Interpretatio graeca

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Interpretatio graeca

Interpretatio graeca is a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
term for the common tendency of ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
, for example, refers to the ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian gods Amon

Amon

Amon can refer to:* Amun, an Ancient Egypt deity* Amon , a Goetic demon* Amon * the former name of the band Deicide * the word for "mountain" in Sindarin, an artificial language created by J....
, Osiris

Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
and Ptah

Ptah

In Egyptian mythology, Ptah was the deification of the primordial mound in the Ennead cosmogony, which was more literally referred to as Ta-tenen , meaning risen land, or as Tanen, meaning submerged land....
as "Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
", "Dionysus

Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
" and "Hephaestus

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
", respectively.

n id="Interpretatio Romana"> The equivalent Roman practice was called interpretatio romana. The first use of this phrase was by Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
in his Germania
Germania (book)

The Germania , written by Tacitus around 98, is an ethnography work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.This work survived only in one single manuscript that was found in Hersfeld Abbey, Holy Roman Empire and brought to Italy in 1455 where Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the later Pope Pius II, first examined and analyzed it, wher...
(), in which he reports on a sacred grove

Sacred grove

Sacred groves were a feature of the mythological landscape and the cult of Old European culture, of the most ancient levels of Germanic paganism, Greek mythology, Slavic mythology, Roman mythology, and in Druidry practice....
of the Naharvali, saying "Praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant" ('a priest presides in woman's dress, but in the interpretation of the Romans, they worship the gods Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Leda and Zeus/Tyndareus , the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra and the half-brothers of Timandra , Phoebe, Heracles, Philonoe....
'). Elsewhere () he says that the chief gods of the ancient Germans were Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....
and Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
—referring to Thor

Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
and Odin

Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
respectively.

Rome assumes the Greek gods

Roman culture owed much to the ancient Greeks. The Etruscans had already incorporated some Greek gods and used a version of the Greek alphabet. The Greek colonies founded in southern Italy

Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia is the name of the area in Southern Italy and Sicily that was Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies by Greek settlers in the eighth century BC, who brought with them the lasting imprint of their Hellenic civilization....
from the eighth century BCE contributed much to the young city, and later, when the Romans conquered the Hellenistic world, they adopted a new wave of Greek beliefs and practices. (See Romans and Greeks for details.) Where the two mythologies shared an origin, the interpretations came naturally; Zeus

Zeus

Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
, for example, were both derived from Dyeus

Dyeus

*Dyeus is the reconstructed chief deity of the Proto-Indo-Europeans pantheon . He was the god of the daylight sky, and his position may have mirrored the position of the patriarch or monarch in Proto-Indo-European society....
of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon

Proto-Indo-European religion

The existence of similarities among the Deity and religious practices of the Indo-Europeans peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-Europeans religion and mythology....
. Elsewhere the fit was less precise, and the Roman god might add attributes borrowed from the Greek, but remain distinct: Mars retained his Latin association with agriculture and fertility alongside his warlike attributes and, quite unlike the fearsome Greek Ares

Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
, was a benevolent and widely-revered cult figure.

Some Di Indigetes (native Roman gods), such as Janus

Janus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Janus was the God of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnants in modern culture are his namesakes: the month of January, which begins the new year, and the janitor, who is a caretaker of doors and halls....
and Terminus

Terminus (mythology)

In religion in ancient Rome, Terminus was the god who protected boundary markers; his name was the Latin word for such a marker. Sacrifices were performed to sanctify each boundary stone, and landowners celebrated a festival called the Terminalia in Terminus' honor each year on February 23....
, had no Greek equivalent and so retained an independent tradition; a few, like Bona Dea

Bona Dea

In Roman mythology, Bona Dea was the goddess of fertility, healing, virginity, and woman. She was the daughter of the god Pan and was often referred to as Fauna ....
, did the same despite sharing attributes with a Greek figure (in this case Artemis

Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
). Others, like the twelve assistants of Ceres

Ceres (mythology)

| Image = Ceres_statue.jpg| Caption = This statue depicting Ceres holding wheat is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France.| Name = Ceres| God_of = Goddess of growing plants and motherly love...
, became mere adjuncts to imported Greek deities (here Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
).

