It is no secret that roman mythology and pantheon was largely based on Greek gods. Some would even go as far as to say that it was just flagrant plagiarism and that all Romans did was changed the name of Greek gods and took them for their own. While there is some merit to that idea, we will leave you to be the judge of that, after you read the following list of Greek gods and their Roman counterpart.
Greek Name Roman Name Description
Zeus Jupiter King of Gods
Hera Juno Goddess of Marriage
Poseidon Neptune God of the Sea
Cronos Saturn Youngest son of Uranus, Father of Zeus
Aphrodite Venus Goddess of Love
Hades Pluto God of the Underworld
Hephaistos Vulcan God of the Forge
Demeter Ceres Goddess of the Harvest
Apollo Apollo God of Music and Medicine
Athena Minerva Goddess of Wisdom
Artemis Diana Goddess of the Hunt
Ares Mars God of War
Hermes Mercury Messenger of the Gods
Dionysus Bacchus God of Wine
Persephone Proserpine Goddess of Underworld
Eros Cupid God of Love
Gaia Gaea Goddess of Earth
The similarities don’t end there. The whole creation myth roman believed seems to be almost a word for word copy of the Greek one. According to them, Gaia was the original goddess, Mother of Earth. Her sons were called Titans and were immensely powerful, but also very malicious. Titans were led by Cronos, father of Zeus, God of thunder. It was Zeus himself who led the rebellion against his own father and other Titans. After the victory, he and his two brothers divided their new realm. Poseidon took the sea, Hades got the Underworld, filled with the soles of the dead, and Zeus remained on Olympus, as a supreme leader of all deities.
Do you want to know the Roman version? Just go by the table above and change names. Gaia becomes Gaea, Cronos Saturn, Zeus Jupiter, and Poseidon and Hades Neptune and Pluto respectively. In almost all aspects, both religions are the same, only Roman mythological names are different from the Greek ones.
Roman religion suffered the same fate as the Greek one did. Both were overrun with time and a more powerful religious system. At first, various cults emanating from Asia undercut them at, until finally Christianity emerged as the official religion of the Roman Empire and swept Greco-Roman polytheism away. Regardless of that, both religions left a deep mark on Western civilization and have inspired numerous masterpieces of art. And even though Roman gods were just copies of Greek ones, Greeks have a reason to be proud, as their religion survived to modern times, albeit in modest numbers.
Modern Hellenists claim that at least 100,000 Greeks today worship the old gods, opposed to the majority of the population, which belongs to Orthodox Christianity.
