Roman Mythology
Roman mythology is probably the one the least people known about. However it does offer plenty of good stories as well as history that date back to the early times of the Romans. In many places you will find Greek and Roman mythology overlap a great deal. It is believed that the Romans were so impressed with Greek mythology that they took may of their stories and made them into their own by changing the names of the characters and implementing their own history into the stories.
The biggest differences though between Roman and Greek mythology is that the Roman’s offer stories that cover their religious rituals. They also offer a rich history of their culture that includes the development of their cities. The stories also have more human elements to them but there are plenty of interventions by the gods mentioned as well.
In this manner Roman mythology is based more on actual events than any other type of mythology. While most types have stories and history that are so connected the history isn’t always accurate historical scholars find almost all to the historical references in Roman mythology to be quite accurate of the events they reflect.
The stories of Roman mythology offer two types of gods ñ the natives and the foreign. Native gods in Roman mythology are those that were made to resemble the actual priests in their Churches and highly honored members of the community. Foreign gods were introduced to represent more unconventional theories and areas of powers. Another way of viewing it is that the native gods are the major players ad the foreign gods are merely supporting cast.
The most well known Roman god is Cupid, the god of love. While most of associate him with Valentine’s Day most of us don’t know he actually is derived from Roman mythology. Juniper is the king of the gods, Venus is the goddess of love and beauty, and Neptune is the god of the sea.
If you are interested in finding out more about Roman mythology you can find plenty of great information online, in books, and even classes offered at your local college. For anyone who is interested in mythology then this can be a new area to learn about that you haven’t explored before.
