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Roman Gods
Major Gods of the Roman Pantheon (Dii Consentes)Deity / Origin / Description
Apollo / Greek (Apollo) / Apollo is the son of Jupiter and Leto, and the twin brother of Diana . He is the god of music, playing a golden lyre. The Archer, far shooting with a silver bow. The god of healing who taught man medicine. The god of light. The god of truth, who can not speak a lie. One of Apollo's more important daily tasks is to harness his chariot with four horses an drive the Sun across the sky. He is famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future. His tree was the laurel. The crow his bird. The dolphin his animal.
Ceres / Greek (Demeter) / Corn Goddess. Eternal Mother. the Sorrowing Mother. Grain Mother. Goddess of agriculture, grain, crops, initiation, civilization, lawgiver and the love a mother bears for her child. Protectress of women, motherhood, marriage. Daughter of Saturn and Ops. She and her daughter Proserpine were the counterparts of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Her worship involved fertility rites and rites for the dead, and her chief festival was the Cerealia.
Diana / Greek (Artemis) / Fertility Goddess. Moon Goddess. Huntress Goddess. Triple Goddess- Lunar Virgin, Mother of Creatures, the Huntress or Destroyer. Goddess of nature, fertility, childbirth, wildwood, moon, forests, animals, mountains, woods, and women. Goddess of the hunt. In Roman art Diana usually appears as a huntress with bow and arrow, along with a hunting dog or a stag. Both a virgin goddess and an earth goddess, she was identified with the Greek Artemis. She is praised for her strength, athletic grace, beauty and her hunting skills. With two other deities she made up a trinity: Egeria the water nymph (her servant and assistant midwife), and Virbius (the woodland god).
Juno / Greek (Hera) / Queen of the Gods. Jupiters wife and sister, sister to Neptune and Pluto, daughter of Saturn, mother of Juventas, Mars, and Vulcan. Protectress of the Roman state. She was the guardian of the Empire's finances and considered the Matron Goddess of all Rome. The Matronalia, her major festival is March 1-2. Her other festival, on July 7-8, was called Nonae Caprotinae ("The Nones of the Wild Fig"). The month of June was named after her.
Jupiter / Greek (Zeus) / Ruler of the Gods. He is the god of Sky, Lightning and Thunder. He is the son of Saturn and brother of Neptune, Pluto and Juno, who is also his wife. His attribute is the lightning bolt and his symbol the eagle, who is also his messenger. He was also considered the Patron god of Rome, and his temple was the official place of state business and sacrifices.
Mars / Greek (Ares) / God of war, spring, growth in nature, agriculture, terror, anger, revenge, courage and fertility. Protector of cattle. The son of Jupiter and Juno, he was the god of war. Mars was regarded as the father of the Roman people because he was the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, and husband to Bellona. He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions. The martial Romans considered him second in importance only to Jupiter. His festivals were held in March (named for him) and October.
Mercury / Greek (Hermes) / God of Trade, Profit, Merchants and Travellers. His main festival, the Mercuralia, was celebrated on May 15 and on this day the merchants sprinkled their heads and their merchandise with water from his well near the Porta Capena. The symbols of Mercury are the caduceus (a staff with two intertwined snakes) and a purse (a symbol of his connection with commerce).
Minerva / Greek (Athena)
Etruscan (Menrva) / Goddess of Wisdom, Learning, the Arts, Sciences, Medicine, Dyeing, Trade, and of War. Daughter of Jupiter, protectress of commerce, industry and education. Honored at the spring equinox with her main festival, March 19 - 23, called the Quinquatria. On June 13 the minor Quinquatrus was observed.
Neptune / Greek (Poseidon) / God of the Sea. Brother of Jupiter, Pluto and Juno. The God and patron of Horses and Horse Racing as Neptune Equester. Neptunalia was celebrated on July 23. The trident is Neptune's attribute.
Venus / Greek (Aphrodite) / Originally a Goddess of Gardens and Vinyards, Venus became the major deity of love and beauty after the influx of Greek deities. On August 18 the Vinalia Rustica was observed. A second festival, that of the Veneralia, was celebrated on April 1 in honor of Venus Verticordia, who later became the protector against vice. On April 23 a festival, the Vinalia Priora, celebrated the opening of one of her temples.
Vesta / Greek (Hestia) / Goddess of the Fire (both sacred and domestic) and the Hearth. Daughter of Saturn and Ops. Her sacred animal was the ass. Patroness of bakers. Her chief festival was the Vestalia on June 7. One of the most worshipped of the Roman deities.