Rome and the gods of the empire

The Romans interpreted Celtic

Celtic mythology

Celts mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure....
and Near East

Near East

Near East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other....
ern gods as Roman deities with equal facility. Cernunnos

Cernunnos

Cernunnos is a Celtic polytheism whose representations were widespread in the ancient Celtic lands of western Europe. As a Horned God, Cernunnos is associated with horned male animals, especially stags and the ram-horned snake; this and other attributes associate him with produce and fertility....
and Lugh

Lugh

Lugh is an Irish deity represented in Irish mythology texts as a hero and High King of Ireland of the distant past. He is known by the epithets L?mhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling , Ildanach , Samh-ild?nach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the matronymic mac Ethlenn or mac Ethnenn ....
were identified with Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
, Nodens

Nodens

Nodens is a Celtic mythology deity associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs. He was worshipped in ancient Britain, most notably in a temple complex at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire, and possibly also in Gaul....
to Mars as healer and protector, Sulis

Sulis

In localised Celtic polytheism practiced in Britain, Sul or Sulis was the deification of the thermal spring-water of Bath, Somerset, where she was worshipped by Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived both as a nourishing, life-giving mother goddess and an effectiv...
to Minerva

Minerva

Minerva was the Roman mythology name of Greek goddess Athena. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving,crafts, and the inventor of music....
, and the Anatolian storm god

Teshub

Teshub was the Hurrians god of sky and storm. He was derived from the Hattians Taru. His Hittites and Luwian name was Tarhun .He is depicted holding a triple thunderbolt and a weapon, usually an axe or Mace ....
with his double-headed axe

Labrys

Labrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe, known to the Classical Greeks as pelekus or sagaris, and to the Romans as a bipennis....
became Jupiter Dolichenus

Jupiter Dolichenus

Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god created from the synchronisation of Jupiter , the Roman 'King of the gods', and a Baal cult of Commagene in Asia Minor....
, a favorite cult figure among soldiers.

Even the Jewish invocation of Yahweh

Yahweh

Image:Tetragrammaton scripts.svg[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and Hebrew alphabet Yahweh is the English rendering of , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton that was proposed by the Hebrew scholar Gesenius in the 19th century....
Sabaoth may have been identified with Sabazius.

Where the Romans had no equivalent figure, they did not hesitate to add foreign deities to their pantheon. Sometimes they would change the name: when Cybele

Cybele

Cybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia , or her Minoan civilization equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals ....
was adopted from the Phrygians (the Greeks had previously interpreted her as Rhea

Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
), she was called Magna Mater deorum Idaea. Sometimes they would not: Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
was called Apollo in both Greek and Latin.

Greco-Roman equivalences

Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
was strongly influenced by Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
and Etruscan mythology

Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
. The following is a list of most credited cult equivalences between the respective systems. Note however that many mythographers

Mythography

A mythographer, or a mythologist, according to a strict dictionary definition, is a compiler of mythologys. Mythography is then the rendering of myths in the arts....
dismiss both the equivalences made in ancient times and those proposed by modern scholars.

