The Roman myths are a product of the growth of the Roman Empire. From Rome they conquered many territories, it was a constantly expanding empire. This brought with it, the acceptance of beliefs and customs of cultures very different from theirs, in fact as a culture they really were an interesting mix. The direct consequence of this exchange can be seen in the Roman gods. These are an adoption of the Greek gods, whose name was changed.
What is a biosimilar
Roman myths are the conglomerate of things that their inhabitants believed in, that is, they are legendary stories of those who populated the Roman cities of the ancient era. This era is considered to be made up of two periods: first, it was a period of ancestral customs and symbology. These were the beliefs that guided the myths and rites of local origin. If you want to learn more about the myths of the great civilizations you can read, mayan myths.
In the second term, basically intellectual and calm, it was about the integration of the forms of the first term; with a contribution of totally new customs and uses, coming from the myths and religious customs of the Greeks.
Nature of the ancient Roman Myths
The Roman people did not have a system of sequential legends, comparable to the myth of the Titanium or attraction de Zeus by Hera. This changed when its writers and poets began to reproduce the patterns of the literature of Greece, at the end of the cycle of the last republic.
However, something that did exist in the Roman Empire was a very advanced system of performing rituals. They had places of teaching and learning, for spiritual guides, and places of worship for the gods linked to these studies.
They also had a striking and colorful group of traditional Roman myths and from their history. These myths were about the establishment and construction of great cities, by flesh and blood people, with occasional interventions by divinities.
Roman myths of gods
The Roman design of mythology was made up of a sequence of events and actions different from that of the Gstrong ancient. The way in which they carried out the description and the emergence of the gods was totally different.
An example of this is found in the origin of the universe in the mythology of Greece. In these Greek myths, Demeter, had as the main characteristic of his personality, that in all the registered references, he appears as very sorry and full of sadness. This sadness was due to Hades, the god of the underworld, kidnapped his beloved daughter Persephone and marked the entire meaning of creation in Greek mythology.
the first triad
The people of Rome of that time, if we compare them with the Greek people, they conceived their creator with this hierarchical style; Ceres was a female deity, with a religious guide named specifically for her, called flamingo. He was a subjugated of the flames of jupiter, Quirino y Mars. However, he had a higher rank than they occupied Flora y Pomona.
These Roman deities were considered to be in a group called a triad. They were accompanied by gods who dealt with matters related to agriculture, Liber y Free. Their interactions with lower-ranking deities, who performed certain tasks and helped them, were also well known: the weeder sarritor, the collector messor, the carrier convector, the one who collects conditioner, the one who sowed insider and at least 12 more deities.
As you can see, when it comes to the myths of ancient Rome, in what corresponds to the major and minor deities, it was not really composed of legendary actions that fed the myths, rather it was a complicated tangle of relationships between the actions of the deities and the actions of human beings. Each god was associated with the fulfillment of a human survival need.
Record of Roman Myths
The firm Roman belief of the beginning was modified when they began to incorporate numerous and discrepant foreign beliefs in later times, and of course by the impressive addition that the fabulous and rich mythology of the Greek civilization contributed.
Little is known of the original Roman religious beliefs, as word-of-mouth narration was not their custom. The little knowledge that we have about it comes from writers, who made records after the time, in order to preserve the ancient religions and traditions, from oblivion to which they seemed condemned. One of them was a wise man from the first century before Christ, Marcus Terentius Varro.
However, a few of these ancient literati, was that of a minstrel named Ovid. He in his fastos or calendars, was heavily influenced by the Hellenistic modeling of mythology. In his works he makes excessive reference to Greek belief, to fill in the gaps in the stories of the Roman people. Thus, most records about ancient Rome are not very reliable.
Ancient mythology about roman history
The inhabitants of Rome had a creative and abundant supply of stories, which narrated the institution and original growth of the city itself. These narratives, based on their uses and customs, were varied and for the most part of local origin. They assigned deity character to everything related to daily life.
To this was added, over time, content that came from the heroic myths and Greek epics, in its early history. In this way they transformed their local protagonists into derivatives of Greek mythical characters.
An example of this custom is the character of Enas, which comes from Greek mythology and became the ancestor of Remo y Romulus, which come from Roman myths. when checked The Aeneid along with the earliest manuscripts of Livio, it is easy to see that they are the most reliable writings to know the content and why of the Roman myths.
Particularly the books Tito Livio They are vital to understand what Roman society was like at the time. Despite having some bias that tends to glorify the Roman people, in general they are attached to the uses and customs of the time. Rome.