Vulcan / Greek (Hephaestus) / God of Fire, Blacksmiths and Craftsmanship. His forge is located beneath Mount Etna. It is here that he, together with his helpers, forges weapons for Gods and heroes. Closely associated with Bona Dea with whom he shared the Volcanalia, observed on August 23.
Roman Gods
Gods of the Roman Pantheon Adopted From Other CulturesDeity / Origin / Description
Asclepius / Greek / God of healing.
Attis / Phrygian / God of growth, fertility and vegetation.
Bacchus / Greek (Dionysos) / God of wine.
Bellona / Greek (Enyo), or Etruscan / Goddess of war and battles. Her festivals were celebrated on March 24 (the Dies Sanguinis, the Day of Blood) and June 3.
Bubona / Celt (Epona) / Goddess of horses and cattle.
Ceres / Greek (Demeter) / Goddess of corn, agriculture and grain. Festivals: February 2, April 1 and 11-19, August 23, September 1, October 4-5, November 8, and December 3.
Cupid / Greek / God of love.
Cybele / Phrygian (Magna Mater in Latin) / The Great Mother.
Dis / Greek (Pluto) / God of the underworld and treasure in the form of gems and metals of the earth.
Endovelicus / Iberian Celt Hispania / The god of health and welfare.
Faunus / Greek (Pan) / God of the wilds and fertility. Festivals are Lupercalia on February 15 and Faunalia on December 5.
Furies / Greek (Erinyes) / Goddesses of Vengeance.
Hercules / Greek (Herakles) / God of victory and commercial enterprise.
Isis / Egyptian / Goddess of the earth.
Janus / Italii, Latin or Etruscan (Ani) / God of gates, doors, beginnings and endings. He was worshipped at the beginning of the harvest, the beginning of planting, at marriages, at births, etc. The month of January is named after him.
Mithras / Persian / God of the sun.
Ops / Greek / Goddess of the fertile earth, abundance, sowing, harvest and wealth. One of her festivals was on August 10, another festival was the Opalia, which was observed on December 9. The Opeconsiva, on August 25 was her primary festival, but was participated in only by her priests and the Vestal Virgins.
Salus / Greek (Hygieia) / Goddess of health and prosperity. Festival was celebrated on March 30.
Serapis / Egyptian / God of the sky.
Saturn / Greek (Chronos) / God of agriculture and the sowing of seeds. Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days. During this festival, businesses closed and gifts were exchanged. Saturday is named after him.
Silvanus / Greek (Pan) / God of woods and fields.
Sol / Greek (Helios) / God of the sun.
Sol Invictus / Syrian / God of the sun.
Somnus / Greek (Hypnos) / God of sleep.
Tellus / Greek (Gaia) / Goddess of the earth. Fordicidia, held on April 15 was her festival.
Veiovis / Etruscan (Veive) / God of healing.
Victoria / Greek (Nike) / Goddess of victory
Venus
In the multi-cultural climate of the ancient Mediterranean, the Semitic goddess would be adopted into the Greek pantheon via the Phoenician trading colony on Cyprus. Ishtar-Astarte was remodeled as Aphrodite. Aphrodite means "foam born". An early Greek myth recounts how the severed genitals of the primal sky god Ouranos fell near the Island of Cyprus; there resulted a great foam, and from it lovely Aphrodite was blown to shore. Aphrodite was even older than Zeus in this recollection. Henceforth her principal epithet would be "Cyprian" or she from Cyprus. The truth behind the myth recounts how a very old Semitic goddess penetrated the Western mind via the Phoenician cult center at Cyprus.
The Greeks already had a goddess of war, as well as a queen of Heaven, and various fertility goddesses. Thus in bringing Ishtar-Astarte into the pantheon as Aphrodite, the goddess lost all her domains except the one for which she would become immortalized: love and sexuality, and the seduction that goes with it. Aphrodite reigned in the Greek pantheon in this capacity for many centuries. Nonetheless her origins as a more potent Near Eastern divinity were never completely forgotten. She was sometimes called Urania, the Heavenly. She had power to tame wild animals, and was considered a protector of sea travelers. Finally her myths sometimes recount a vicious streak that was true to her origins as a Semitic war goddess. In Sparta, there was even a cult to an armed and warlike Aphrodite.
