Gods of ancient Rome names and their meanings. Pantheon of gods of ancient Rome

The most ancient beliefs of people boiled down to the endowment of natural phenomena with souls and the cult of ancestors. With the passage of time and the development of civilizations, from a huge variety of obscure mythical deities, more vivid images are identified: Mars - the god of war, Janus - the god of the beginning and end, Jupiter - the god of light of day, Thunderstorms, who send terrible downpours to the lands of people, and others. The culture and beliefs of ancient people have always been greatly influenced by the culture of their closest neighbors. Thus, the goddess of arts Minerva was borrowed from the Etruscans by the Romans. Also, the cultural life of Rome, in turn, was significantly influenced by Greece. Today it is undeniable that Roman mythology, the gods of which were mostly borrowed from the Greeks, had a significant influence on the development of ancient Roman society as a whole.

The mythology of ancient states today is of great interest to researchers of the history of civilizations that have sunk into the past, collecting artifacts of their culture bit by bit over many hundreds of years. Thanks to their efforts, he has an idea of ​​what people lived long before his ancestors appeared, what they believed in and what the meaning of their lives was.

The most ancient Roman mythology was built on the belief in the existence of life after death. The Romans of those times worshiped the souls of their ancestors. At the heart of this worship was the fear of the supernatural powers that the Romans believed these souls possessed. The first Roman gods were identified with nature, they could command it, cause rain or send an unprecedented drought to settlements. In order not to be left without harvests, the inhabitants of Ancient Rome tried in every possible way to appease these gods. They were worshiped and sacrifices were made.

Greek and Roman gods: differences

According to some sources, Ancient Rome did not have its own mythology for centuries. At the same time, in neighboring Greece, the cultural and religious life of the people flourished. Many modern researchers who are interested in history tend to believe that most of the myths were borrowed earlier from the more culturally developed Greeks, and the Roman gods are gods endowed with the same powers and traits as the Greek ones. The only difference is their names. So, in Roman mythology, Venus is an exact copy of the Greek Aphrodite. The patron of the ancient Roman arts - Phoebus - is more like the Greek Apollo, etc.

Initially, the Roman gods had neither a genealogy, nor even their habitat - Olympus, and were depicted in the form of certain symbols: Jupiter had the appearance of a stone, Mars - the appearance of a spear, Vesta - the appearance of flames. According to legend, the first gods of Rome did not leave offspring behind them and, after completing all the work they had begun, they did not die, but disappeared into nowhere. The Greek gods were very prolific and immortal.

The fusion of the culture and mythology of Rome and Greece occurs around the turn of the fourth and third centuries BC. The basic religious views of the Greeks and part of their mythology reigned in Rome after a collection of sayings of the Greek oracle was delivered to the capital of the empire, which subsequently predicted the plague epidemic of 293 BC.

Roman gods are more moral. According to the ideas of the ancient Romans, by guarding human life, they were the defenders of justice on Earth, property rights and many other rights that a free person should have. The moral influence of religion was especially great during the period of prosperity of Roman civil society (2-4 centuries AD). The people of Ancient Rome were very pious. We can still find praise for this piety on the pages of the works of Roman and Greek writers of those times. The outward piety of the Romans proves their respect for customs, on which the main virtue of the Roman people, patriotism, was based.

Jupiter (lat. Iuppiter) -in ancient Roman mythology, the god of the sky, daylight, thunderstorms, the father of the gods, the supreme deity of the Romans. Husband of the goddess Juno. Corresponds to the Greek Zeus. The god Jupiter was revered on the hills, the tops of mountains in the form of a stone. The days of the full moon - the Ides - are dedicated to him. The Temple of Jupiter stood on the Capitol, where

e Jupiter, together with Juno and Minerva, was one of the three most important Roman deities. Janus (Latin Ianus, from Latin ianua - “door”, Greek Ian) Roman mythology - the two-faced god of doors, entrances, exits, various passages, as well as the beginning and the end.

