most ancient beliefs of people were reduced to empower the soul of nature and to the cult of ancestors.With the passage of time and the development of civilization of the myriad obscure mythical deities are determined more vivid images: Mars - god of war, Janus - the god of the beginning and end, Jupiter - the god of daylight, storm, sends to earth people terrible storms, and others.In the culture and beliefs of the ancient people are always greatly influenced by the culture of their closest neighbors.Thus, in the Etruscans the Romans had borrowed from the goddess Minerva Arts.Also on the cultural life of Rome, in turn, had a significant influence over the culture of ancient Greece.Today, the fact remains that a significant influence on the development of Roman society had Roman mythology, the gods most of which were borrowed from the Greeks.
mythology of the ancient states of today are of great interest to researchers of the history sunk in the old civilizations, collecting artifacts of their culture little by little over many hundreds of years.Thanks to their efforts, the modern man has an idea of what people lived long before his ancestors, what they believed and what is the meaning of their lives.
ancient Roman mythology was built on the belief in the existence of life after death.The Romans of those times worshiped the souls of their ancestors.At the heart of worship lay the fear of supernatural powers, which, according to the Romans, had these souls.The first Roman gods identified with nature, could command it, cause rain, or to send to the settlement unprecedented drought.In order not to be left without crops, the inhabitants of ancient Rome tried in every way to appease these gods.He worshiped and sacrificed.
Greek and Roman gods: the differences
According to some sources, Ancient Rome for centuries had its own mythology.At the same time in neighboring Greece, cultural and religious life of the people prospered.Many modern scholars, interested in history of the Roman Empire, are inclined to believe that most of the myths it was borrowed earlier from the more developed culturally Greek and Roman gods - the gods, endowed with the same powers and traits that the Greek.The only difference is the names.So, the goddess of love in Roman mythology - Venus - is a replica of the Greek Aphrodite.Patron of Roman Art - Phoebus - like no other is like the Greek Apollo, etc.
originally Roman gods had no genealogy or even their places of habitat - Olympus, and portrayed as a certain character: Jupiter had the look of stone, Mars - the kind of spear, Vesta - the form of flames.According to legend, the first gods of Rome did not leave behind offspring, and after completion of all launched Affairs did not die, but goes nowhere.The Greek gods were also very fertile and immortal.
Merging culture and mythology of Greece and Rome takes place around the turn of the fourth and third centuries BCThe basic religious beliefs of the Greeks and their mythology reigned in Rome, after the capital of the empire was brought ana Greek oracle predicted the later epidemic of plague 293 BC
Roman gods more moral.According to the ideas of the ancient Romans, guardianship of human life, they are the defenders of justice in the world, property rights and many other rights, which must have a free man.The moral influence of religion is particularly high during the period of prosperity of the Roman civil society (2-4 centuries AD).The inhabitants of ancient Rome were very devout.Praise of this devotion, we still can be found on the pages of the works of Greek and Roman writers of those times.External piety Romans proves their respect to the customs, on which was based the main virtue of the Roman people - patriotism.
