Interpretatio graeca
Encyclopedia
Interpretatio graeca is a Latin
term for the common tendency of ancient Greek
writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus
, for example, refers to the ancient Egypt
ian gods Amon
, Osiris
and Ptah
as "Zeus
", "Dionysus
" and "Hephaestus
", respectively.
The equivalent Roman practice was called interpretatio romana. The first use of this phrase was by Tacitus
in his Germania
(ch. 43), in which he reports on a sacred grove
of the Nahanarvalos, saying "Praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant" ('a priest presides in woman's dress, but in the Roman interpretation, they worship the gods Castor and Pollux
'). Elsewhere (ch. 9) he says that the chief gods of the ancient Germans were Hercules
and Mercury
—referring to Thor
and Odin
respectively.
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
and Jupiter
, for example, were both derived from Dyeus
of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon
. 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
, was a benevolent and widely-revered cult figure.
Some Di Indigetes (native Roman gods), such as Janus
and Terminus
, had no Greek equivalent and so retained an independent tradition; a few, like Bona Dea
, did the same despite sharing attributes with a Greek figure (in this case Artemis
). Others, like the twelve assistants of Ceres, became mere adjuncts to imported Greek deities (here Demeter
).
and Near East
ern gods as Roman deities with equal facility. Cernunnos
and Lugh
were identified with Mercury
, Nodens
to Mars as healer and protector, Sulis
to Minerva
, and the Anatolian storm god
with his double-headed axe
became Jupiter Dolichenus
, a favorite cult figure among soldiers.
The Jewish invocation of Yahweh
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
was adopted from the Phrygians (the Greeks had previously interpreted her as Rhea
), she was called Magna Mater deorum Idaea. Sometimes they would not: Apollo
was called Apollo in both Greek and Latin.
was strongly influenced by Greek mythology
and Etruscan mythology
. The following is a list of most credited cult equivalences between the respective systems. Note however that many mythographers
dismiss both the equivalences made in ancient times and those proposed by modern scholars.
of identifying Roman gods with the names of Germanic deities. According to Rudolf Simek
, 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
:
Simek states that the problematic nature of interpretatio 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
.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
term for the common tendency of ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon. Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, for example, refers to the ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian gods Amon
Amun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
, Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
and Ptah
Ptah
In Ancient Egyptian Religion, 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, though Tatenen was a god in his...
as "Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
", "Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
" and "Hephaestus
Hephaestus
Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Gods - or else, according to some accounts, of Hera alone. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes...
", respectively.
Roman version
The equivalent Roman practice was called interpretatio romana. The first use of this phrase was by Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator 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 who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
in his Germania
Germania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
(ch. 43), in which he reports on a sacred grove
Sacred grove
A sacred grove is a grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world...
of the Nahanarvalos, saying "Praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant" ('a priest presides in woman's dress, but in the Roman interpretation, they worship the gods Castor and Pollux
Castor and Pollux
In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
'). Elsewhere (ch. 9) he says that the chief gods of the ancient Germans were Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
and Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
—referring to Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
and Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
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 ItalyMagna Graecia
Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
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
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
and Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
, for example, were both derived from Dyeus
Dyeus
*Dyēus is the reconstructed chief deity of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon. He was the god of the daylight sky, and his position may have mirrored the position of the patriarch or monarch in society....
of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon
Proto-Indo-European religion
Proto-Indo-European religion is the hypothesized religion of the Proto-Indo-European peoples based on the existence of similarities among the deities, religious practices and mythologies of the Indo-European peoples. Reconstruction of the hypotheses below is based on linguistic evidence using the...
. 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
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
, was a benevolent and widely-revered cult figure.
Some Di Indigetes (native Roman gods), such as Janus
Janus (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past...
and Terminus
Terminus (mythology)
In Roman religion, 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
Bona Dea was a divinity in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in women, healing, and the protection of the Roman state and people...
, did the same despite sharing attributes with a Greek figure (in this case Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
). Others, like the twelve assistants of Ceres, became mere adjuncts to imported Greek deities (here Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
).