Native Roman and Italic Gods
The Romans respected and believed not only in their gods, but also in their priests. In the rites and ceremonies in the Roman Empire, the official spiritual guides made a marked difference between two classes of deities:
The say indigetes
The “say indigetes”, or indigenous deities. These were a group of deities, male and female, and accepted Roman spirits from different myths of other cultures. Indians is a traditional Latin word, which was normally applied to Salt and Jupiter. Its true translation is really unknown, there are those who theorize that it can mean "inner speaker".
These say indigetesThey were the original gods of the republic, they were worshiped by the highest priests, those of greatest prestige and age. The festivities marked as fixed in the Roman calendars correspond to them.
The say nine sides
The other group of gods were the “say nine sides”. These were the newly arrived deities, the rites dedicated to these were incorporated in the historical period. These were made on dates that were known, but that were not periodic and were made in order to resolve some mishap, crisis or known hardship.
The polydemonism of Roman myths
The traditional Roman gods had each other apart from the “say indigetes”, another group of deities. These were gods that granted favors in specific activities, they were the experts. Their names were invoked when various tasks had to be carried out, for example, when the harvest was carried out.
When a task such as harvesting was done, at each different part of the task, a different deity was summoned. One for the blind, another for transport, another for storage and so on, differentiating each of the different tasks.
Each one of these gods was given a name, a derivative of the denomination or the verb associated with the task that they had to bless and protect, which is why these low-ranking gods had many.
In general, these were gods, which by definition could be considered help or aid, this being a subgroup within the universe of Roman myths. These minor gods were always worshiped together with a more important deity.
roman rites
Initially the Roman rites, dedicated to the deities, were polydemonistic, polytheism would come later. Polydemonism is the worship of the personification of nature. In this type of rites, those who worshiped limited themselves to saying a name and the task assigned to this deity. In this case the muse or the power of the god, is said in a very specific or specialized way.
The character of homeless, and their celebrations, connote that the inhabitants of ancient Rome were not only members of an agricultural community, but also that they were great warriors and were very committed to obtaining glory through battle.
The gods were represented in such a way that they are correctly associated with the practical necessity of daily life. Thus they were comfortably perceived and accepted by the ordinary inhabitant of the community of which he was a part.
Dedication to the rites
The people were careful and had a great dedication to the rites, they chose with great care the offerings for these deities, since each part of this had to be appropriate to satisfy the god in question.
That is how, Jano y Vest, they took care of the protection of the entrance and the house in general, the Lares They protected the land for cultivation and the home, Blades feed for animals, Saturn the land already cultivated, Ceres crop development, Pomona the harvest (cereal) ready for harvest and With their y Ops, the harvest of the harvest.
Even the splendid Jupiter, great lord of the deities, was revered and honored, because thanks to him the rain fell, which gave prosperity to crops and agriculture in general. With this they gave him powers over something as everyday as agriculture.
the primitive temple
The high esteem that was held for Jupiter, in all its magnitude, was mainly due to the fact that he was the owner of the lightning. With this energy he led the daily work of the people and, by his great power, he was the protector of the Roman warriors, in their war wanderings in countries and peoples outside of Rome.
Also, they had a preponderant place in Roman culture, the figures of the deities Mars y Quirino, it was common for them to confuse one with the other, since they were granted similar gifts.
Mars He was a god of battles, he protected the wars that took place between the months of March and October. Studies of the remains from that time have now been made, and modern archaeologists believe that Quirino he was the protector of the soldiers sent to war but during the period of peace. This is the reason why they are confused.
As leaders in the early temple were: the trinity Jupiter, Mars y Quirino, whose trio of spirit guides, or flamines, held superior status; on the other hand, Jano y Vest. In ancient times, these gods had practically no individuality, there are no records of marriages and genealogies of descendants.
Ancient Roman deities vs. greek
Contrasting this way of seeing deities with the Greek, it was unthinkable that they would function as mortals did, so there was no need to document accounts of heroic acts. In fact, there are very few records of them.
Numa Pompilius, he was one of the first sovereigns of Rome, was the one who established the original or ancient cult. It is speculated that this ruler had as a partner and adviser the Roman goddess of tributaries of water and births. The name of this deity was Egeria, this is usually described in literature as a nymph. However, this tradition added new elements at a more or less early time.
In fables, or myth stories, the institution of the magnificent Capitoline Triad, made by Jupiter, Juno y Minerva, who had a privileged place at the top of the Roman religious rites, was endorsed to the lineage of the sovereigns tarquinius.