Greek	Greek (Anglicized)	Roman	Roman (Anglicized)	Etruscan
?d????	Adonis Adonis Adonis is a figure of West Semitic origin, where he is a central cult figure in various mystery religions, who enters Greek mythology in Hellenistic culture....			Atunis
?µf?t??t?	Amphitrite Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea....	Salacia
A?????	Ananke Ananke (mythology) In Greek mythology, Ananke was the personification of destiny, necessity and wiktionary:fate, depicted as holding a Spindle . She marks the beginning of the cosmos, along with Chronos....	Necessitas
??eµ??	Anemoi Anemoi In Greek mythology mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions....	Venti	Winds
Af??d?t?	Aphrodite Aphrodite Aphrodite is the classical Greek mythology goddess of love, sex, and beauty. According to Greek oral poet Hesiod, she was born when Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus....	Venus Venus (mythology) Venus was a major Roman mythology goddess principally associated with love, beauty and sexual reproduction, the equivalent of the Greek mythology Aphrodite....		Turan Turan (mythology) Turan was the Etruscan mythology goddess of love and vitality and patroness of the city of Volci. In art, she was usually depicted as a young winged girl ....
?p????? (Apollon) / F??ß?? (Phoibos)	Apollo Apollo In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more.... / Phoebus Phoebus Phoebus is the Latin form of classical Greek Phoibos "Shining-one", a byname used in classical Greek mythology for either the god Apollo or the Helios....	Apollo / Phoebus		Aplu
????	Ares Ares In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...	Mars Mars (mythology) Mars was the Roman mythology warrior God , the son of Juno and Jupiter , husband of Bellona , and the lover of Venus . He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions....		Maris Maris Maris was the Etruscan civilisation god of agriculture and fertility later borrowed by the Romans as a war/agricultual god Mars and equated with Greek mythology Ares by interpretatio romana....
??teµ??	Artemis Artemis In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....	Diana Diana (mythology) In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunting, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and also of the moon. In literature she was the Greek deities and their Roman and Etruscan counterparts of the Greek mythology Artemis, though in Cult she was Italy, not Greek, in origin....		Artume Artume Artume was an Etruscan mythology goddess who, in later history, came to be identified with Artemis....
?s???p??? (Asklepios)	Asclepius Asclepius Asclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts, while his daughters Hygieia, Meditrina, Iaso, Aceso, Aglaea and Panacea symbolize the forces of cleanliness, medicine, and healing, respectively....	Aesculapius / Veiovis Veiovis In Etruscan mythology and Roman mythology Veiovis, Veive or Vediovis, was an old Italian or Etruscan mythology deity.Veiovis is one of the oldest of the Roman gods....
?????	Athena Athena In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her.... / Athene	Minerva Minerva Minerva was the Roman mythology name of Greek goddess Athena. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving,crafts, and the inventor of music....		Menrva Menrva Menrva was an Etruscan mythology of war, art, wisdom and health. She contributed a lot of her character to Roman mythology Minerva.Though she was seen by Hellenized Etruscans as their counterpart to Greek mythology Athena, Menrva has some unique traits that makes it clear that she wasn't an import from Greece....
?t??p??	Atropos Atropos In Greek mythology, Atropos was one of the three Moirae, Goddesses of wikt:fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta . Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable." It was Atropos who chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhor...	Morta Morta (deity) In Roman mythology,Morta was the goddess of death. She is one of the Parcae, related to the Roman conception of the Fates in Greek mythology, the Moirae. Her father is the god of night and her mother the goddess of darkness,. Nyx ....		Leinth
????a?	Boreas Anemoi In Greek mythology mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions....	Aquilo / Aquilon		Andas
????te? (Kharites)	Charites Charites In Greek mythology, a Charis is one of several Charites , goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: Aglaea , Euphrosyne , and Thalia ....	Gratiae	Graces
????? (Kharon)	Charon Charon (mythology) In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead....	Charon		Charun Charun In Etruscan mythology, Charun was the psychopomp of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita ....
?????? (Khloris)	Chloris Chloris There are many stories in Greek mythology about figures named Chloris . Some clearly refer to different characters; other stories may refer to the same Chloris, but disagree on details....	Flora Flora (mythology) In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring . While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime....
????? (Klotho)	Clotho Clotho Clotho or Klotho — the "spinner" — was the youngest of the Moirae of Greek mythology, otherwise known as the Fates due to their roles in governing over the lives of humans....	Nona
