Discuss the extent to which Roman ideas about their gods and the foundation of their city were influenced by Greek mythology.

Ancient Rome is filled with history of great wars and heroes, the mighty and the fallen. They were renowned conquers becoming one of the largest empires of their time. The romans were skilled finding their strengths in the engineering industry as well as the law. Although this ancient civilisation existed millenniums ago, they still effect the times of today. A prime example of this is the language, English. Romans spoke Latin and as they conquered and settled through Europe, “Latin fused with the native languages,” creating the romance languages of today; “Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese… and Catalan.” The vocabulary of English has also largely derived from the Latin language. Although the current times of today have been influenced by the times of the ancients, the Romans however were influenced to an extent by the ancient Greek’s civilisation.
By the 2nd century BC, Rome had a very evident impact from the culture of the Greeks. Greeks had begun to settle on the south then later migrating further north of Italy’s peninsula, and occupying the city of Sicily. There is neither exact date nor event that stipulates the cross of two nations however events such as the Macedonian and Carthage wars of Roman conquest would have aided in the direct contact to Greek colonization. The influence of Greece can be seen throughout every aspect of a Romans day-to-day life. This includes law to literature, through to religion, education and philosophy.”

The literature before 3rd century BC from the Romans was in the form of “mime, dance and farces.” As the two civilisations continue to clash, the influence of Greeks were ever growing in the community of Romans. The demand for Greek playwrights; which was often of upon a Greek mythological text as well as the introduction of Greek New Comedy rose. Plautus was one of these renowned writers, where his actors would wear “Greek costumes and Greek masks.” Roman tragedy was also born with a Greek like theme. Later Roman poetry was produced although still alluding to Greek models; Romans poets strayed from “epic themes and more inclined to personal expression.” Greek forms were apparent in the expressions of feelings, love, “social and political life.”
Before the influence of Greeks, Roman religion worshipped and sacrificed to spirits and deities called numinas. Numinas aided in the protection of practicalities to life such as Terminus. When making sacrifices to this deity, in return it was expected “property boundaries were would be protected.” Many deities protected the attributes to famers, their crop and their land. Sylvanus is an example of this securing the safety of “woodcutters and ploughmen.” Other spirits “represented virtues or qualities” such as agreement, honesty, fate and luck. The numinas did not adopt a personality or human like characteristics like Greek deities, or did the stories of these characters were evolved. Anthropomorphised of these numinas to gods did not occur till the embracement of Greek culture which gave each being an origins and epic story. The adoption of this can be seen throughout the myths although it is ultimately the integration of the “legendary history” of Romans that make their myths the “best versions of the Greeks.”
The history of Rome can be found in “From the Foundation of the City” written by Titus Livius (Livy) a Roman Historian. There he begins the story of Aeneas “a Trojan prince who escapes the fallen city of Troy with some of his people” in which led them to Italy. Aeneas wandered from place to place, city-to-city till he stumbled upon the land of Laurentum ruled by Latinus the king. Two tails have derived from this point. Virgil an epic poet wrote within the “Aeneid” that Turnus, the Rutulian leader was not happy of the alliance reformed between Aeneas and Latinus in which he enraged a war of his ultimate defeat. Latinus then welcomed Aeneas into his home and “a short time later there was a male offspring… whom his parents called Ascanius.” Ascanius becomes the first of the lineage of forefathers of the founder of Rome, Romulus.

