Roman Mythology

Gods, legends, and religious practices of ancient Rome

The Roman Pantheon

Major Deities (with Greek equivalents)

Uniquely Roman Deities

• Janus - Beginnings, transitions, doorways
• Vesta - Hearth, home
• Saturn - Agriculture, time, the lost Golden Age
• Fortuna - Fortune, chance, the turning wheel
• Pluto - The underworld and its buried wealth (Greek Hades)
• Proserpina - Queen of the underworld, the seed of spring (Greek Persephone)
• Cupid - Desire and love (Greek Eros)
• Veritas - Truth personified, daughter of Saturn (Greek Aletheia)
• Quirinus - The deified Romulus, the citizen-body at peace; of the Archaic Triad
• Faunus - The wild, forests, and herds; prophetic woodland voice (Greek Pan)
• Pomona - Fruit trees and orchards, the pruning-knife
• Bellona - War and martial frenzy, companion of Mars
• Terminus - Boundary stones and property markers, the fixity of borders
• Victoria - Victory and triumph (Greek Nike)

Household Gods

Roman domestic religion centered on three types of household spirits: the Lares (household guardians), the Penates (pantry gods), and the Genius (family spirit).

Roman religion sorted its gods into three broad groups.

flowchart TD
    R["Roman Religion"]
    R --> A["Greek-derived Olympians — Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva"]
    R --> B["Uniquely Roman gods — Janus, Vesta, Saturn, Quirinus"]
    R --> H["Household gods"]
    H --> L["Lares — guardians"]
    H --> P["Penates — pantry gods"]
    H --> G["Genius — family spirit"]

Roman Myths & Legends

The founding myths of Rome -- Romulus and Remus, Aeneas and the Aeneid -- anchor Roman mythology in the city's own origin story, blending Greek mythic tradition with distinctly Roman civic values.

Related

• Greek Mythology - Greek origins
• Jungian Archetypes