One of the most ancient Roman Indian gods, together with the goddess of the hearth Vesta, occupied a prominent place in Roman ritual. Already in ancient times, various religious ideas about him and his essence were expressed. Thus, Cicero associated his name with the verb inire and saw in Janus the deity of entry and exit. Others believed that Janus personified chaos (Janus = Hianus), air or the firmament. Nigidius Figulus identified Janus with the sun god.

Originally Janus is the divine gatekeeper, in the Salian hymn he was invoked under the names Clusius or Clusivius (Closing One) and Patulcius (Opening One). As attributes, Janus had a key with which he unlocked and locked the gates of heaven. He used a staff as a gatekeeper's weapon to ward off uninvited guests. Later, probably under the influence of Greek religious art, Janus began to be depicted as two-faced (geminus).Juno (lat. Iuno)

- ancient Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter, goddess of marriage and birth, motherhood, women and female productive power. She is primarily the patroness of marriages, the guardian of the family and family regulations. The Romans were the first to introduce monogamy. Juno, as the patroness of monogamy, is, among the Romans, the personification of protest against polygamy. Minerva (lat. Minerva), With

Corresponding to the Greek Pallas Athena, the Italian goddess of wisdom. She was especially revered by the Etruscans as the lightning-fast goddess of mountains and useful discoveries and inventions. And in Rome, in ancient times, Minerva was considered a lightning-fast and warlike goddess, as evidenced by the gladiatorial games during the main holiday in honor of her Quinquatrus. Diana - b

goddess of the flora and fauna, femininity and fertility, obstetrician, personification of the Moon; corresponds to the Greek Artemis and Selene.

Later, Diana also began to be identified with Hecate. Diana was also called Trivia - the goddess of three roads (her images were placed at crossroads), this name was interpreted as a sign of triple power: in heaven, on earth and underground. Diana was also identified with the Carthaginian heavenly goddess Celeste. In the Roman provinces, under the name of Diana, local spirits were revered - “mistresses of the forest.” - Venus in Roman mythology, originally the goddess of flowering gardens in, spring, fertility, growth and flowering of all fruit-bearing forces of nature. Then Venus became the divine Aphrodite, and since Aphrodite was the mother of Aeneas, whose descendants founded Rome, Venus was considered not only the goddess of love and beauty, but also the ancestor of the descendants of Aeneas and the patroness of the Roman people. The symbols of the goddess were the dove and the hare (as a sign of fertility); the plants dedicated to her were poppy, rose and myrtle.

Flora -An ancient Italian goddess, whose cult was widespread among the Sabines and especially in Central Italy. She was the goddess of flowers, blossoming, spring and fruits of the field; in honor of her, the Sabines named the month corresponding to April or May (mese Flusare = mensis Floralis).

Ceres (lat. Cerēs, gen. Cereris)- ancient Roman goddess, second daughter of Saturn and Rhea (in Greek mythology she corresponds to Demeter). She was depicted as a beautiful matron with fruit in her hands, for she was considered the patroness of the harvest and fertility (often together with Annona, the patroness of the harvest). The only daughter of Ceres is Proserpina, born from Jupiter.

Bacchus - in ancient Roman mythology, the youngest of the Olympians, the god of winemaking, the productive forces of nature, inspiration and religious ecstasy. Mentioned in the Odyssey. In Greek mythology, he corresponds to Dionysus .

Vertumnus (Latin Vertumnus, from Latin vertere, to transform) - the ancient Italian god of the seasons and their various gifts, therefore he was depicted in different forms, mainly in the form of a gardener with a garden knife and fruits. Sacrifices were made to him annually on August 13th (vertumnalia). Later Roman mythology made him an Etruscan god; but, as the etymology of this name shows, Vertumnus was a true Latin and at the same time common Italic god, akin to Ceres and Pomona, the goddesses of grain plants and fruits.

Faun (lat. Faunus) - one of the oldest national deities of Italy. Many purely Italian features of his character and cult were smoothed out due to his identification with the Greek Pan. A kind, merciful god (from the Latin favere - to be favorable, this is where the names Faustus, Faustulus, Favonius come from). In the image of Faun, the ancient Italians revered the good demon of mountains, meadows, fields, caves, herds, who sends fertility to fields, animals and people, the prophetic god, the ancient king of Latium and the ancestor of many ancient families, the planter of the original culture. At the same time, along with a single personal deity, they believed in the existence of many homogeneous demons of the same name with him, in which the attributes of the Faun himself were embodied.

