Roman mythology

Romulus and Remus, the Lupercal, the Tiber, and the Palatine on a relief from a pedestal (reign of Trajan 98-117)

Roman mythology is the body of traditional narratives pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period.

The study of Roman myth is complicated by the early influence of Greek religion on the Italian peninsula during Rome's protohistory, and by the later self-conscious imitation of Greek literary models by Roman authors, who borrowed narratives of Greek deities reinterpreted as the counterparts of Rome's own pantheon (see interpretatio graeca). Rome's early myths and legends also have a dynamic relationship with Etruscan religion, less documented than that of the Greeks.

Early Roman myth

Because ritual plays the central role in Roman religion that myth held for the Greeks (see Greek mythology), it is sometimes doubted that the Romans had much of a native mythology. Some aspects of archaic Roman religion were preserved by the lost theological works of the 1st-century BC scholar Varro, known through other classical and Christian authors. A major source for Roman myth is the Fasti of the Augustan poet Ovid, a six-book poem structured by the Roman religious calendar. Scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall painting and sculpture, particularly reliefs.

The Roman tradition, however, is particularly rich in historical myths, or legends, concerning the foundation and rise of the city. These narratives focus on human actors, with only occasional intervention from deities but a pervasive sense of divinely ordered destiny. The Aeneid and the first few books of Livy are the best extant sources for Rome's founding myths. Material from Greek heroic legend was grafted onto this native stock at an early date. For example, the Trojan prince Aeneas was cast as husband of Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, patronymical ancestor of the Latini, and therefore through a convoluted revisionist genealogy as forebear of Romulus and Remus. By extension, the Trojans were adopted as the mythical ancestors of the Roman people.

Religion and myth

Main article: Religion in ancient Rome

The Roman model involved a very different way of defining and thinking about gods than that of Greek gods. For example, if one were to ask a Greek about Demeter, he might reply with the well-known story of her grief at the abduction of Persephone by Hades. An archaic Italian, by contrast, would tell you that Ceres had an official priest called a flamen, who was junior to the flamens of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus, but senior to the flamens of Flora and Pomona. He might tell you that she was grouped in a triad with two other agricultural gods, Liber and Libera. And he might even be able to rattle off all of the minor gods with specialized functions who attended her: Sarritor (weeding), Messor (harvesting), Convector (carting), Conditor (storing), Insitor (sowing), and dozens more. Thus the archaic Roman "mythology", at least concerning the gods, was made up not of narratives, but rather of interlocking and complex interrelations between and among gods and humans.

At the head of the earliest pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus (whose three priests, or flamens, were of the highest order), and Janus and Vesta. These gods in early times had little individuality, and their personal histories lacked marriages and genealogies. Unlike the gods of the Greeks, they were not considered to function in the manner of mortals, and thus not many accounts of their activities exist. This older worship was associated with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who was believed to have had as his consort and adviser the Roman goddess of fountains and flowers, Egeria, who is often identified as a nymph in later literary sources. New deities were added at a relatively early date, such as Juno and Minerva, who both assumed prominent places in Roman religion. Other additions were the worship of Diana on the Aventine Hill and the introduction of the Sibylline books, prophecies of world history, which, according to legend, were purchased by Tarquin in the late 6th century BC from the Cumaean Sibyl.

TThe gods represented distinctly the practical needs of daily life, as felt by the Roman community to which they belonged. They were scrupulously accorded the rites and offerings considered proper. Thus, Janus and Vesta guarded the door and hearth, the Lares protected the field and house, Pales the pasture, Saturn the sowing, Ceres the growth of the grain, Pomona the fruit, and Consus and Ops the harvest. Even the majestic Jupiter, the ruler of the gods, was honored for the aid his rains might give to the farms and vineyards. In his more encompassing character he was considered, through his weapon of lightning, the director of human activity and, by his widespread domain, the protector of the Romans in their military activities beyond the borders of their own community. Prominent in early times were the gods Mars and Quirinus, who were often identified with each other. Mars was a god of war; he was honored in March and October. Quirinus is thought by modern scholars to have been the patron of the armed community in time of peace.

Georg Wissowa thought that the Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the di novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes), and their names and nature are indicated by the titles of the earliest priests and by the fixed festivals of the calendar; 30 such gods were honored with special festivals. The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually at a known date and in response to a specific crisis or felt need. Arnaldo Momigliano and others, however, have argued that this distinction cannot be maintained.

Early Roman divinities included, in addition to the di indigetes, a host of so-called "specialist gods" whose names (indigitamenta) were invoked in the carrying out of various activities, such as harvesting. Fragments of old ritual accompanying such acts as plowing or sowing reveal that at every stage of the operation a separate deity was invoked, the name of each deity being regularly derived from the verb for the operation. Such divinities may be grouped under the general term of attendant, or auxiliary, gods, who were invoked along with the greater deities.

Foreign gods

The absorption of neighboring local gods took place as the Roman state conquered the surrounding territory. The Romans commonly granted the local gods of the conquered territory the same honors as the earlier gods who had been regarded as peculiar to the Roman state. In many instances the newly acquired deities were formally invited to take up their abode in new sanctuaries at Rome. In 203 BC, the cult object embodying Cybele was removed from Phrygian Pessinos and ceremoniously welcomed to Rome. Moreover, the growth of the city attracted foreigners, who were allowed to continue the worship of their own gods. In this way Mithras came to Rome and his popularity in the legions spread his cult as far afield as Britain. In addition to Castor and Pollux, the conquered settlements in Italy seem to have contributed to the Roman pantheon Diana, Minerva, Hercules, Venus, and other deities of lesser rank, some of whom were Italic divinities, others originally derived from the Greek culture of Magna Graecia. The important Roman deities were eventually identified with the more anthropomorphic Greek gods and goddesses, and assumed many of their attributes and myths.

See also

• List of Roman deities
• Glossary of ancient Roman religion
• Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
• Greek mythology
• Religion in ancient Greece
• Etruscan mythology
• Gallo-Roman religion

Sources

• Alan Cameron Greek Mythography in the Roman World (2005) OUP, Oxford (reviewed by T P Wiseman in Times Literary Supplement 13 May 2005 page 29)
• Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) (1981–1999) Artemis-Verlag, 9 volumes.