?????? (Kronos)	Cronus Cronus Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....	Saturnus	Saturn Saturn (mythology) Saturn was a major Roman mythology god of agriculture and harvest. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength; he held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right....
??ß??? (Kubele)	Cybele Cybele Cybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia , or her Minoan civilization equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals ....	Magna Mater
??µ?t??	Demeter Demeter File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....	Ceres Ceres (mythology) \| Image = Ceres_statue.jpg\| Caption = This statue depicting Ceres holding wheat is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France.\| Name = Ceres\| God_of = Goddess of growing plants and motherly love...
?????s?? (Dionusos) / ?????? (Bakkhos)	Dionysus Dionysus In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival.... / Bacchus	Liber Liber In Roman mythology, Liber was originally associated with husbandry and crops, but then was assimilated with Dionysos. He is the consort of Ceres and the father of the goddess Libera .... / Bacchus		Fufluns Fufluns In Etruscan mythology, Fufluns was a god of plant life, happiness and health and growth in all things. He is the son of Semla_%28mythology%29 ....
????	Enyo Enyo Enyo in Greek mythology, was an ancient goddess of war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. She is also identified as his sister, and daughter of Zeus and Hera, in a role closely resembling that of Eris ; with Homer representing the two as the same goddess....	Bellona
???	Eos Eos Eos is, in Greek mythology, the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun....	Aurora Aurora (mythology) Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry. Aurora is comparable to the Greek mythology goddess Eos, though Aurora did not bring with her any resonance of a greater archaic goddess.... / Matuta		Thesan Thesan In Etruscan mythology, Thesan was the goddess of the dawn and was associated with the generation of life. She was identified with the Roman mythology Aurora and Greek mythology Eos....
?????e?	Erinyes Erinyes In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides or Furies in Roman mythology were female, chthonic deities of revenge or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead....	Dirae / Furiae	Furies
????	Eris Eris (mythology) Eris is the Greek mythology goddess of strife, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia , whose Latin counterpart is Concordia ....	Discordia
????	Eros	Cupido / Amor	Cupid Cupid In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of eroticism love and beauty. He is also known by another one of his Latin names, Amor . He is the son of goddess Aphrodite....
????? (Euros)	Eurus Anemoi In Greek mythology mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions....	Vulturnus
Ga?a	Gaia Gaia (mythology) Gaia Gaia is a Greek primordial gods and chthonic deity in the Ancient Greek Pantheon and considered a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess.... / Gaea	Terra Terra (mythology) Terra Mater or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology. The names Terra Mater and Tellus Mater both mean "Mother Earth" in Latin; Mother is an honorific title also bestowed on other goddesses.... / Tellus
	Galanthis Galanthis In Greek mythology, Galanthis was the red-gold haired servant of Alcmene, who assisted her during the birth of Heracles. When Alcmene was in labor, she was having difficulty giving birth to a child so large.... / Galinthias	Galinthis
?d?? (Hades) / ????t?? (Plouton)	Hades Hades Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades".... / Pluto Pluto (mythology) Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, known in Latin as Tertius, the counterpart of the Greek Hades....	Dis Pater Dis Pater Dis Pater, or Dispater , was a Roman mythology and Celtic polytheism of the underworld, later subsumed by Pluto or Hades . Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman deities Pluto and Orcus , becoming an underworld.... / Pluto / Orcus Orcus (mythology) Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology. He was more equivalent to the Roman Pluto than to the Greek Hades, and later identified with Dis Pater....		Aita
?ß?	Hebe Hebe (mythology) In Greek mythology, Hebe is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. H?b? was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to Heracles ; her successor was the young Troy prince Ganymede ....	Iuventas	Juventas
???t? (Hekate)	Hecate Hecate Hecate Hekate , or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, naturalized early in Mycenaean Greece or in Thrace, but originating among the Carians of Anatolia, the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, progenitor of Mausollus, are attested, and where Hekate re...	Trivia Trivia (mythology) Trivia in Roman mythology was the equivalent of the Greek mythology goddess Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the three-way crossroads, and the harvest moon....
?????	Helios Helios Helios is the god of sun.In Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios . Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion , while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn....	Sol		Aplu
?fa?st?? (H?phaistos)	Hephaestus Hephaestus Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....	Vulcanus	Vulcan Vulcan (mythology) In Religion in ancient Rome and Hellenic neopaganism, Vulcan is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes. He is also called Mulciber in Roman mythology and Sethlans in Etruscan mythology....	Sethlans
