Why are the planets named after the Roman gods if those gods don't exist?

Question

See, I can ask stupid questions too.

Answer 1

Romans made up their gods and named things after them trying to please these gods.

Answer 2

Ave!
You certainly can, and that's a corker, for sure.
You might also ask why there are days of the week named for Norse gods when those gods don't exist (Wotan, Tier, Thor, Freyr, etc.).
There are months named for dead Roman emperors (August, July) or those same fictitious gods (Janus, Mars), and those emperors are, BTW, why September ("Seventh month") is the ninth month, and why October, November and December (eight, nine and ten month) are actually months 10, 11 and 12.
Ain't paleolinguistics a hoot? Why, tracing the etymology of words can keep me busy for seconds and seconds.
Actually, the reason we English-speakers use the Roman names is because the Romans taught the Brits to wear clothes and bathe. If we were Japanese, or Chinese, or Senegalese or Fijian, we would call those planets something very different.
Done now.

Answer 3

"The names we use today for the innermost planets were assigned by the Romans and they named them after their Gods. These included Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The other three planets are not visible to the naked eye, so the Romans didn't know they existed. When modern astronomers did discover them, they stuck with this convention and named these planets after Roman gods as well (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto)."

Answer 4

Because humans are stubborn and lazy.

Many attempts have been made to change the names of the planets, the days of the week, the months of the year, holidays, etc. People, even some of the ones that object to the names, just keep on using the same names.

Its tradition!

Answer 5

Because when they named most of the Planets they thought they did exist. So when they named Uranus, Neptune and Pluto they were just kind of sticking with tradition. I also wonder why most christians think that believing in the Pantheon of Roman Gods is oh so silly, but there one true God is completely logical. I pray to Hulk Hogan I know he exists.

Answer 6

belief in any god is considered a myth. if you notice, any religion is based off of faith and no actual proof so whos to say that these gods didnt exist. it just so happends that the romans where the first to recognize these planets and decided to name them after there gods.

Answer 7

The names have existed since Roman times. Days of the week are named for similar reasons. As Shakespeare said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet--Saturn would be Saturn even if you called it Fonderg.

Answer 8

You wouldn't want to start an interplanetary war using modern gods, and to take an example, there are not enough modern followers of Pluto (the demoted planet) to start a full fledged jihad or a crusade.
.

Answer 9

Yes you can. And you have. How do you know these "gods" are non existent? If you it were up to you, what would name the planets?

Answer 10

I guess the Romans where in charge when astronomy started getting put in order as a class of science? Besides, since there are several planets, monotheistic religions couldn't do the job - unless you treat it like George Foreman and named them all the same?

Answer 11

Those names were kept around mostly because it was easier for people to relate information about them to one another as they were being researched. Naming a planet for Jesus may have seemed sacrilegious to many people at the time so it was just convenient. They could have moved away from that practice but when Pluto was discovered they named it for another Pagan entity.

I will ring your doorbell and run away!!!