Other ceremonies, which were annexed to those already existing in Rome, was the rite to Diana on the Aventine Hill, and the adoption of Sibylline Books. These were predictions of what would happen in the known world. This adoption, according to popular myth, was carried out by tarquinius to Sibyl of Cumae, in the last years of the fourth century before Christ.
foreign gods
Rome, to become an empire, dedicated itself to occupying all the territories that it was possible. To the extent that she was taking the neighboring territories, she was also adopting her gods. This assimilation of other religions caused them to gradually convert to a polytheistic religiosity.
The Roman people customarily assigned ceremonies similar to those of the gods of ancient Rome to each deity they adopted, coming from the conquered territories, since they made them part of their great state.
Furthermore, in most Roman myths, these deities were officially invited to move to Roman temples. This was considered a great honor by the Roman people, who were very fond of performing rituals.
In the year two hundred and three before Christ, the statue that was in the cult site that represented the image of the goddess Cibeles, was withdrawn from Pesino en Phrygia. This image was taken with all the honors and great solemnity to the Roman people.
Arrival of transculturation
At that time, the great expansion of the city attracted many people from other lands. These were authorized to worship the gods of their places of origin. That was how the cult came to Mitra to the Roman people. He became so famous that his rites spread to places like the far Brittany.
From the cult to Mitracomes the deity Undefeated Sun, this had a widespread rite in the military environment from the third century. The main proof of this is the representation of the god minted on the coins, for Constantine I the Great.
In addition, if we take into account the places conquered in Italy, Castor and Pollux, these apparently added to the Roman temples to: Diana, Minerva, Hercules, Venus and other minor gods. If you want to know more about mythical beings in different cultures, you can read: The Alicante.
These new deities for the Romans, some were brought from the Italian region, and others were originally from the Greek culture and its rich mythology, specifically from Magna Grecia. The Romans were very captivated by everything related to idolatry.
The deities of the Roman people, those of higher rank, were finally able to resemble the most anthropomorphic (that is, similar to humans), female and male deities of the Greek world, appropriated their characteristics and legends. What the Romans most called the attention of the Greek gods, were their ways of acting in a human style.
famous roman myths
Being conquerors, the Romans took many lands outside of ancient Rome. This caused the Roman culture to be flooded with the uses and customs of the conquered peoples. They made the deities of the places taken by force their own and altered their names to make them Roman and incorporate them into their own mythology, this makes Roman myths very interesting.
All this was intended to ensure that in Roman myths, the deities act like the people of Rome, that is, to humanize their gods a little more. The original divinities of ancient Rome did not really have much of a humanity, they were more associated with natural events and daily tasks. Below we present the most famous roman myths from the story:
The myth of Romulus y Remo
In ancient Rome there was a great adoration for myths and legends. Since Rome was constantly expanding, its inhabitants created myths, in order to explain their divine right to have power over others. This is how the myth of Romulus y Remo , is perhaps the most famous of all of the time.
Romulus y Remo They were two twin brothers, whose lives merge between the real and the legendary. Crime, betrayal and revenge converge in his story, but also the aura of the gods and the very face of a civilization that ruled with similar tricks. The story of Romulus y Remo , is itself the story of Rome, the story of an eternal city.
We are at the beginning of the eighth century before Christ and near what is now the city of Rome there was a city called alba longa, which had been founded centuries ago by Ascanio, son of Enasone of the few survivors of the war Troy.
Ascanio, founded a dynasty on these lands, which at the beginning of the eighth century before Christ, faced two other brothers for power: numitor y Amulius. These were the grandfather and the great-uncle of Romulus y Remo . That in the Roman myths, they are the most recognized by all and founders of Rome.
numitor was older than Amulium, and therefore the rightful heir to the throne of alba longa, But Amulium conspired against numitor and usurped power. Amulium Already with the throne, he banished his brother and murdered all his sons to avoid his offspring, however, he spared the life of his niece, Rhea Silvia, on the condition that it be consecrated to the goddess Vesta.
Being made a priestess, Sale could not have children, and so Amulium, eliminated any future rivalry for the throne on the part of his niece. Rhea Silva, took the vestal robes, but the gods had other plans for her. The God Mars, entered where she was and stripped her of her virginity, raped her.
The birth of the twins
Rhea Silvia, thus gave birth to two twins, one named Romulus and the other called Remo . Upon learning of the event, his uncle Amulium, now king, ordered them to drown in the river Tiber, the river that flowed near the city of alba longa.
The woman in charge of drowning the twins was not capable of committing such a murder with her own hands. In exchange, she left them in a basket to drift down the river, hoping that the turbulence of the river would find them dead. But dying in this river was not the fate of the twins.
Fate meant that the twins were protected by a she-wolf who came to drink from the river. This was the famous wolf luperca, who adopted them and nursed them as his own cubs or children, in a den on the mountain palatine. After nursing them for a few days, a shepherd named Faustus, found the children and finished raising them with his wife here larentia.