??a	Hera Hera In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....	Iuno	Juno Juno (mythology) File:Juno sospita pushkin.jpgJuno was an Roman religion, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars , and Vulcan ....	Uni Uni (mythology) Uni was the supreme goddess of the Etruscan mythology wiktionary:pantheon and the patron goddess of Perugia. Uni was identified by the Etruscans as their equivalent of Juno in Roman mythology and Hera in Greek mythology....
??a???? (Herakle^s)	Heracles Heracles In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....	Hercules Hercules Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....		Hercle
??µ??	Hermes Hermes Hermes is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. An Twelve Olympians, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of thieves and road travelers, of orators and wit, of literature and poets, of athletics, of weights and measures, of invention, of general commerce, and of the cunni...	Mercurius	Mercury Mercury (mythology) In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....	Turms
?spe??? (Hesperos)	Hesperus Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus , the Evening Star is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star....	Vesper
?st?a	Hestia Hestia In Greek mythology, virginal Hestia, daughter of Cronus and Rhea , is the goddess of the hearth, of the right ordering of domesticity and the family, who received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household....	Vesta Vesta (mythology) Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. Although she is often mistaken as analogous to Hestia in Greek mythology, she had a large, albeit mysterious, role in Roman religion long before she appeared in Greece....
??e?a	Hygeia	Salus
?p???	Hypnos Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the Roman mythology equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thanatos ; their mother was the goddess Nyx ....	Somnus
?????? (Eirene)	Irene Horae In Greek mythology, the Horai, Latinized Horae were three goddesses controlling orderly life. They were daughters of Zeus and Themis, half-sisters to the Moirae....	Pax Pax (mythology) In Roman mythology, Pax was recognized as a goddess during the rule of Augustus. On the Campus Martius, she had a temple called the Ara Pacis, and another temple on the Forum Pacis....
		Ianus	Janus Janus (mythology) In Greek mythology, Janus was the God of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnants in modern culture are his namesakes: the month of January, which begins the new year, and the janitor, who is a caretaker of doors and halls....	Ani
???es?? (Lakhesis)	Lachesis Lachesis (mythology) In Greek mythology, Lachesis was the second of the Three Fates, or Moirae. She was the apportioner, deciding how much time for life was to be allowed for each person or being....	Decima
??t?	Leto Leto In Greek mythology, Let? is a daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe : Kos claimed her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme of things, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides....	Latona
????a? (Moirai)	Moirae Moirae The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny.... / Moerae	Parcae / Fatae	Fates
???sa? (Mousai)	Musae	Camenae Camenae In Roman mythology, the Camenae were originally goddesses of springs, wells and fountains, or water nymphs of Venus. They were wise, and sometimes gave prophecies of the future....	Muse Muse File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpgThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts.... s
????	Nike Nike (mythology) In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria ....	Victoria Victoria (mythology) In Roman mythology, Victoria was the personification/Goddess of victory. She is the Roman version of the Greek mythology Nike , and was associated with Bellona ....
??t?? (Notos)	Notus Anemoi In Greek mythology mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions....	Auster
??? (Nuks)	Nyx	Nox
?d?sse??	Odysseus Odysseus Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....	Ulixes / Ulysses		Uthuze
?a?a?µ?? (Palaimon)	Palaemon Palaemon Palaemon may refer to*Palaemon , a genus of shrimpAn alternative name for the Greek hero HeraklesAn alternative name for the Greek hero Melicertes...	Portunes Portunes In Roman mythology, Portunes was a god of keys and doors and livestock. He protected the warehouses where grain was stored. Probably because of folk associations between porta "gate, door" and portus "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea, Portunus later became conflated with Palaemon and evolved into a god primarily of ports and harbor...
???	Pan Pan (mythology) Pan , in Ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, is the companion of the nymphs, god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music....	Faunus
			Silvanus	Selvans
?e?sef???	Persephone Persephone In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....	Proserpina Proserpina Proserpina is an ancient Roman goddess whose story is the basis of a Mythology of Springtime. Her Greek mythology goddess' equivalent is Persephone....
