When and how did the Greek mythos transfer to the Romans?

Question

It seems that there are a great many similarities between Roman and Greek Mythology. In fact, many people consider them synonymous and only really differ in the names. For example:

• Greek ⇄ Roman
• Zeus ⇄ Jupiter
• Poseidon ⇄ Neptune
• Hades ⇄ Pluto
• Hermes ⇄ Mercury

And many others.

My impression is that they are nearly identical, so I want to know when, why and how did the Roman people adopt the Greek Mythos? Did they bring it with them? Is there evidence that they believed something else first that evolved into a Greek-like mythos?

If this belief is false, please point out where the Roman mythology differs from the Greek and why that is significant enough to say they are different religions.

Answer 1

Common Ancestry

Both the Ancient Greeks and Romans were descended from Proto-Indo-Europeans. While the two groups had diverged, they continued to share remnants of a common language and other features including mythology.

The most obvious sign of this is the chief deities of their respective pantheons: Zeus and Jupiter: both derive from the Proto-Indo-European sky deity *Dyēus ph₂ter. Their counterparts could be found in various Indo-European mythologies, including the Germanic Týr, the Baltic Dievas, and the Vedic Dyaus Pita.

Thus, Greek and Roman mythologies exhibit great similarities due to them being cousins.

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Syncretism

Furthermore, from the earliest period of the Republic, Roman religious belief had adopted Greek elements. This begun extremely early, and far predates the Roman conquest of Greece. One example is Apollo, who was directly adopted into the Roman pantheon. A temple for him was erected in Rome as early as 431 BC, long before the Romans conquered Greece in 141 BC.

One way in which Greek beliefs were transmitted to the early Romans was via the Etruscans. After their conquest by the Roman Republic, elements from the Etruscan belief system were integrated into classical Roman culture. In this way, the Etruscans bequeathed notable Greek influence on their own mythology to the Romans.

For instance, the Etruscan Menrva passed on influences from the Greek Athena to the Roman Minerva. Another example is Mercury, who inherited traits of the Greek Hermes from the Etruscan Turms. Both long predates the Roman mastery of Greece; Mercury had a temple on Aventine as early as 495 BC.

It is not accurate to say that Rome inherited Greek religions because she had "little mythology" when she conquered Greece, although Greek culture did went on to be highly influential on Rome ("Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror").

Answer 2

Romans had little mythology of their own before meeting with other civilizations. One of the many aspects they were lacking, cultural wise, that they borrowed from Greece (and other civilizations). Thus they inherited many (or the lot) of ancient greek mythology which led to their existing Gods getting many of the characteristics of the Ancient greek ones. They borrowed aspects of the Greek Pantheon before conquering Greece. The romans were never godless or religious-less but they borrowed and merged many of the Greek and Etruscan Gods into their own.

For example the cult of Sun was introduced in Rome after Aurelian's (around 260) successful campaigns in Syria. At that time the Asiatic divinities Mithras (that is to say, the Sun) and Ba'al were combined with Apollo and Helios into one Sol Invictus(Unconquered Sun), with conglomerated rites and compound attributes.

Here you can find some of the most major Gods of the Roman Pantheon and their origin.

Answer 3

The Romans thought that the Greek gods needed some changes, and adopted them to settle religious feuds. The Romans took Athena's power as a war goddess and took that away, which made the Greeks extremely angry. Athena had been the patron of Athens.

The Greeks respected the might of the Romans, but were a bit angry with their changing the gods personalities. The Romans respected the Greek culture and ways of life, and almost mimicked the Greek ways. However, they frowned on the Trojan wars.