powerpoint slides 2

• Overview of principal Greek gods and their Roman equivalents.

The Olympian Gods

• Greek to Roman Conversion:

  • Zeus → Jove/Jupiter

  • Hera → Juno

  • Poseidon → Neptune

  • Demeter → Ceres

  • Athena → Minerva

  • Apollo → Apollo (same name)

  • Artemis → Diana

  • Aphrodite → Venus

  • Ares → Mars

  • Hermes → Mercury

  • Hephaestus → Vulcan

  • Dionysus → Bacchus

Other Gods

• Greek to Roman Conversion:

  • Cronus → Saturn

  • Hades → Hades/Pluto/Dis

  • Persephone/Kore → Proserpina

  • Hestia → Vesta

  • Helios → Sol

  • Selene → Luna

  • Eros → Cupid

Roman Gods

• Cloacina:

  • Possibly an early goddess.

  • Became an epithet of Venus as goddess of the cloaca, the sewer.

• Consus and Ops:

  • Consus: God of the granary, important underground barn and altar in the Circus Maximus.

    • Identified occasionally with Poseidon but primarily an agricultural deity.

  • Ops: Goddess of abundance, often associated with Saturn, identified with Greek goddess Rhea.

• Dis:

  • A contracted form of Latin "dives" meaning "rich."

  • Identified with Hades and also known as Dis Pater, Dives, Aidoneus, Orcus, and Pluto.

  • Rules the underworld with his consort Proserpina.

Other Roman Deities

• Faunus:

  • A woodland god, similar to Pan; associated with flocks and crops.

• Flora:

  • Goddess of fertility, especially flowers.

• Fortuna:

  • Also known as Fors Fortuna; possibly originated as a fertility goddess.

  • Associated with fate, chance, and luck; honored in numerous festivals.

• Janus:

  • God of doors, regularly depicted with two faces, signifying beginnings and endings.

  • The first month of the year is named after him; Roman calendars began in March prior to the regular 12-month structure.

• Pales:

  • God of shepherds and sheep; sex can be represented as male or female.

  • Festival of Pales on April 21 marks the traditional anniversary of Roman founding.

• Picus:

  • Agricultural god with prophetic power; represented as a woodpecker; associated with Mars.

• Pomona:

  • Goddess of fruit; wife of Vertumnus.

• Portunus:

  • God of harbors; originally a god of doors, function now mainly held by Janus.

• Priapus:

  • A fertility god, often associated with Pan and satyrs, depicted with an oversize, erect phallus.

• Quirinus:

  • War god of Sabine origin; identified with the deified Romulus.

• Robigus:

  • God of mildew and grain rust.

Additional Gods

• Silvanus:

  • God of uncultivated land, especially woods; often identified with Greek god Pan.

• Stercutius:

  • God of manuring; sometimes referred to as Sterculinus.

• Terminus:

  • God of boundaries and boundary stones; his boundary stone was in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitol.

• Tiberinus:

  • God of the River Tiber.

• Vertumnus:

  • God of orchards and fruit; represents change of seasons (vertere = to change); husband of Pomona.

• Virbius:

  • A forest god, often identified with Greek Hippolytus; associated with Diana.

Eastern-Inspired Deities

• Cybele:

  • Also known as “the Great Mother”; introduced to Rome in 205 BCE during the Second Punic War.

  • Originally from Phrygia; cult statue was a black stone, attended by eunuch priests.

• Isis:

  • Sister and wife of Osiris; worship brought to Rome from Egypt in the 1st century BCE.

  • Known for restoring Osiris’s body after his murder by Set; mother of Horus.

  • Identified with nearly every female deity in the Greek and Roman pantheon.

• Serapis:

  • Connected to Isis; a Greco-Egyptian god, a creation of the Ptolemaic dynasty in the Hellenistic period.

  • Conflation of aspects of Osiris and the Apis bull.