The meeting with his grandfather
When Romulus y Remo They were older, they soon stood out for their bravery, especially when facing the thieves, who were going to steal the cattle that they guarded and those from the surroundings of where they lived. Being feared by criminals and respected by the locals, which caused the former to try to destroy them.
It was in the struggle with this type of thugs, that Remo he fell prisoner of them, and in revenge, they accused him of plundering and stealing the lands of numitor, his grandfather, but he still didn't know it was his grandfather.
when he was to be sentenced for numitor, his adoptive father Faustus, revealed his sad story to them and to the same numitorto prevent them from being killed. numitor It was not long before he recognized his two grandchildren, and only heirs. Being happy, realizing that he had offspring.
The two twins then plotted revenge against their uncle Amulium. They assassinated him and restored his grandfather to power. Once this is done, Romulus and Remus They decided to found their own city. They then went to the place where they had been found by the shepherd and there, in that mythical place, where luperca fed them, the hatred between the two brothers began.
Romulus and RemusThey did not agree on the place where they should build their city. They also couldn't agree on who would govern, because being twins, neither could be considered the firstborn. Thus began a fratricidal struggle for power, they decided to solve it this way: each one would choose the mountain where he wanted to build the city and there he would wait for a plan from the gods, seen in the flight of the vultures.
The founding of Rome
Remo , which stood on the hill Mount Aventine, was the first to spot six vultures. However Romulus, from the top of Palatine Hill, he spotted them later, but instead of spotting six he managed to see twelve vultures. This would represent a reason to further alienate the two brothers and their followers.
The two then declared themselves winners and so did their supporters. Remo had his justification because he had seen the vultures before, instead the justification of Romulus it was because he had seen twice as many vultures. Thus increasing the tension between the two brothers and their supporters.
Romulus who proclaimed himself the winner, drew the limits of his city Rome about him Palatine Hill. Then, under pain of death, he forbade anyone to cross the lines he had made with his team. Especially during the foundation and consecration ceremony.
Remo , defying his brother, he disobeyed the order and went into them, crossed the lines, then Romulus threw a stone at Remo and left him mortally wounded. The crime that had been announced for some time had been perpetrated. Romulus, buried his brother in the place where Remo he had dreamed of his city, renew.
RomeAccording to ancient sources, it had been officially founded on April 753, XNUMX BC. His story was beginning to be written about the cursed blood of a fratricidal crime, a crime between brothers. On such a heavy ballast that he would never free himself, and that did nothing but repeat itself like a loop with other faces and other names, until the very end of his days.
Jupiter and the bee
There are many Roman legends and myths about Jupiter, the king of the Roman gods. One of these Roman legends, very widespread, is that of Jupiter and the Bee. A myth that intends to leave a moral. Leaving lessons for good living was almost always the objective of this type of stories, where human characteristics were conferred on animals.
In the records of Roman myths, it is narrated that a long time ago, there was a modest bee, who got tired of everyone who could, animals or humans, stealing her honey. This bee implored to have a weapon or instrument with which to keep the bandits away.
This little bee asked and asked, prayed and prayed, but the deities turned a deaf ear and granted her nothing. So the bee, she decided to ask for help directly from Jupiter, king of all deities. He would have asked for a lesser deity, but Jupiter was the only one he knew how to find.
Looking for Jupiter
The little bee began to fly towards the sky, and it did it buzzing with all the energy it could, until Jupiter He noticed her presence and looked at her. Then the bee said, "my great lord Jupiter”, buzzed: I brought you honey as a gift. This made the god extremely happy and his face became radiant with joy, so he replied to the bee: “what a great gift”.
Jupiter He gave her a big smile and asked: “what do you need from my little bee?” Full of fear, but with a lot of determination to try, the little bee raised her dilemma. The god kept thinking, because he could not find the solution to help the bee. The honey had such a rich flavor, that of course it must be highly sought after, by anyone with a palate, whether animal or human. to the very Jupiter It had seemed exquisite.
Jupiter He kept thinking, the little bee was very nervous because he didn't know what would happen and he said to the god: “I could take better care of my honey if I had a gun”. Something that itches and pricks, like a needle. The god flew into a rage and rebuked the bee saying: «you would be able to prick the gods, you will hurt me“, he questioned her.
«Of course not“exclaimed the bee in sorrow. She recoiled frightened by his anger. Jupiter. She had not noticed the presence of Juno, the queen of all the gods, and with surprise collided with her. The sovereign had arrived quietly and had listened to the entire conversation. Jupiter, gave honey to his wife and she was delighted with the sweet taste of it.
