Roman Deities

The religion of the Romans had undergone several evolutionary changes throughout the history of Rome. One of the greatness of Rome was their ability to change, adapt or absorb foreign ideas, customs and practices.

The early Romans see their deities performing certain functions. They were deities with specialised functions. The god would perform his task if his name were invoked.

These gods were seen as objects that perform a task, such as a door. Or the god was a force of nature, that cause sky to the rain, involve in change of season, etc.

Unlike other religions, the early Roman deities had no myths. The early Romans did not feel the needs to humanise their deities with human action or personality. They did not feel the needs to have the gods and goddesses married to one another, or have offspring. Such concepts were not accepted in the early part of Roman history.

Most of the early Roman deities had agricultural and pastoral natures, especially deities of fertility. All the common deities we know of today were formerly gods of the field, agriculture, and fertility, such as Mars, Venus and Saturn.

It wasn't until the Romans came into the contact with the Etruscans in Etruria (Tuscany) and the Greeks living in the Campania, that the early Roman deities underwent changes. They were particularly influenced by the tales in the Greek myths. The Roman deities became increasing humans, where they can suffer from lust, anger and sorrow.

The earliest Roman deities were either invented by themselves, or their origin comes from Latin or Sabine pantheon. The Roman had also adopted many Etruscan deities into their pantheon.

The three most powerful and important gods were the triad of Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus. During the period of the Etruscan kings, a great temple was built on the Capitoline Hill, honouring a triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Vesta and Janus were also important early deities, enjoying worship at first in the private shrine in each Roman house, later to a more formalised State religion. There was no Roman equivalent to the Greek Apollo. Apollo was a direct import from Greece, and enjoyed popular status in Rome. The Roman name for the Olympians, the twelve great gods of Olympus, was Dii or Di.

By the time of the 1st century BC, it was difficult to identify the original nature of the Roman deities. They adopted attributes of the Greek deities and incorporated Greek myths into their own myths.

The Romans had adopted many non-Greek deities into their pantheon. Among the notable deities were the Phrygian Cybele, the Egyptian goddess Isis, the Celtic horse goddess Epona, and the Persian god Mithras. (See Gallic Deities and British Deities about Romano-Celtic deities in Celtic myths.)

Besides adopting deities of other foreign cultures, Roman writers had assign Roman names to various Celtic gods in Gaul (France) and Britain. The popular Roman names used in this context were Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, Apollo, Minerva and Herccules. (See Gallic Deities and British Deities about Romano-Celtic deities in Celtic myths.)

Please note that I will not write articles on all the Roman gods that have Greek equivalents, unless there are notable differences between the Greeks and Romans. If the information of the Roman deity was completely the same as Greek one, then it would be best to provide link to the Greek equivalent.