Differences and Similarities Between Greek and Roman Mythology

While analyzing Greek and Roman mythology we can see quite a few similarities, there are very few differences. Throughout much of the Roman mythology we see a heavy influence of Greek Mythology. However when looking further into the mythology we may find a few differences such as how the myths portray the time period, were they made to explain events that had occurred or were they made to glorify the land and happenings? This is what we see through both Greek and Roman mythology. Even after finding small differences in the mythology, it is still very clear just how prevalent the Greek mythology characteristics were within them.

Many Roman gods and goddesses were derived from Greek mythology. Roman gods tended to be anthromophic, however they did not show as much dramatice emotion as the Greek gods did. Roman mythology tends to be made up of stories that paint a grand portrait of how Rome set its foundations. The stories we find in Roman mythology are often centered around politics, and morality. Roman mythology focuses more on ritual, augury, and institutions rather than theology or cosmogony. Roman tradition was to create stories that are full of historical significance, legends, myths, focusing on the rise of Rome.

In many works writeen by roman writers we see that they employed Greek beliefs to fill in the gaps that were present in the current Roman traditions. Gods in Roman mythology represented distinctly the practical needs of every day life, also gods whose names were invoked to carry out every day activities like harvesting and more. There are two classes of gods in Roman Mythology, the first is indigetes, and secondly novensiles. Indigetes were gods that were not adopted from other religions. Novensiles were gods that were more obscurely found in other religions, and also applied to Roman gods ("Roman Mythology, Crystalinks," 2016). A creation story for Roman mythology could not be found, however there were a similar set of beginning brothers by the name of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto.

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Greek mythology did not follow events in history to make them fit and to make sense. The myths were not only made to solve problems or make sense of events that were taking place. (Johnston, S.I., 2015. pg. 182). Greek Mytholgy bagan with a story explaining creation, in the beginning Chaos, which was a void that was ruled by the god Eurynome. Eurynome gave birth to Eros after coupling with Ophion, a powerful snake. Also born out of Eurynome, was Gaia, called Earth or Mother Earth. Gaia eventually mated with Uranus and then gave birth to Titans. The most formitable one, Cronus.

Cronus eventually had children with his wife Rhea, whom eventually would bear a son that would over come Cronus, this child was Zues, who became the King of all Gods. That is where Greek Mythology begins ("Encyclopedia Mythica: Greek Creation Myths," 2016).

When looking through the many gods and goddesses that there are between both the Greek and Roman Mythology, it became clear that almost every one of them reflected a counter part in the opposite set of mythology. There are three common gods that initially stuck out, which are the brothers of the Greek mythology known as Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are almost mirror images of the Roman Gods called Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto.

Zeus' counterpart would be Jupiter. Zeus was king of all gods he had many magical power such as throwing lightning bolts, he could also create natural phenomena with air and sky, he could create massive storms, thunder and lightning, extreme darkness and much more with just his hands. Zeus also had a flying horse by the name of Pegasus, Zeus would fly on Pegasus and have him hold his lightning bolts, and he would have a trained eagle retrieve these bolts as well. Zeus seemed to represent the major parts of nature that are in balance with one another.

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