why is roman and greek mythology differentiated?

Question

they have same god/ gods but different meanings... is it coincidence?

Answer 1

The Romans conquered the Greeks and used the same gods the Greeks had but changed the names and some of the characteristics to make it seem as if they did not take them but surprisingly did not change the story behind each God

Examples:
Greek Roman Description
Zeus Jupiter Lord of the sky and supreme ruler of the gods. Known for throwing lightening bolts.

Poseidon Neptune Ruler of the sea. Brother of Zeus. Carried a three-pronged spear known as a trident.

Hades Pluto Ruler of the underworld and the dead. Brother of Zeus. Had a helmet which rendered its wearer invisible.

Hestia Vesta A virgin goddess and sister of Zeus. No distinct personality or part in myths. Goddess of the Hearth, the symbol of the home.

Hera Juno Zeus's wife and sister. Protector of marriage, spent most of her time punishing the many women Zeus fell in love with. Likes cows and peacocks.

Ares Mars God of war and son of Zeus and Hera. Likes vultures and dogs.

Athena Minerva Daughter of Zeus alone. No mother.(?) She sprang from his head full-grown and in full armor. The protector of civilized life, handicrafts, and agriculture. Invented the bridle, and first to tame the horse. Likes Athens, olives, and owls.

Apollo Apollo Son of Zeus. Master musician, archer god, healer, god of light, god of truth, sun god. A busy god who likes the laurel tree, dolphins, and crows.

Aphrodite Venus Daughter of Zeus. Goddess of Love and Beauty. Likes the myrtle tree, doves, sparrows, and swans.

Hermes Mercury Son of Zeus. Wore wings on his sandals and his hat, thus was graceful and swift.

Artemis Diana Apollo's twin sister and daughter of Zeus. Lady of wild things and huntsman to the gods. As Apollo is the Sun, Artemis is the moon.

Hephaestus Vulcan Son of Hera, God of Fire. The only ugly and deformed god. Makes armor and weapons forged under volcanoes.


Other Gods
Greek Roman Description
Gaea Terra Mother Earth.

Asclepius Aesculapius God of medicine.

Cronus Saturn God of the sky; Ruler of the Titans (Roman mythology: God of agriculture)

Demeter Ceres Goddess of grain.

Dionysus Bacchus God of wine and vegetation.

Eros Cupid God of love.

Hypnos Somnus God of sleep.

Rhea Ops Wife of Cronus/Saturn. Mother Goddess.

Uranus Uranus God of the sky. Father of the Titans.

Nike Victoria Goddess of Victory.

Answer 2

Because they are 2 different cultures.

But there are similarities because:
When the Romans conquered a people, they then appropriated the conquered people's gods and matched up which of their gods were equivilant to the new gods. This would make assimilation of the 2 cultures easier. The 2 groups of people are in the same region, they had traded with one another for centuries, so there would be similarities between the two religions.

Problems happened when they tried to do this with the western Europeans--many times their gods would not match up well with the Greco-Roman gods, and did not work with monotheistic people.

Answer 3

The Romans had their own mythology. However, when they conquered Greece, they discovered the Greek mythology and adapted it to their tradition. Offhand the only true Roman god I can think of is Janus. Of course there is Romulous and Remus, the twin boys who were raised by a she-bear (I think) and were the founders of Rome.

Answer 4

Simply because the were two different groups of people. As for the their Gods, after the Romans defeated the Greeks they took over many of the Greeks Gods for themselves. But they already had their own way of worshiping prior to that............. So same God but different practices....................

Answer 5

From What? From Greek myths? You need to be clearer? Most of the surviving Roman Myths and Legends can be found mainly in poems by Horace or Ovid. Do a Google search and then read translations of the source material.

Answer 6

they are cultures that follow each other so many Gods will be the same ,but over the centuries many things change
there is a big time factor involved ,just look how much Europe has changed in a thousand years

Answer 7

They are cultures miles apart, In different time, they had different languages and different orientations and out look on live.

The communication between the culture was non existent until recently.

Basically as the saying goes they are Greek and Latin or Latin and Greek.

Answer 8

In my mythology class we learned that one culture came upon a god/godess and gave it a name, hearsay traveled over and the other culture agreed but gave the god/godess a different name to fit their belifs

Answer 9

well they have different names for the dieties. and slightly different in characteristics of the dieties.. i heard in my class one time that romans kinda borrowed from the greeks b/c they liked the ideas but didnt want to seem like they were copying so they changed the names..

not sure about that historically .. maybe someone can clarify