The intervention of Juno
«This is such a prodigious flavor that of course you have to protectso he said Juno, the bee's request seemed reasonable to her. She then gave her husband her advice to give all the bees a stinger, with this they will be able to defend themselves against her.
Obviously there had to be a payment for such an immense favor, so the condition would be that: all that little bee, who will use the weapon with which she had been gifted, had to pay with her life. From this moment on, the dilemma of the bees will be: give protection to the honey and die, or calm down and collaborate with other living beings by sharing the honey.
The little bee wanted to protest the payment, but it was too late, Jupiter he had given immediate approval to his wife's proposal. As usual he thought his partner had great and magnificent ideas. Jupiter to whatever it was for Juno Be Happy. It would have to accommodate larger and more serious requests.
He waved his hand and the request was granted immediately. “You see little bee, thanks to Juno your wish has been granted.” The bee had no choice but to thank Jupiter and his wife Junomortified as she was inside, she tried without much success to show gratitude for the gift.
the return home
The bee, again undertook the long return flight, reached the ground but did not enter the hive. She spent a couple of days hiding behind it, trying to make the other bees forget about her. She was sure they would be upset to hear the implications of the gift that had been bestowed upon them. It was a gift that would cost them their lives if used.
The hive had become very noisy, this is because all the bees were so happy with their stingers that they did not stop buzzing and celebrating. At first, no one noticed the presence of the bee behind the hive. But at some point they saw her and a swarm located her. With a great buzz the bees received the news of what he had spoken with the gods.
But it turns out that each bee is faithful and admitting that the little bee was meant to help, they didn't bother with her. On the contrary, the queen bee said that they should thank her, because they had been given an option to defend themselves against her. Moreover, most likely this gift from the gods would not last.
But unfortunately for the bees, the gift did not disappear, on the contrary, today any bee that uses its sting pays with the cost of its life. The moral of this story is, reflect well on the consequences of your wishes.
Pluto and the King (a Greek and Roman myth)
In ancient Roman culture, a myth was told about a ruler so intelligent that, for a specific period, he ruled the Greek city of Maroon. The first to tell this story were the ancient Greeks and then the inhabitants of Rome, slightly altered the story. Changing the names of two of the gods.
The ancient Greeks called Zeus as the king of all deities. When narrating the ancient Romans the legend, they placed Jupiter as the supreme of deities. The narrators of Greece indicated that Hades He was the god of the underworld. When narrating this story in Roman culture, they located Pluto as the deity of the underworld.
But they still preserved the myth in classical Greece, although they located the Roman region as the epicenter of the ancient world. This myth was propagated in both cultures, giving each one a proper name to the gods.
the roman version
The Roman legend expresses that one day the ruler of Maroon he was trying to devise a plan, to find a solution to the difficulty of fresh water in the kingdom. One day the walking ruler looked up at the sky and was surprised when he saw Jupiter flying with something in his hand, the ruler was not able to recognize what he had in his hands.
"How weirdthought the sovereign. “Jupiter is rare. It rarely leaves the heavenly realms. I wonder what he's up to?" The king shrugged and returned to his musings about the meager supply of water in Maroon. The local inhabitants had no means of transporting water, or their difficulty would have been resolved long ago.
After a while, another god flew over the king, and looking at the ruler he stopped and shouted: "Have you by any chance seen my daughter?" "If you supply my people with a fresh water fountain, I'll tell you what I saw.", uttered the ruler and immediately a tributary of fresh and crystal clear water gushed out in front of him. “Jupiter had something in his hands and it was possibly your daughter” was what the king said.
Jupiter he disapproved of human beings interfering in his affairs. Hearing that the sovereign blamed him, he required his familiar Pluto to transport the king to the underworld. When this was heard by the sovereign, he expressed to his spouse: "As soon as they tell you that I'm already dead, don't put a gold coin under my tongue.” and since she was a good woman, she did exactly what the king had asked her to do.
the deception to Pluto
The very Pluto met the sovereign river styx, the entrance to the underworld. Not having the gold coin under his tongue, the sovereign arrived at the gate of the underworld like a docile pauper. “Where's your payment to cross the river?" Pluto He wanted to know. “How did you pay for your transfer across the River Styx to reach the underworld?”
The sovereign descended outraged and said: “My spouse was very poor and could not pay the ticket.” Pluto yelled, "Go back there and teach that woman how to act right.". And that's how Pluto returned the king back to the land of the living. Giving with this a demonstration of his intelligence and ingenuity. To learn about myths from other cultures and civilizations, you can review salvadoran legends.