Rome and the gods of the empire
The Romans interpreted CelticCeltic mythology
Celtic 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
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
ern gods as Roman deities with equal facility. Cernunnos
Cernunnos
Cernunnos is the conventional name given in Celtic studies to depictions of the horned god of Celtic polytheism. The name itself is only attested once, on the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen, but depictions of a horned or antlered figure, often seated in a "lotus position" and often associated...
and Lugh
Lugh
Lug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...
were identified with Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
, Nodens
Nodens
Nodents is a Celtic 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 practised in Britain, Sulis was a deity worshipped at the thermal spring of Bath . She was worshipped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother...
to Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
, and the Anatolian storm god
Teshub
Teshub was the Hurrian god of sky and storm. He was derived from the Hattian Taru. His Hittite and Luwian name was Tarhun , although this name is from the Hittite root *tarh- to defeat, conquer.- Depiction and myths :He is depicted holding a triple...
with his double-headed axe
Labrys
Labrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization; to the Romans, it was known as a bipennis....
became Jupiter Dolichenus
Jupiter Dolichenus
Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god created from the syncretization of Jupiter, the Roman 'King of the gods', and a Baal cult of Commagene in Asia Minor. The Baal gods were themselves king gods and the combination was intended to form a powerful mixture of eastern and western regal traditions...
, a favorite cult figure among soldiers.
The Jewish invocation of Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
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 a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
was adopted from the Phrygians (the Greeks had previously interpreted her as Rhea
Rhea (mythology)
Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
), she was called Magna Mater deorum Idaea. Sometimes they would not: Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
was called Apollo in both Greek and Latin.
Greco-Roman equivalences
Roman mythologyRoman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
was strongly influenced by Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and Etruscan mythology
Etruscan mythology
The Etruscans were a diachronically continuous population, with a distinct language and culture during the period of earliest European writing, in the Mediterranean Iron Age in the second half of the first millennium BC...
. 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 is a compiler of myths. The word derives from the Greek "μυθογραφία" , "writing of fables", from "μῦθος" , "speech, word, fact, story, narrative" + "γράφω" , "to write, to inscribe". 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 (Romanized) | Roman | Roman (Anglicized) | Etruscan | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Άδωνις | Adonis Adonis Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old... |
Atunis | lord, master, or patron | ||
| Αμφιτρίτη | Amphitrite Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon. 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 | The third surrounding [the sea] | ||
| Aνάγκη | Ananke Ananke (mythology) In Greek mythology, Ananke, also spelled Anangke, Anance, or Anagke , was the personification of destiny, necessity and fate, depicted as holding a spindle. She marks the beginning of the cosmos, along with Chronos... |
Necessitas | force, constraint, necessity | ||
| Άνεμοι | Anemoi Anemoi In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were Greek 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 | ||
| Αφροδίτη | Aphrodite Aphrodite Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia.... |
Venus Venus (mythology) Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths... |
Turan Turan (mythology) Turan was the Etruscan goddess of love and vitality and patroness of the city of Velch. In art, she was usually depicted as a young winged girl. Turan appears in toilette scenes of Etruscan bronze mirrors. She is richly robed and jeweled in early and late depictions, but consistently appears nude... |
love or sexual desire | |
| Απόλλων (Apollōn) / Φοίβος (Phoibos) |
Apollo Apollo Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology... / Phoebus |
Apollo / Phoebus | Aplu Aplu Aplu may mean:*Aplu, a Hurrian deity of the plague: cf. Luwian Apaliunas, Etruscan Apulu, Greek Apollo.*An acronym for the Association_of_Public_and_Land-Grant_Universities .... |
Phoebus means shining one | |
| Άρης | Ares Ares Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and... |
Mars Mars (mythology) Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions... |
war | Maris | |
| Άρτεμις | Artemis Artemis Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"... |
Diana Diana (mythology) In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy... |
hunting,the hunt | Artume Artume Artume was an Etruscan goddess who was the goddess of night, of the moon , death, nature, woods and fertility. She was associated with the Greek goddess Artemis in later history. Aritimi was also considered the founder of the Etruscan town Aritie, which is today the Italian town Arezzo.... |
Heavenly or Divine |
| Ασκληπιός (Asklēpios) | Asclepius Asclepius Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea... |
Aesculapius / Vejovis | |||
| Αθηνά | Athena Athena In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is... / Athene |
Minerva Minerva Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic... |
Menrva Menrva Menrva was an Etruscan goddess of war, art, wisdom and health. She contributed much of her character to Roman Minerva.... |
the goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill in Greek mythology | |