In ancient Greek mythology, he corresponds to the god Hephaestus.

Surely everyone has heard the expression “return to one’s native land,” which means returning to one’s home. But not everyone knows where it came from. Initially, this phrase sounded like “return to native Penates.” Penates are the ancient Roman Gods who guard the hearth. In ancient times, in every house near the hearth there was an image of two Penates.

By the way, the Roman people were not distinguished by their rich imagination. All their Gods themselves were lifeless, vague characters, without family ties, without pedigree, while the Greek Gods were united by one big family. However, if you look into history today, you will notice obvious similarities between the Gods of ancient Rome and Greece. The Romans almost completely adopted the Greek Gods - their images, symbols and spells. The difference between them is in the names. They help to better understand the essence of the Roman Gods. As a rule, they are firmer and more serious than the Greek Gods, more reliable and virtuous. The Romans largely identified their abstract Gods with the Greek ones. For example, Jupiter with Zeus, Venus with Aphrodite, Minerva with Athena. Thus, under the influence of Greek religious ideas, among the numerous Roman gods, the main Olympic Gods stood out, known to everyone today: Jupiter - the god of the sky, Venus - the goddess of love and fertility, Minerva - the goddess of wisdom and others.

The absolute absence of their own mythology and legends among the Romans was considered a virtue among the ancient people (although today it may seem to us that they simply lacked creative imagination). It was the Roman people who were considered the most religious people of those times. And it was from the Romans that the word “religion” subsequently appeared in all languages, which meant the worship of imaginary supernatural forces and the veneration of rituals.

The ancient Romans were convinced that life in all its smallest manifestations depended on a higher power and was under the tutelage of various Gods. In addition to Mars and Jupiter, some of the most powerful Gods of Ancient Rome, there were countless less significant Gods and spirits who protected various actions in life. For example, during the birth of a child, the Vatican opened his mouth for the first cry, Kunina patronized the cradle, Rumina took care of the baby’s food, Sattan taught the child to stand, and Fabulin taught him to speak. The whole life of the Romans was this - every success or failure was considered a manifestation of the favor or anger of a certain deity. At the same time, all these deities were completely faceless. Even the Romans themselves could not claim with complete confidence that they knew the real name of God or his gender. All their knowledge about the Gods boiled down only to when and how they should ask for help. The Ancient Gods were the cult of the Roman people. They filled every corner of their home and soul. It was for them that sacrifices were made. And it was they who decided destinies.

We invite you to go on an exciting journey through our website, where you can learn more about the Gods of Ancient Rome, plunge into history and feel the atmosphere of distant times.

The Romans evolved. Initially, there was a polytheistic religion - paganism. The Romans believed in many gods.

Structure and main concepts of ancient Roman religion

Like any other polytheistic faith, Roman paganism did not have a clear organization. In fact, it is a collection of a large number of ancient cults. The ancients were responsible for various aspects of human life and natural elements. Every family revered rituals - they were performed by the head of the family. The gods were asked for help in household and personal matters.

There were rituals that were carried out at the state level - they were performed at different times by priests, consuls, dictators, and praetors. The gods were asked for help in battles, intercession and assistance in battle with the enemy. Fortune telling and rituals were given a large role in resolving state issues.

During the reign, the concept of “priest” appeared. He was a representative of a closed caste. The priests had enormous influence on the ruler; they possessed the secrets of rituals and communication with the gods. During the empire, the function of pontiff began to be performed by the emperor. It is characteristic that Rima were similar in their functions - they just had different names.

The main features of the religion of Rome

Important characteristics of Roman beliefs were:

• great influence of foreign borrowing. The Romans often came into contact with other peoples during their conquests. Contacts with Greece were especially close;
• religion was closely connected with politics. This can be judged based on the existence of the cult of imperial power;
• characterized by the endowment of divine qualities to such concepts as happiness, love, justice;
• the close connection between myth and beliefs - defines, but does not distinguish the Roman religion from other pagan systems;
• a huge number of cults and rituals. They were large-scale, but covered all aspects of public and personal life;
• The Romans deified even such little things as returning from a campaign, the first word of a baby, and much more.