F?µ?	Pheme Pheme In Greek mythology, Pheme was the personification of fame and renown, her favour being notablity, her wrath being scandalous rumors. She was a daughter of Gaia , was described as "she who initiates and furthers communication" and had an altar at Athens....	Fama
F?sf???? (Phosphoros)	Phosphorus Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus , the Evening Star is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star....	Vesper Vesper Vesper can refer to:Hesperus, Latinized form of Hesperos, a Greek mythological figure Vesper Lynd, a fictional character of Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale...
??se?d??	Poseidon Poseidon In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....	Neptunus	Neptune NEPTUNE =Overview=The project, along with sister project, VENUS, offers a unique approach to ocean science. Traditionally, ocean scientists have relied on infrequent ship cruises or space-based satellites to carry out their research....	Nethuns Nethuns In Etruscan mythology, Nethuns was the god of water wells, later expanded to all water, including the sea. The Etruscan conception of the deity affected Roman mythology Neptune ....
???ap?? (Priapos)	Priapus Priapus In Greek mythology, Priapus was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. His Roman mythology equivalent was Mutinus Mutunus....	Mutinus Mutunus
??a	Rhea Rhea (mythology) This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....	Magna Mater / Ops Ops Ops, more properly *Opis, was a fertility deity and earth-goddess in Roman mythology of Sabine origin.... (See Cybele, above*)
S?t???? (Saturoi) / ???e?	Satyr Satyr In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus ? "satyresses" were a late invention of poets ? that roamed the woods and mountains.... s / Panes (See Pan, above)	Fauni	Faun Faun In Roman mythology, fauns are place-spirits of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus .... s
Se????	Selene Selene Selene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and Theia....	Luna
Seµ???	Semele Semele File:Gustave Moreau 004.jpgIn Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia , was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths....	Stimula		Semla Semla (mythology) Semla is the Etruscan name for the Greek goddess Semele from which she derives. Her name is sometimes misspelled Semia.An Etruscan mirror from the 4th century BCE shows a woman inscribed as Semla holding a thyrsus and kissing the young Fufluns as he embraces her beside the presence of Aplu who holds a laurel branch....
???at??	Thanatos Thanatos In Greek religion, Th?natos was the Daemon personification of Death and Mortality. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person....	Mors Mors (mythology) In Roman mythology, Mors is the Death and equivalent to the Greek Thanatos . He is the son of the goddess of night, Nyx, and is the brother of the personification of sleep, Hypnos....		Leinth, Charun Charun In Etruscan mythology, Charun was the psychopomp of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita ....
T?µ??	Themis Themis Themis is an Greek mythology. She is described as "of good counsel", and was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "law of nature" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb t?????, t?themi, to put....	Iustitia Lady Justice Lady Justice is an allegorical personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system....	Justitia
???? (Tukhe)	Tyche Tyche In Ancient Greek religion, Tyche was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown ....	Fortuna Fortuna (mythology) File:TomisFortuna2.JPGIn Roman mythology, Fortuna goddess of fortune, was the personification of luck; hopefully she brought good luck, but she could be represented veiled and blind, as modern depictions of Justice are seen, and came to represent the capriciousness of life....		Nortia Nortia In Etruscan mythology, Nortia was the goddess of fate and chance. Her attribute was a nail , which was driven into a wall in her temples during the New Year....
???a??? (Ouranos)	Uranus Uranus (mythology) Uranus is the Latinized form of Ouranos , the Greek language word for sky. In Greek mythology Uranus , or Father Sky, is personified as the son and husband of Gaia , Mother Earth ....	Caelus Caelus Caelus, also known as Coelus, was the Roman mythology of the sky, personification from the Latin word for "sky", caelum. Caelus was later equated with the Greek mythology of the heavens, Uranus , who was vastly more important to the Greeks than Caelus was to the Romans....
		Vertumnus Vertumnus In Roman mythology, Vertumnus is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses , he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative w...		Voltumna Voltumna In Etruscan mythology, Voltumna or Veltha was the chthonic deity, who became the supreme god of the Etruscan pantheon, the deus Etruriae princeps, according to Marcus Terentius Varro....
??f???? (Zephuros)	Zephyrus Anemoi In Greek mythology mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions.... / Zephyr Zephyr Zephyr may refer to:* Anemoi#West wind , one of the Anemoi and the Greek god of the west wind* Zephyranthes, a plant genus whose species include the zephyr lily...	Favonius
?e??	Zeus Zeus Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....	Iuppiter / Iovis	Jupiter / Jove	Tinia Tinia The Etruscan bright sky god Tinia was the highest god in Etruscan mythology, the Etruscan equivalent of the Roman mythology Jupiter and the Greek mythology Zeus....