Yet, it was as the goddess of love and seduction for which she was most honored in myth and cult. The story of Aphrodite's role in the Trojan War was immortalized by Homeric Epic. Her most infamous cult center was in the Greek polis of Corinth. There she had a great temple presided over by a band of "sacred prostitutes" who reputedly pleasured sailors as part of their cult duties. This apotheosis of sexuality would scandalize later Christian society.
Even in Greek times some people found it base. In some ascetic mystical cults, love was recast less as a biological principle and more as a great cosmological force like gravity; it served as a power of attraction that united the cosmos and led souls upward into their final destinies. To this mysticism, some philosophers de-emphasized biological love in favor of spiritual love: a love for wisdom and civic concord, a love for one's fellow man and concern for the citizen body.
In the Roman tradition, there was a goddess Venus. Venus means "charm" in archaic Latin. Venus was an Italic goddess who presided over persuasiveness and seduction in both the divine and mortal worlds. She was closely associated with springs, gardens and vineyards. Under increasing Greek influence, Venus was easily equated with the Greek goddess of seduction, and Venus assumed Aphrodite's mythology. As Aphrodite's descendant Aeneas fled Troy to found the Roman race, Venus was regarded as the grandmother of the Roman people and treated with special honor.
The Roman Venus was regarded as the goddess of love and beauty as well, but unlike the bawdy Greeks, the Romans saw her as more stately. She was said to protect the morals of maidens and avert vice. She was thought to dispense divine favor to her favorites. Many warlords of the late Republic - including Sulla, Pompey and Caesar - honored Venus as a protector and benefactor.
It was under Caesar that Venus worship began to assume its final form. The Julian clan claimed direct descent from Venus via Aeneas, and the ambitious and narcissistic Caesar dedicated a public cult to Venus to remind Romans of the fact. Venus Genetrix, or Venus the Progenitor, was honored as the divine ancestor of the Roman people and the Julian clan in particular. She was a goddess not only of love and beauty, but of motherhood and marriage and domestic life. She had powers over nature, and was eventually identified with the planet that bears her name, the brightest star in the sky. This manifestation of Venus had much in common with the Semitic goddess who had started the whole enterprise in the first place!
Augustus Caesar, adopted ward of the Julian clan, associated the cult of Venus Genetrix with that of Mars Ultor, the other divine ancestor of the Roman race, and the avenger of Caesar's murder. Venus and Mars, as seen by the Julian clan, would then receive honors and become the major gods of the Roman Empire until the beginning of the Christian era.
Even after Christianity, Venus would still be immortalized in art and poetry as the cultural symbol of love and beauty, and the awesome power of female sexuality.
Mercury and Hermes
Hermes was celebrated early in cult as the patron of travelers, heralds and herdsman. A phallic stone pile bearing his likeness, called a Herm, was erected at the boundaries of property lines as an apotropaic talisman. At a later date he also became a patron of the gymnasium, and the athletics and rhetoric that was taught there. Hermes had few temple cults but was celebrated generally in everyday life of the Greeks. In the Hellenistic age he was conflated with Thoth, the Egyptian scribe god of magic. This conflated Hermes-Thoth (called Hermes Trismegistus, or Hermes Thrice-Great) would later become a mythological front for an occult movement in late Antiquity known as Hermeticism.
Mercury The deity Mercury had a temple on the Aventine and a festival celebrated on May 15th. Mercury, like Hermes, was the god of circulation - of people, goods and words. Under Greek influence it seems the two gods were linked early on, with the myths of Hermes being transferred to that of Mercury. His cult was established in very early Rome to solicit divine protection of the emerging grain trade. From there he became one of the principle deities of negotiatores, or Roman businessmen.
Roman literature, inspired closely by Homeric epic, has Mercury performing as a divine herald and guide at the behest of Jupiter. The magic and humorous duplicity of Mercury is also present. A "mercurial" personality became proverbial, and Augustus himself was unfavorably portrayed with such a personality by Horace. In the Western provinces, the Roman Mercury was equated with a variety of local Celtic deities who shared some of Mercury's attributes. The most widespread candidate was a god called Lugh, who like Mercury had many talents. In the East, Mercury took over Hermes' association with Thoth, providing a powerful figurehead of magic for cabals of occult practitioners. In the modern imagination Mercury is still a sigil of travel and communication. Ford has named one of its models of cars after him, while the Greek post office uses Hermes as its symbol.
Apollo