Gods and Goddesses of Rome

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It is no coincidence that the major gods and goddesses of the Roman pantheon were similar in character to Greek deities. Some of them were imported directly from the Greek world. Other native deities were gradually reinterpreted, as Rome's contacts with Greece grew, to become the equivalents of Particular Greek deities. Most of the narratives the Romans came to weave around their gods were borrowed from Greece, or were self-consciously invented following the Greek pattern.

Greek and Roman Gods Compared

Ancient authors themselves recognized a difference between Greek and Roman deities. Varro (a Roman writer of the 1st century BC) pointed out that in the earliest days of the city , Roman gods and goddesses , unlike their Greek counterparts , had never been represented in human form. A Greek historian , Dionysius, writing at about the same time, stressed the moral superiority of Roman over Greek deities: Romulus , he wrote , had raised the moral profile of the gods because, in founding the city, he had rejected all the old myths about the gods' dishonourable exploits.

Jupiter Juno

Brother and sister and husband and wife. Ruling from Olympus.

Jupiter was god of the sky (weather and storm) and supreme god

Juno was consort of Jupiter - goddess of the marriage and women

Janus Apollo Victoria Venus

God of the beginning and the end, god of war, god of doors and arches. Facing two ways because of his link with entrances and exits

Son of Jupiter. Sun god, god of light and beauty, god of healing , poetry and music

Goddess of the battle and fight with Olympus

Goddess of love and overseas travels

Minerva Aesculapius Mercury

Goddess of war (the only one with an access to Jupiter's thunder thrower) and wisdom

Son of Apollo, god of medicine and health

God of commerce and divine messenger

Sol Mars Lares

Sun god who daily appears and disappears

Mars was initially from Italy and was well known as the god of the spring but very soon became mighty god of war

The Lares were household gods worshipped in association with the Penates (gods of the storeroom, and hence the family's wealth). Most of the time they were souls of dead ancestors

Muses Diana Mithra

Nine goddesses of the fine arts and protectors of the studying and education. With their singing they were entertaining gods. You can see Polymnia , muse of the mime

Jupiter's daughter and goddess of hunting and fertility

Sun god , Persian origins. Cult of Mithra was very popular during the last few centuries of the Empire