The Nature of Roman Mythology

1
Chapter 24

• The Nature of Roman Mythology

2
Roman Outlook

• animism vs. anthropomorphism
• Numen (pl. numina) from nuere (to nod)
• in vs. out
• us vs. them
• Religious obligations seen as contractual (do ut
  des)
• Chief Roman virtue pietas

3
Some peculiarly Roman deities

• Janus god of doors, gates, beginnings
• Lares Penates household gods
• Lares spirits of dead protecting people
• Penates spirits
• Genius Juno individual guardian spirits
• Vesta goddess of fire/hearth

4
Effects on mythology

• No myth, as myth requires personified gods
  Roman gods not anthropomorphized
• Legend vs. mythology with Rome as central
  character in story of fate
• As Rome expands, syncretism
• Rome adopts/adapts Greek and other myth
• Mythology in the service of Roman history/destiny

5
Some Roman sources

• Ovid, Metamorphoses (last two books deal with
  Roman legend -- Julius Caesars divination)
• Vergil, Aeneid (Book VI -- Vision of Roman heroes
  -- ending w/ Augustus and Book VIII with Roman
  history on shield, ending with Actium)
• Livy, Ab urbe condita (Book I deals with founding
  of Rome and monarchy)

6
Comparisons

• Zeus vs. Jupiter
• Ju of Jupiter comes from same root as Zeus
• Jupiter as numen of sky
• Jupiter lapis

7
Comparisons

• Vulcan is not Roman, perhaps Etruscans
• Hephaestus vs. Vulcan
• Destructive force of fire tamed (cf. volcano)

8
Comparisons

• Cronus vs. Saturn
• Saturn would be a spirit of agricultural growth
• older deity seen as beneficent
• Italian vacation fruitful for the peninsula

9
Comparisons

• Mercury added later to Roman pantheon
• Hermes vs. Mercury
• merc- stuff
• Artemis vs. Diana
• Diana as spirit of wood, perhaps originally
  associated with wood around Lake Nemi

10
Comparisons

• Ares vs. Mars
• Mars protector of the fields
• Mars/Venus
• Venus originally envisioned as numen of fresh
  water, and then gardens by extension and
  fertility in general.
• Mars as Romulus/Remus dad Venus as Aeneas mom

11
Comparisons

• Divine presence seen as blanket, moving out from
  Roman center vs.
• Greek sense of divine booby-traps
• But consider Black Forest incident
• Roman invitation to foreign gods to come on board
  evocatio and syncretism
• cf. The Accidental Tourist (Anne Tyler)

12
Comparison

• Apollo vs. Apollo
• There is no equivalent to Apollo, who is brought
  into Roman pantheon
• Augustus Caesars patron god

13
Roman Legends

• Romulus Remus (Rome founded 753 BC)
• Original sin leading to civil wars?
• Rape of the Sabine Women (c. 750 BC)
• Rape of Lucretia (509 BC)
• Horatii vs. Curiatii (c. 650 BC)
• Horatius at the Bridge (c. 500 BC)
• C. Mucius Scaevola (c. 500 BC)
• L. Quinctius Cincinnatus (458 BC)