Romulus a twin with brother Remus was abandoned at birth by the command of Amulius, their uncle. Their mother was Rhea Silvia, a Vestal Virgin “who was violated by force,” by the god Mars. The children within a basket were placed into the river channels of Tiber where believed they were not to survive, however did. They washed upon to dry land found by a she-wolf who “gave the babies her teats to suck.” The children then grew up within a cottage, learning skills to take after the stables, to hunt and even defend from robbers and wild animals. Romulus and Remus eventually learned of their royal bloodline and thus began the overthrow of the king and the death of Amulius. There however could only be one king, which sparked the argument in due course led to the death of Remus. “Thus Romulus gained power on his own. The city was founded and named after its founder.”
These two prominent foundation myths are widely known through the centuries and are riddled with the culture of Greece. The story of the Prince of Troy, Aeneas was the son of Venus, a goddess and the mortal Anchises. This alludes to Greek mythology where often one parent of the hero is of divine status, a god and the other a mortal human. This ideology can be seen within Greek legends of heroes such as Hercules and Perseus. Both fathers of these heroes were none other, the king of gods Zeus whilst their mothers were mortals. The story of Romulus and Remus follows this archetype also; the mother is mortal whilst the father is a god. The twins are abandoned by the ruling king Amulius for he is troubled by the idea that one day they may grow up and rebel against him then kill him as the rightful heir to the throne. The fear of being overthrown results in the abandonment or near death of the respective children as they are cast away. This notion can be seen in the creation myths of Greek mythology. The legend of Gaea (earth) and Ouranos, where Ouranos was afraid his own children will be the threat to his own throne. He resulted to hide them away “in a secret place inside Earth.” Earth grew angry and encouraged her children to fight back. Cronus did. Cronus follows the same story aware that the children he bore would eventually overthrow him thus “he swallowed each of them up” inside of him. Cronus was fooled and thus Zeus over took his power as the supreme god of Mt. Olympus.
Romans had already established their “military and political supremacy” however adopted the rich culture of Greece to further integrate a prestige to their history. This is seen within their two founding myths of Rome. It is also a general consensus that Roman gods had an equivalent counterpart in Greek gods. The adoption of their images as well as characteristics and attributes are apparent. King of the gods, Jupiter portrayed images of Zeus, both also are sky gods and ruled the heaven. There was also Neptune and Poseidon, taking attributes of the sea and Mars to Ares. Mars originally worshipped and held the connotations of agriculture however later on developed more attributes to war, like his counterpart Ares.
As well as adopting Greek god like deities to their culture, the Romans also worshipped their own gods with no affiliations to the ancient culture of Greece. These gods had their own attributes and own traditional stories. The Lares and Penates are amongst these Roman gods a group of deities that protected various values and items of family. ‘Fasti’ by Ovid presents the origins of Lares. Lara was the mother of the twins, which also can derive the name Lala. Lala often alludes to the “idea of babbling.” The extraction of Lara’s tongue was her punishment for continuously talking. Whilst being led to the infernal marshes she was raped by the god Mars. Thus she gave birth to twin boys, the Lares. It is notable that the birth of twins within Greek mythology and gods is rare or does not occur at all. The Lares were guardians of the fields, household, places such as cities and streets. The origins of the Penates are unknown however they held the protection over “the food, wine, oil and other supplies” of the house. These two deities were often worshipped together.

With the study of the two cultures and their mythologies, it should also be understood that the very reasons myths are created. Claude Levi-Strauss suggests that myths were an individual’s way resolving the actions of the world, politics, social and natural order. This is apparent through the legends of Roman and Greek culture. Myths were not always recorded, but orally retold with the emphasis of the interests of the teller. This therefore suggests that myths were often changed in accordance to their time and the fundamental meaning that is trying to be put across to the prospective audience. The difference between the to great nations is that the Greeks portray their deities and legends to represent the supernatural and the interactions of each being, from god, to heroes to men. Romans on the other hand correlated theirs to the history of their civilisation.
Within ‘Metamorphoses’ written by Ovid he explains the legend of Jupiter. Jupiter has just won the battle between the rebellious Giants however in reprisal Earth reincanates the blood of the Giants into a race of “violent humans”. Jupiter angry at the actions call “for the destruction of mankind.” Ovid then directly alludes Jupiter to being the mortal counterpart of Augustus. Ovid accounts through Jupiter directly of the civil wars that occurred, the bloody history that had to proceed inorder for Augustus to rise as the first Roman Empereror. The direct assosiation of the two beings can be seen throughout. The record of this further justifies that recorded myths of Romanology are deeply intergrated through their history.

To an extent the Roman culture, the ideas of the foundation of their cities and those they worshipped have been influenced by Greek mythology. However it is not to say that the Romans were unoriginal as their adaption to Greek mythology was premeditated and often held political sensibility. Using Greek models Romans were able to extend the culture of Greece into one of their own, making them the legendary civilisation of today. The contact of Romans for the ancient Greek civilisations was often unforgiving however the Romans flourished with the encounter. It is this colonisation of cultures; Roman mythology can often be said is a greater extension of Greece’s.

Bibliography

Ancient Sources
• Hesiod, Theogony, (trans. Plant, I) Myth in the Ancient World
• Livy, From the foundation of the city, (trans. Plant, I) Myth in the Ancient World
Modern Sources
• Adkins. L, Adkins R.A (2004) Handbook of life in ancient rome, Hermitage, USA
• James Lloyd (2013) Ancient History Encyclopaedia, accessed 24/10/14
• Johnson, W.R. (2010) Ovid / Metamorphoses, Hackett Punlishing Company, USA
• Myths Encyclopaedia (2003) Roman mythology, accessed 24/10/14
• Plant, I (2012) Myth in the Ancient World, Palgrave Macmillan, South Yarra
• Roman, L. Roman, M. (2010) Encyclopaedia of Roman and Greek Mythology, Facts on File, inc., New York
• Spielvogel. J (2013) Western civilisation: a brief history, Cenage Learning, Boston
• Zoch, P.A (1998) Ancient Rome: an introductory history, University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma