A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN GREEK

MYTHOLOGY AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY

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A Term Paper Submitted to

Mrs. Angeline P. Dinoro
Languages and Social Sciences Department
MSU- IIT Integrated Developmental School

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Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for the Course
English IV

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Kissza Mari V. Campano

Pol Carlo T. Badelles
Stephanie Rae G. De Mesa

February 2010
For IV- Photon 09-10
And all our friends
 Acknowledgment

The researchers would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to the following:

The Almighty God for giving us the strength and courage to face the challenges
that we encounter each day;

Our kind and loving parents for their undying support and financial management;

The IDS Library for its inexhaustible source of information that greatly helped the
researchers in the completion of this paper;

Our classmates in IV-Photon for the encouragement and help that made us
continue to make this paper; and

Our adviser and English teacher, Ma’am Angie, for her guidance and for giving
us this project to prepare us in college.

P.C.T. B.

K.M.V.C.

S.R.G.D.M.
Table of Contents
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

I. Introduction

People, especially children, love to hear and read fascinating stories. They love

adventures of brave heroes who defeat the forces of evil and reach their ultimate goal, or

stories of different fascinating mythical creatures, like mermaids, fairies, and the like.

Others love the stories of gods and goddesses, and how things came to be. Literature

provides a lot of these types, but the greatest of them are the mythologies.

Mythology is a collection of different myths, which is an old traditional story or

legend that explains certain natural or supernatural phenomena, origin of different things,

and many others. It involves many characters, which includes gods and goddesses,

human beings, and mythical creatures. Mythology varies from region to region, and each

country has its own myths.

This study will discuss two famous world mythologies, the Greek mythology and

Roman mythology. The researchers will do a comparison of the two mythologies, and

will try to find the similarities and differences among the two.

A. Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer the questions that follow:

1. What are the main characteristics of Greek mythology? Of Roman mythology?

2. What are the similarities between Greek mythology and Roman mythology?

3. What are the differences between Greek mythology and Roman mythology?
4. What are the common myths in Greek mythology and Roman mythology?

5. Do Greek and Roman mythology have a similar source or origin?

B. Significance of the Study

This study aims to give more knowledge about the two mythologies: the Greek

mythology and Roman mythology. Furthermore, it discusses the similarities and

differences of the two known mythologies that will also help them know more about the

tradition and culture on the particular regions.

C. Scope and Limitations

In the study, the researchers present their differences and similarities of Greek

mythology and Roman mythology, and the characteristics of each mythology. This

research will also cite the examples of myth the both have in common.

D. Definition of Terms

To aid better understanding of the paper, the following terms are defined:

1. Chaos - the oldest of the gods, the mother of Erebus and Night.

2. Hesiod - Greek poet of Boeotia

3. Homer - the poet who regarded by the Greeks to be the author of

the “Iliad” and Odyssey”

4. Mythology - a body of myths especially those relating to a people’s

gods and to their origins or those connected with a certain

subject.
5. Tartarus - lowest part of the underworld where the worst evildoers

are imprisoned.
 Chapter 2

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

I. Mythology

A. What is Mythology?

The word “mythology” comes from two Greek words, mythos (“story”)

and logos (“word”, “talk”). It means, therefore, “story- telling”. The word is now

used, however, especially for stories that deal with gods. Myths are supposed to

explain how things in the world began. Legends also explain things, but legends

are usually based on history. Myths go back to a time before history. They often

explain happenings in the world for which the people who tell them can find no

explanation other than a supernatural one (Fried, 1995).

II. Greek Mythology

Greek mythology has exercised a profound and unparalleled influence upon

Western cultures. Dramatists, artists, and philosophers from Roman times, through the

great revival interest in antiquity in the Renaissance, up to the present day, have been

inspired by the thrilling legacy of ancient Greece. The origins of these myths are

impossible to determine and there is no one true version of any myth. Instead, every city

in the ancient Greek world, spanning from Southern Italy across the Aegean and the

Adriatic islands to the coast of Asia Minor, created its own myths. This can result in

confusion, as many different, and often contradictory, versions of the myth exist.
 Originally passed on, adapted and developed by an oral tradition of storytelling,

the basic canon of gods and heroes was well established by the time the myths came to be

written down, from about 750BCE. Greek mythology has many similarities with Indo-

European mythology and was either influenced by it or shared common sources

(Averbach, 2002).

A. Origins

In the beginning, according to the ancient Greeks, there was Chaos—a great mass

of darkness without shape or sound or meaning. Out of this grew Night and Erebus. The

strange shadowy world found the earth, which is the home of death. Then came a

wonderful thing called Love, which produced Light and Day. Mother Earth, called Gaea,

appeared next with Heaven’s blue, star- studded dome on high (Sellew, 1995).

Before the gods existed, there had been Titans—the children of the Earth(Gaea)

and the Heavens(Uranus). According to Hesiod’s account there were originally 12 of

them: the brothers Oceanus, Coens, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus and the sisters

Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. At their mother’s prompting they

rebelled against their father, who had shut them off in the underworld of Tartarus. Under

the leadership of Cronus, they deposed Uranus and made Cronus their ruler, and Rhea,

his sister, was his queen. (Compton’s Encyclopedia, 1992).

The story goes that Cronus learned that one of his children would overthrow him.

To prevent this, every time Rhea gave birth to a child, he would swallow it. However,

when their son Zeus was born, Rhea had him hidden on the island of Crete. Then she

presented Cronus with a stone, instead of the baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Cronus
swallowed the stone, and Zeus grew to manhood. He forced his father to disgorge his

brothers and sisters, and with their help, overthrew Cronus and other Titans.

Now that Zeus and his brothers and sisters had power over the universe, they

drew lots to see who should control the different kingdoms (Sellew, 1995).

B. Gods and Goddesses

Zeus married his sister, Hera, and they were now the heads of the divine family

made up of themselves and ten other gods and goddesses. There were their brothers,

Poseidon and Hades, and their sister Hestia, Goddess of Hearth and Home. Then there

was their son, Ares, God of War. Zeus had children other than those by Hera. There were

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom; Apollo, God of the Sun; Artemis, Goddess of the Moon;

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love; and Hermes, the Messenger of Heaven. Finally there was

Hera’s lame son, Hephaestus, God of Fire. These made up the 12 gods and goddesses in

the Olympian pantheon, commonly known as the 12 Olympians (Sellew, 1995).

C. Main Characteristics

Greek mythology expresses neither unity nor consistency. It is due to several

factors that went into the formation of Greek myths and mythological personages. First,

the existing fragments of Greek myths. These myths and fragments of myths are in many

cases parts of total mythological cycles in local communities, but in many cases the entire

cycle is not known today. Second, the corpus of Greek mythology contains mythological

elements from different cultures and histories.

 The fact that the Greek poets, tragedians, and philosophers present their own

literary and philosophical interpretations and dramas of the deities, making use of the

many strands and varied traditions of the mythological cycles.

According to Herodotus, Homer and Hesiod defined the gods. They drew from a

rich and complex historical and mythological past, indicating themes and trends that have

become decisive for the understanding of Greek mythology. Hesiod presupposes the

reality of the gods, where as Homer’s characterization of them is symbolic (Grolier

International Encyclopedia, 1995).

III. Roman Mythology

In the second century BC, Rome conquered Greece and Absorbed Greek culture.

Both Roman and Greek writers continued to create mythological works in the Hellenistic

style— both scholarly and romantic. As the city- state became an anachronism in a world

of kingdoms and empires, new religious forms evolved. The ruler cult of the Hellenistic

kingdoms and the emperor cult of the Roman empire. The rulers became gods, first after

death and then even while alive. This was a cult that recognized power but did not require

a mythology of stories or a theology.

One of the most persistent and widespread movements was in the interest in

astrology, which defined the old gods with stars and saw in their shifting but predictable

patterns a system that determined human affairs. The culmination of these tendencies was

the belief in the sun as an essentially monotheistic god and the emperor as the

corresponding supreme power on earth (Jameson, 1995).

A. Origins

The basic mythology of Rome was borrowed from the Greeks, though later

Romans also borrowed from the Egyptians and some of the regions of Asia Minor and

the Middle East as the size of the Roman Empire increased. When the Romans took over

the Greek gods, they gave them different names and sometimes combined them with

other gods of their own (Compton’s Encyclopedia, 1992).

The best known version of the founding of Rome itself tells of a usurping king of

Alba Longa who had deposed his brother, killed his nephews, and made his niece, Rea

Silvia, a vestal virgin to keep her from having sons. But Rea Silvia is loved by the god

Mars, and bears him twin Romulus and Remus (Jameson, 1995).

B. Gods and Goddesses

The Roman changed the name of ten of the 12 gods of Mount Olympus to to

Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), Neptune (Poseidon), Vesta (Hestia), Mars (Ares), Minerva

(Athena), Venus (Aphrodite), Mercury (Hermes), Diana (Artemis), and Vulcan

(Hephaestus). Apollo and Hades retained their names though Hades doesn’t mean the

ruler of the underworld for the Romans (Compton’s Encyclopedia, 1992).

C. Main Characteristics

The Roman derivatives proved colorless counterparts to the Greek divinities. The

Greek gods were anthropomorphic in more than shape; like humans they fought,

swindled, loved and avenged. The Roman deities did not possess human psychology.
Instead, they were mostly personifications of various abstract qualities and the

personalities were much less important than their functions. Roman myths were also

more historicized than Greek myths and it is impossible to demonstrate any clear line

between Roman myth and its early history.

On the whole, Roman mythology is less fantastic and more realistically grounded

in time and place than Greek mythology.

The extent of Rome’s dominion is the key to understand its mythology. The

Roman state was simply too large and mutable for only one set of mythological and

religious traditions to suffice. As Rome expanded its territories it incorporated the myths

of the conquered peoples into its own. The result is eclectic: Roman mythology is a

strange hotchpotch of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic, and many other myths. All of these, once

assimilated, become Roman myths (Averbach, 2002).

IV. Similarities and Differences between Greek and Roman Mythology

A. Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes

Since some of the basic mythology of Rome was borrowed from the Greeks, the

two have some similarities. Roman gods and goddesses are most likely of that of the

Greeks but they differ only in their names. For example, Zeus, the king of the gods to the

Greeks is Jupiter to the Romans. Poseidon to the Greeks is Neptune to the Romans. Ares,

the god of war to the Greeks is known to the Romans as Mars. Apollo is the god of the

sun to both Greeks and Romans.

 The Roman Hero contrasts strongly with the heroes of Greek mythology. The

Greek hero was often driven by the quest for personal glory and the desire for individual

fame. This led him to behave antisocially, like Achilles sulking in his tent while his

fellow Greeks died on the battlefield at Troy. The Roman hero, however, exemplified the

ideal Roman citizen, wholly focused on championing the great city and its ideals. In

contrast to Achilles and Herakles, Aeneas was a paradigm of gravitas (devition to duty,

especially towards state), frugalitas (a rejection of excess indulgence), and pietas

(devotion to duty and Roman religion): the three most important Roman values.

B. Story

Greek and Roman mythology also have some common stories about their heroes.

One common example is Homer’s Odyssey which tells the wanderings of the hero,

Odysseus, after the Trojan War which is also the same as Virgil’s Aenid that tells the

adventure of Aeneas. The two stories share the same characters and events, although they

are not exactly the same.

Many of the Greek myths, which features metamorphosis, or the fantastic

transformation of shape, are refashioned into Roman myths. An example is that of

Apollo’s pursuit if the nymph Daphne, whose father turned into a laurel tree.

C. Characteristics

Roman myth was strikingly patriarchal. The majority of myths feature themes of

rape or threatened rape and is concerned with female chastity and virginity. Greek

mythology is also largely patriarchal, but myths like that of Demeter and Persephone
present a female perspective on male violence and also celebrate women’s close relations

and power.

In Greek myth, when the Centaurs attempt to rape the Lapith women, their

behavior is seen as abhorrent and uncivilized and they are driven off by the Greeks. In

contrast, when the early Romans rape the Sabine women, they benefit by getting wives

and land. The gods and even the women themselves, in time, approve of violence.
 Chapter 3

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

A. Summary

This research is about the comparison between Greek and Roman mythology.

Firstly, Greek mythology does not express unity and consistency. Every province

has its version of the same mythology, which often results to confusion to researchers.

Secondly, most of the Greek mythologies are copied by the Romans, to form the Roman

mythology. Although Romans have their own mythology, they assimilate the myths of

the regions that they conquer to their own. This results to parallelism between Greek and

Roman myths, due to the similarities of the characters and plot.

B. Conclusion

Based on the results of the study, the researchers concluded that Greek mythology

and Roman mythology are closely related to each other. There are some notable

similarities and differences between the two mythologies. The similarities are due to the

fact that some of the Roman myths, gods, goddesses, and heroes are derivatives of its

Greek counterparts. The differences lie on the characteristics of the gods, goddesses and

heroes of a few unique characters and myths of the two mythologies.

C. Recommendation
 The researchers would like to encourage the readers to further accomplish this

research paper by looking deeper into the characteristics of Greek and Roman mythology.

The researchers would also like to recommend making a research of Greek mythology

and Roman mythology. In addition, the researchers recommend having a comparison of

other world mythologies.