Ancient Roman pantheon

The Romans, like the Greeks, represented the gods as humanoid. They believed in the forces of nature and spirits. The main deity was Jupiter. His element was the sky, he was the master of thunder and lightning. The Great Games were held in honor of Jupiter, and a temple on Capitol Hill was dedicated to him. The ancient gods of Rome looked after various aspects of human life: Venus - love, Juno - marriage, Diana - hunting, Minevra - craft, Vesta - home.

In the Roman pantheon there were father gods - the most revered of all, and lower deities. They also believed in spirits that were present in everything that surrounds a person. Researchers believe that spirit worship was present only in the early stages of the development of the religion of Rome. Initially, Mars, Quirin and Jupiter were considered the main gods. During the emergence of the institution of priesthood, tribal cults arose. It was believed that each class and noble family was patronized by a specific god. Cults appeared among the clan of the Claudians, Cornelians and other representatives of the elite of society.

At the state level, Saturnalia was celebrated - in honor of agriculture. They held grand celebrations and thanked the patron for the harvest.

Social struggle in society led to the formation of a triad of gods or “plebeian triad” - Ceres, Liber and Liber. The Romans also identified heavenly, chthonic and earthly deities. There was a belief in demons. They were divided into good and evil. The first group included the Penates, Lares and Geniuses. They kept the traditions of the house, the hearth and protected the head of the family. Evil demons - lemurs and laurels interfered with good ones and harmed people. Such creatures appeared if the deceased was buried without observing the rituals.

The gods of Ancient Rome, the list of which includes more than 50 different creatures, were objects of worship for many centuries - only the degree of influence of each of them on the consciousness of the people changed.

During the empire, the goddess Roma, the patroness of the entire state, was popularized.

What gods did the Romans borrow?

As a result of frequent contacts with other peoples, the Romans began to incorporate foreign beliefs and rituals into their culture. Researchers are inclined to think that all religion is a complex of borrowings. The main reason for this is that the Romans respected the beliefs of the people they conquered. There was a ritual that officially introduced a foreign deity into the pantheon of Rome. This ritual was called evocation.

The ancient gods of Rome appeared in the pantheon as a result of close cultural ties with conquered peoples and the active development of their own culture. The most striking borrowings are Mithra and Cybele.

Table “Gods of Ancient Rome and Greek correspondences”:

Mythology of Ancient Rome

In all pagan cultures, myths and religious beliefs are closely related. The themes of Roman myths are traditional - the founding of the city and state, the creation of the world and the birth of the gods. This is one of the most interesting aspects of culture to study. Researchers using the mythological system can trace the entire evolution of Roman beliefs.

Traditionally, legends contain many descriptions of miraculous, supernatural events that were believed in. From such narratives, one can highlight the peculiarities of the political views of the people, which are hidden in the fantastic text.

In the mythology of almost all nations, the theme of the creation of the world, cosmogony, comes first. But not in this case. It mainly describes heroic events, the ancient gods of Rome, rituals and ceremonies that must be performed.

The heroes were of semi-divine origin. the legendary founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus - were the children of the warlike Mars and the Vestal priestess, and their great ancestor Aeneas was the son of the beautiful Aphrodite and the king.

The gods of Ancient Rome, the list of which includes both borrowed and local deities, has more than 50 names.

- goddess of the morning dawn. The ancient Greeks called Aurora the ruddy dawn, the rose-fingered goddess Eos. Aurora was the daughter of the titan Hipperion and Theia. According to another version of the Sun - Helios and the Moon - Selene).

Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Lethe, the sister of Apollo, among female deities the same as her brother among male ones. She gives light and life, she is the goddess of childbirth and the goddess-nurse; accompanied by forest nymphs, hunts through forests and mountains, protects herds and game. She has never submitted to the power of love, and, like Apollo, she does not know the bonds of marriage. In Roman mythology - Diana.

