Thomas Franco

Roman Mythology and gods

12/10/16

Our world has been fascinated by greek and roman mythology for thousands of years.
What many people do not realize is how different the two are from each other. The concept of
Greek mythology and Roman mythology being identical is false.
For starters Greek mythology existed well before Roman mythology, over 1,000 years
separated the two. Lots of Roman mythology was adopted from Greek mythology. Without
Greek mythology, Roman mythology would not exist. Lots of myths of the Roman gods were
really the Greek myths just retold with different the Roman counterparts. A key difference of the
two were the Greek gods interacted with the people of Greece and having human traits. The
Greek gods lived with the humans of this time period. The Roman gods were centered around
actions and not words. The Roman gods did not interact with the people and lacked human
qualities. Another big difference between the two are how the gods were categorized. The
Roman gods were split into two sections, the di indigentes and the de novensides. The di
indigentes were the true Roman gods and the de novensides were the gods that were displayed
many years before. The Greek gods were divided into deities and not classifications. These
deities were gods of the Heavens, gods of the Earth, and gods of the Sea.
One comparison of the two was a poem mentioning the Trojan War. The Greeks have the
Iliad and the Romans have the Aeneid. The Iliad is a poem that talks about the climax of the
Trojan War. The Aeneid is a poem that talks about the end of the Trojan War. The Iliad came
into existence before the Aeneid, which became famous around 700 years after the Iliad.
Another similarity is what the gods stand for. Jupiter and Zeus are the same god, just one name

for the Roman god and one for the Greek god. This applies to all the gods, like Mars and Ares
are the god of war for both religions, and Aphrodite and Venus are both the goddess of love. (3)
The god Mars was a very important god in Roman culture. The Romans praised many
gods, so they were polytheistic. Mars was one of many gods. He was the god of war and patron
of warriors. Being the god of war, Mars had to have loved violence. Whenever there was a
fight, Mars just enjoyed seeing the death and blood and did not care if the Romans won the battle
or not. He was very brutal and aggressive to the people around him. He was considered the
second most important god, only Jupiter was ranked higher than him. Jupiter was his father and
Juno was his mother. Mars was married to Venus, the goddess of love. His kids are named Eros,
Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Adrestia. Mars was thought of as the father to
Romulus and Remus. Mars could not raise them so he sent a she-wolf to protect and raise them
for him. Romulus and Remus are the mythical creators of Rome. The month of Martius, or
March in English, was named after the Roman god. Even though his Greek counterpart was
Ares, Mars has traits that separate him from Ares. Mars was more level-headed than Ares and
also more virtuous than Ares. Mars is considered the protector of Rome and kept the city safe.
Many soldiers and leaders prayed to him and made sacrifices before a battle, wishing for his
guidance and protection as they fought towards victory. The people of Rome held festivals in
honor of Mars. The month of March was dedicated to him and a lot of the festivals in his honor
took place in this month. These festivals were connected to the military in a certain way. These
festivals consisted of horse races. Wolves and woodpeckers were two animals that had a special
connection with Mars. The wolf because of the she-wolf that cared for Romulus and Remus.
Mars was originally known as the god for farming and agriculture and some of the rites of the

festivals held in his honor were connected to that. Mars became most famous under Emperor
Augustus who built a temple for him. Mars got a new role at this time to avenge Caesar, being
the god of war. Whenever war broke out unexpectedly the consul was in charge of yelling Mars
vigila (which means Mars, wake up!) while shaking the spears in hopes to wake up the god.
(1,2, and 4)
One famous myth about Mars was of him and Anna Perenna getting married. It starts
with mars falling in love with Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. Minerva was not impressed with
Mars and always rejected him. Mars wanted to find out how he could impress the woman he
loved and win her heart so he asked for help from Anna Perenna, the goddess of New Year and
Time. Anna Perenna liked Mars so she came up with a plan to get Mars all to herself. Anna
Perenna tricked Mars into marrying her instead of Minerva by dressing up as her and wearing a
veil. (1)
Christians faced persecution for their faith in the first century. Emperor Nero kill many
Roman citizens who disagreed with his religion. He wanted to round up all the Christians
together and kill them all. Nero was thought to have caused the fire that destroyed much of the
city in 64 AD. Back when christianity was starting to become more popular, many Roman
citizens were confused by this new religion. How could they worship one God? Being
polytheistic they could not see how one God could control everything. The Pagans looked
towards the gods ad gave sacrifices to them. Christians threatened what they believed so the felt
the Christians should be persecuted for not worshipping the Pagan gods. Many Christians were
willing to die for their faith, to prove to the God they praised that they were loyal to him and
would do anything for him. (5 and 6)

Works Cited
Website 1: http://www.ancient.eu/Mars/
Website 2: http://www.talesbeyondbelief.com/roman-gods/mars.htm
Website 3: http://recomparison.com/comparisons/101235/roman-mythology-vs-greekmythology-ancient-mythologies-compared/
Website 4: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mars-Roman-god
Website 5:http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/
christianityromanempire_article_01.shtml
Website 6: http://www.catholic.com/blog/jon-sorensen/the-early-church-fathers-and-paganism