Roman Dieties

against those whose hubris and arrogance got the better of them, and served as a force of divine reckoning.

Pan, the Goat-Legged Fertility God

In Greek legend and mythology, Pan is known as a rustic and wild God of the forest. He is associated with the animals that live in the woods, as well as with the sheep and goats in the fields.

Priapus, God of Lust and Fertility

Priapus is considered a God of protection. According to legend, before his birth, Hera cursed Priapus with impotence as payback for Aphrodite’s involvement in the whole Helen of Troy fiasco. Doomed to spend his life ugly and unloved, Priapus was tossed down to earth when the other Gods refused to let him live on Mount Olympus. He was seen as a protector Deity in rural areas. In fact, statues of Priapus were often adorned with warnings, threatening trespassers, male and female alike, with acts of sexual violence as punishment.

Zeus, Ruler of Olympus

Zeus is the ruler of all the Gods in the Greek pantheon, as well as the distributor of justice and law. He was honored every four years with a great celebration at

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Roman Dieties

The main God and Goddesses in Roman culture were Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Jupiter was a sky-God who Romans believed oversaw all aspects of life; he is thought to have originated from the Greek god Zeus. Jupiter also concentrated on protecting the Roman state. Military commanders would pay homage to Jupiter at his temple after winning in battle.

Juno was Jupiter’s wife and sister. She resembled the Greek Goddess Hera in that she kept a particularly watchful eye over women and all aspects of their lives. Minerva was the Goddess of wisdom and craft. She watched over schoolchildren and craftspeople such as carpenters and stonemasons. Minerva is thought to be the equivalent of the Goddess Athena, who was the Greek Goddess of wisdom.

Other Roman Gods and Goddesses who were adapted from Greek culture include Venus, who drew on Aphrodite, Goddess of love; Neptune, a sea God who was inspired by the Greek God Poseidon; Pluto, who ruled the Roman underworld as the God Hades did in Greek culture; Diana, Roman Goddess of the hunt who had her Greek equivalent in Artemis; and Mars, God of war, who was fashioned after the Greek God Ares. Just as the Greeks influenced Roman culture, the Romans inspired the cultural development of later societies. You may by now have noticed that many of the planets in our solar system were named after Roman Deities. Rome had its own Gods and Goddesses who did not trace their origins back to Greece.. For example, Janus was a God with two faces that represented the spirit of passages such as doorways and gates. Believed to preside over beginnings, it is fitting that the month of January is named after Janus.

Janus’ son was Tiberinus, the God of the river Tiber, which runs through the city of Rome. According to Roman mythology, the Gods had a hand in the founding of the city of Rome itself. Mars, God of war, and a Vestal Virgin named Rhea Silvia were the parents of twin boys, Romulus and Remus.

Vestal Virgins were not permitted to marry or bear children but were instead to devote their lives to serving Vesta, Goddess of the hearth. It is said that King Amulius ordered that the twins be thrown into the Tiber River as a punishment to Rhea Silvia for betraying her vow of celibacy.

Luckily, the boys were rescued from the river by a mother wolf. She helped to raise them until a local couple adopted them. As the boys grew up, they became important members of the community. They dethroned King Amulius and worked together to establish a new city. In a later argument about the city, however, Romulus killed his brother Remus. Romulus went on to name the city after himself, calling it Rome (or Roma).

The presence and influence of Gods and Goddesses were integral parts of life in the