Athena is the daughter of Zeus who had no mother. Hephaestus cut the head of Zeus with an ax, and Athena jumped out of his head in full armor. She is the personification of the prudence of Zeus. Athena is the goddess of intelligence, war, sciences and arts. In Roman mythology - Minerva.

Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Diana, so called because she allegedly came from sea foam. She is the goddess of beauty, happy love and marriage, surpassing all goddesses in charm and grace. In Roman mythology - Venus.

Venus - in Roman mythology, the goddess of gardens, beauty and love, was identified with Aeneas' mother Aphrodite. Venus was not only the goddess of beauty and love, but also the patroness of the descendants of Aeneas and all Romans.

Hecate is the goddess of the night, ruler of darkness. Hecate ruled over all ghosts and monsters, night visions and sorcery. She was born as a result of the marriage of the titan Persus and Asteria.

The Graces are beneficent goddesses in Roman mythology, personifying the joyful, kind and eternally youthful beginning of life, daughters of Jupiter, nymphs and goddesses. In ancient Greek mythology - Charites.

Diana - in Roman mythology, the goddess of nature and hunting, was considered the personification of the moon. Diana was also accompanied by the epithet “goddess of the three roads,” interpreted as a sign of Diana’s triple power: in heaven, on earth and under the earth.

Iris is the personification of the rainbow, connecting heaven with earth, a messenger of the gods, a mediator in their relations with each other and with people. This is the messenger of Zeus and Hera and the servant of the latter.

Cybele, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the wife of Kronos, was considered the great mother of the gods. She is the personification of the principle that organizes the elemental natural forces.

Minerva is in Roman mythology the goddess of wisdom, art, war and cities, the patroness of artisans.

Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory in Greek mythology, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, a Titanide. Mother of the Muses, whom she gave birth to from Zeus. According to the number of nine nights that Mnemosyne gave to Zeus, there were nine muses.

The Moirai are Lachesis (“the giver of lots”), Clotho (“the spinner”) and Atropos (“the inevitable one”), daughters of Nyx. The Moiras are the goddesses of fate, natural necessity, eternal and immutable world laws.

Muses are goddesses and patroness of the arts and sciences. The Muses were considered the daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne.

Nemesis is the goddess of vengeance. The duties of the goddess included punishment for crimes, overseeing the fair and equal distribution of goods among mortals. Nemesis was born by Nikto as punishment for Kronos.

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, or Caecera, the wife of Pluto, or Hades, a formidable mistress of shadows, ruling over the souls of the dead and over the monsters of the underworld, listening, together with Hades, to the curses of people and fulfilling them. In Roman mythology - Proserpina.

Rhea is a Greek goddess in ancient mythology, one of the Titanides, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, wife of Kronos. The cult of Rhea was considered one of the most ancient, but was not widespread in Greece itself.

Tethys is one of the most ancient deities, a Titanide, the daughter of Gaia and Uranus, the sister and wife of the Ocean, the mother of streams, rivers and three thousand oceanids, was considered the goddess who gives life to everything that exists.

Themis is the goddess of justice. The Greeks also called the goddess Themis, Themis. Themis was the daughter of the sky god Uranus and Gaia. Her daughters were the goddesses of fate - the Moiras.

The Charites, the daughters of Zeus and the oceanid Eurynome, embodied a joyful, kind and eternally young beginning. The names of these beautiful goddesses were Aglaya ("shining"), Euphrosyne ("well-minded"), Thalia ("blooming"), Cleta ("desired") and Peyto ("persuasion").

Eumenides - merciful, benevolent goddesses - one of the names of female deities, most known under the name Erinyes, among the Romans the Furies, which means angry, furious, avenging goddesses.

Erinyes are the daughters of Earth and Darkness, terrible goddesses of curse, revenge and punishment, who rebelled against criminals and punished them only for the sake of restoring moral order in the world; they mainly acted as avengers for the violation of family rights sanctified by nature. In Roman mythology - Furies.

The Encyclopedia of Mythology of the Ancient World website contains more than 150 articles about the goddesses of antiquity, which can be found in our mythological dictionary.