbor. The process of borrowing Greek mythology begins in the late VI - early V centuries. It is completely erroneous to believe that the 12 main deities of Olympus were taken by Rome and received new names. Jupiter, Volcano, Vesta, Mars, Saturn - these are originally Roman deities, later correlated with the Greek. The first gods borrowed from the Greeks were Apollo and Dionysus. In addition, the Romans included in their pantheon Hercules and Hermes, as well as Greek gods and titans of the first and second generations.
The Romans had many deities, which they themselves divided into old and new. Later they created their pantheon of the main gods, taking as a basis a host of Greek higher powers.
Myths of ancient Rome: a summary. Gods and heroes
Since the mythological fantasy of the Romans was poor, they adopted many legends from the Greeks. But there were also original Roman myths, later supplanted by the Greek. These include the story of the creation of the world by the god Janus.
He was an ancient Latin deity, the gatekeeper of Heaven, the personification of the sun and the beginning. He was considered the god of gates and doors and portrayed as two-faced, since it was believed that one face of Janus turned to the future, and the other to the past.
Another ancient Roman myth tells about the origin of people from oak. Like the Greeks, the Romans venerated the forest and trees, and created groves dedicated to the gods, in which religious rites were held. The sacred trees were a fig tree (according to legend, a wolf fed Romulus and Remus under it) and the oak of the Capitol, to which Romulus brought the first military booty.
The ancient myths of Rome were also dedicated to animals and birds: the eagle, woodpecker and wolf. The latter was especially revered and dedicated to the ritual of Lupercalia at the feast of fertility and purification. The Romans attributed mystical power to the wolves and believed that man could turn into this animal.
With the development of the Roman state in religion, new gods appear and new legends about them, taken from the Greeks, which the Romans processed for themselves. The ancient myths of Rome replaced the previously primitive tales of the creation of the world and people. The idea was formed that the gods had destined the state to rule over the whole world. This led to the emergence of a cult of Rome itself. Therefore, the mythology of this ancient country is divided into three groups: myths about the gods and their deeds, legends about heroes, and legends about the origin and development of Rome.
The myth of the foundation of the city of Rome
This is one of the most famous legends in the world. Like the great Hercules, the myth of the founding brothers of Rome is known in many countries. He talks about how Amulius, who illegally seized power, was worried that in the future, Numitor’s son would decide to challenge the rights to the throne, and he killed his nephew on the hunt. The daughter of Numitor, Ray, he ordered the priests to declare Vesta the chosen one, since the vestals were to remain unmarried. So he wanted to protect himself from the descendants of Numitor, who could join him in the struggle for the throne.
But the gods prepared for Rhea another fate. She became the wife of the god Mars. A year later, she had twin boys. And although the unfortunate claimed that their father was a deity, they treated her as a vestal who violated the prohibitions. The daughter of Numitor was walled up in a dungeon, and Amulius ordered the children to be thrown into the Tiber River.
The servants took pity on the little ones and put them in a trough, which they set sail on the river. The water that stood high in it sank and the trough landed on the shore under a fig tree. The screams of children were heard by a she-wolf who lived nearby with her brood and began to feed the babies. This spectacle was once seen by the shepherd Favstool and took the children to his home.
When they matured, the adoptive parents told the brothers about their origin. Romulus and Remus went to Numitor, who immediately recognized them. Gathering with his help a small detachment, the brothers killed Amulius and declared the king of their grandfather. As a reward, they asked for lands along the banks of the Tiber, where they found their salvation. There it was decided to lay the capital of the future kingdom. During a dispute over whose name she will bear, Remus was killed by Romulus.
Heroes of Roman myths
Most of the legends, except borrowed from the Greeks, talk about characters who performed feats or sacrificed themselves in the name of the prosperity of Rome. These are Romulus and Remus, the brothers of Horace, Lucius Junius, Mucius Stcevola and many others. The Roman religion was subordinate to the state and civic duty. Many myths were epic and glorified heroic emperors.
Aeneas
Aeneas is the founder of the Roman state. The son of the goddess Aphrodite, a friend of Hector, a hero of the Trojan War - the young prince fled with his little son and father after the fall of Troy and ended up in an unknown country where the Latins lived. He married Lavinia, the daughter of the local king Latina, and with it began to rule the Italian lands. The descendants of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, became the founders of Rome.
Myths of ancient Rome for children - the best books for young readers
Despite the abundance of books, it is difficult to find decent literature on the study of myths of ancient peoples. Standing apart is a work that was created exactly 100 years ago and is still the standard. N. A. Kun "Myths of Ancient Rome and Greece" - a huge number of readers know this book. It was written in 1914 especially for students of schools and all lovers of the mythology of ancient peoples. The collection of myths is written in a very simple and lively language, and is perfect for a children's audience.
A. A. Neyhardt compiled an interesting collection of "Legends and Tales of Ancient Rome", which provides concise information on Roman gods and heroes.
Conclusion
Due to the fact that the Romans borrowed Greek gods and myths, these legends have survived. Creating artworks based on them, the ancient Roman authors preserved for posterity all the beauty and epic of Greek and Roman mythology. Virgil created the epic "Aeneid", Ovid wrote "Metamorphoses" and "Fasts." Thanks to their works, modern man now has the opportunity to learn about the religious beliefs and gods of the two great ancient states - Greece and Rome.