Interpretatio germanica

Interpretatio germanica is the practice of identifying Roman gods with the names of Germanic deities by the Germanic peoples

Germanic peoples

File:Germanische-ratsversammlung 1-1250x715.jpgThe Germanic peoples are a historical Ethnolinguistics group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European languages Germanic languages which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age....
. According to Rudolf Simek

Rudolf Simek

Rudolf Simek is an Austria German studies and Philologian.Simek studied German literature, history, philosophy and Catholic theology in the University of Vienna....
, this occurred around the 1st century CE when both cultures came into closer contact, and the only reliable insight into interpretatio germanica can be found in the Germanic translations of the Roman names for the days of the week:

The day of Mars
Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman mythology warrior God , the son of Juno and Jupiter , husband of Bellona , and the lover of Venus . He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions....
is translated as the day of Ziu/Tyr
Tyr

File:T?r by Fr?lich.jpgT?r is the god of single combat, victory and heroic glory in Norse mythology, portrayed as a one-handed man. In the late Icelandic Eddas, he is portrayed, alternately, as the son of Odin or of Hymir , while the origins of his name and his possible relationship to Tuisto suggest he was once considered the father of...
(Tuesday
Tuesday

Tuesday is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar. According to the international standard ISO 8601, it is the second day of the week....
).
The day of Mercury
Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
is translated as the day of Wodan/Odin
Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
(Wednesday
Wednesday

Wednesday is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. This day is between Tuesday and Thursday....
).
The day of Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
is translated as the day of Donar/Thor
Thor

Thor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
, though Thor is generally identified in interpretatio romana as Hercules
Hercules

Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....
. (Thursday
Thursday

File:Thor.jpgThursday is the fourth day of the week according to the Judeo-Christian calendar and the ISO 8601 international standard adopted in most western countries....
)
The day of Venus
Venus (mythology)

Venus was a major Roman mythology goddess principally associated with love, beauty and sexual reproduction, the equivalent of the Greek mythology Aphrodite....
is translated as the day of Frija/Frigg
Frigg

Frigg is a major goddess in Norse paganism, a subset of Germanic paganism. She is said to be the wife of Odin, and is the "foremost among the goddesses"....
. (Friday
Friday

Friday is the day of the week falling between Thursday and Saturday. It is the sixth day in countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention....
)

Simek states that the problematic nature of intrepretatio germanica is evident, and that divine attributes appear to have been the obvious factors for the correspondence between Jupiter and Thor, but for the other figures one must rely on speculation, and that far too little is known about what role the gods played in then-contemporary belief to be able to use their identification with particular Roman gods to trace their roles in later Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
.

Interpretatio graeca

Rome assumes the Greek gods

Rome and the gods of the empire

Greco-Roman equivalences

Interpretatio germanica

See also

External links