| Άτροπος | Atropos Atropos Atropos or Aisa , in Greek mythology, was one of the three Moirae, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta.Atropos or Aisa 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... |
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. She is responsible for pain and death that occurs in a half wake half sleep time frame. Her father is the god of night and her mother the... |
Leinth Leinth In Etruscan mythology, Leinth is the goddess of death, whose name means "Old Age" or "Old Woman". In art, she was portrayed with the face veiled.... |
without turn; Death | |
| Βορέας | Boreas | Aquilo / Aquilon | Andas | North Wind or Devouring One | |
| Χάριτες (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 . In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces"... |
Gratiae | Graces | ||
| Χάρων (Kharōn) | Charon Charon (mythology) In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on... |
Charon | Charun Charun In Etruscan mythology, Charun acted as one of the psychopompoi of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita... |
fierce brightness | |
| Χλωρίς (Khlōris) | Chloris Chloris thumb|250px|right| "As she talks, her lips breathe spring roses:I was Chloris, who am now called Flora." [[Ovid]]There are many stories in Greek mythology about figures named Chloris... |
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... |
Chloris means greenish-yellow, pale green, pale, pallid or fresh. Flora means "flower." | ||
| Κλωθώ (Klōthō) | Clotho Clotho Clotho is one of the Three Fates or Moirae, in ancient Greek mythology. Her Roman equivalent is Nona. Clotho was responsible for spinning the thread of human life. She also made major decisions, such as when a person was born, thus in effect controlling people's lives... |
Nona | Spin or Twiddle | ||
| Κρόνος (Kronos) | Cronus Cronus In Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky... |
Saturnus | Saturn Saturn (mythology) In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in... |
||
| Κυβέλη (Kubelē) | Cybele Cybele Cybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth... |
Magna Mater | Great Mother | ||
| Δημήτηρ | Demeter Demeter In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society... |
Ceres | Earth Mother | ||
| Διόνυσος (Diōnusos) / Βάκχος (Bakkhos) |
Dionysus Dionysus Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete... / Bacchus |
Liber Liber In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Liber , also known as Liber Pater was a god of viticulture and wine, fertility and freedom. He was a patron deity of Rome's plebeians and was part of their Aventine Triad. His festival of Liberalia became associated with free speech and the rights... / Bacchus |
Fufluns Fufluns In Etruscan mythology, Fufluns was a god of plant life, happiness, wine, health and growth in all things. He is the son of Semla. He was worshipped at Populonia .... |
||
| Ενυώ | Enyo Enyo Enyo , 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 | Warlike | ||
| Ηώς | Eos Eos In Greek mythology, Eos is 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.- Greek literature :... |
Aurora Aurora (mythology) Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology and Latin poetry.Like Greek Eos and Rigvedic Ushas , Aurora continues the name of an earlier Indo-European dawn goddess, *Hausos.... / 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 Aurora and Greek Eos.... |
Dawn | |
| Ερινύες | Erinyes Erinyes In Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"... |
Dirae / Furiae | Furies | ||
| Έρις | Eris Eris (mythology) Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona... |
Discordia | Strife | ||
| Έρως | Eros | Cupido / Amor | Cupid Cupid In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros... |
love | |
| Εύρος (Euros) | Eurus | Vulturnus | |||
| Γαία | Gaia Gaia (mythology) Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born... / Gaea |
Terra Terra (mythology) Terra or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology. The names Terra Mater and Tellus Mater both mean "Mother Earth" in Latin; Mater is an honorific title also bestowed on other goddesses... / Tellus |
mother earth | ||
| Γαλινθιάς | Galanthis Galanthis In Greek mythology, Galanthis , daughter of Proetus, was the red-gold haired servant and playmate 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. After seven days she called for assistance from Lucina,... / Galinthias |
Galinthis | Weasel | ||
| Άδης (Hadēs) / Πλούτων (Plouton) |
Hades Hades Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades... / Pluto Pluto (mythology) In ancient Greek religion and myth, Pluto was a name for the ruler of the underworld; the god was also known as Hades, a name for the underworld itself... |
Dis Pater Dis Pater Dis Pater, or Dispater was a Roman god 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 deity.Dis Pater... / Pluto / Orcus Orcus (mythology) Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. In the later tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater, who was the Roman equivalent of Pluto.Orcus was portrayed in paintings in... |
Aita Aita Aita is the name of the Etruscan equivalent to the Greek Hades, the divine ruler of the underworld... |
The Unseen; Wealth | |
| Ήβη | Hebe Hebe (mythology) In Greek mythology, Hēbē is the goddess of youth . She is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe 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 Trojan prince Ganymede... |
Iuventas | Juventas | ||
| Εκάτη (Hekatē) | Hecate Hecate Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony... |
Trivia Trivia (mythology) Trivia in Roman mythology was the goddess who "haunted crossroads, graveyards, and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft, she wandered about at night and was seen only by the barking of dogs who told of her approach." She was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hecate, the goddess of... |
she who has power far off | ||
| Ήλιος | Helios Helios Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. 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 Aplu Aplu may mean:*Aplu, a Hurrian deity of the plague: cf. Luwian Apaliunas, Etruscan Apulu, Greek Apollo.*An acronym for the Association_of_Public_and_Land-Grant_Universities .... |
Sun | |
| Ήφαιστος (Hḗphaistos) | Hephaestus Hephaestus Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Gods - or else, according to some accounts, of Hera alone. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes... |
Vulcanus | Vulcan Vulcan (mythology) Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology... |
Sethlans | metalwork, forges |
| Ήρα | Hera Hera Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her... |
Iuno | Juno Juno (mythology) Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, 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 Mars and Vulcan. Juno also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is Hera... |
Uni Uni (mythology) Uni was the supreme goddess of the Etruscan 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.... |
mariage, family |
| Ηρακλής (Hēraklē̂s) | Heracles Heracles Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus... |
Hercules Hercules Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene... |
Hercle | Glory of Hera Hera Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her... |
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| Ερμής | Hermes Hermes Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and... |
Mercurius | Mercury Mercury (mythology) Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces... |
Turms Turms In Etruscan mythology, Turms was the equivalent of Greek Hermes, god oftrade and the messenger god between people and gods.Turms is also a character in a book by Mika Waltari "Turms the Immortal" which takesplace at the end times of Etruscan civilization.... |
Mercurius related to Latin merx (merchandise), mercari (to trade), and merces (wages); Mercury was among other attributes the patron of commerce |
| Έσπερος (Hesperos) | Hesperus Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and is the brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star. Hesperus' Roman equivalent is Vesper... |
Vesper Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and is the brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star. Hesperus' Roman equivalent is Vesper... |
evening, supper, evening star, west | ||
| Εστία | Hestia Hestia In Greek mythology Hestia , first daughter of Cronus and Rhea , is the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum... |
Vesta Vesta (mythology) Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. Vesta's presence was symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples... |
hearth, fireplace | ||
| Υγεία | Hygeia | Salus | Health | ||
| Ύπνος | Hypnos Hypnos In Greek mythology, Hypnos was the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thánatos ; their mother was the primordial goddess Nyx . His palace was a dark cave where the sun never shines. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnogogic plants... |
Somnus | Sleep | ||
| Ειρήνη (Eirēnē) | Irene | Pax Pax (mythology) In Roman mythology, Pax [paqs] 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. She was depicted in art with olive branches, a cornucopia and a scepter... |
Peace | ||
| Ianus | Janus Janus (mythology) In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past... |
Ani | Archway, indecision | ||
| Λάχεσις (Lakhesis) | Lachesis Lachesis (mythology) In Greek mythology, Lachesis was the second of the Three Fates, or Moirae, also known as the Triple Moon Goddesses or the Lunar Dieties. Each phase of the moon representing each of the fates - Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos... |
Decima | Disposer of Lots, luck | ||
| Λητώ | Leto Leto In Greek mythology, Leto is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus... |
Latona | |||
| Μοίραι (Moirai) | Moirae Moirae The Moirae, Moerae or Moirai , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny . Their number became fixed at three... / Moerae |
Parcae / Fatae | Fates | Apportioners | |
| Μούσαι (Mousai) | Musae | Camenae Camenae In Roman mythology, the Camenae were originally goddesses of childbirth, wells and fountains, and also prophetic deities.There were four Camenae:*Carmenta*Egeria*Antevorta, or Porrima... |
Muse Muse The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths... s |
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| Νίκη | Nike Nike (mythology) In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of Kratos , Bia , and Zelus... |
Victoria Victoria (mythology) In ancient Roman religion, Victoria was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, and was associated with Bellona. She was adapted from the Sabine agricultural goddess Vacuna and had a temple on the Palatine Hill... |
Victory | ||
| Νότος (Notos) | Notus | Auster | |||
| Νυξ (Nuks) | Nyx | Nox | Night | ||
| Οδυσσεύς | Odysseus Odysseus Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle.... |
Ulixes / Ulysses | Uthuze | ||
| Παλαίμων (Palaimōn) | Palaemon Palaemon Palaemon may refer to:In Greek mythology:*Palaemon, epithet of Heracles*Palaemon, son of Heracles by either Autonoe or Iphinoe*Palaemon, the name that Melicertes received upon deification... |
Portunes Portunes In Roman mythology, Portunes was a god of keys, doors and livestock. He protected the warehouses where grain was stored... |
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| Πάν | Pan Pan (mythology) Pan , in Greek religion and mythology, is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein , meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs,... |
Faunus Faunus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Faunus was the horned god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan.... |
nature, the wild | ||
| Silvanus Silvanus (mythology) Silvanus was a Roman tutelary deity of woods and fields. As protector of forests , he especially presided over plantations and delighted in trees growing wild. He is also described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, protecting in particular the boundaries of fields... |
Selvans Selvans In Etruscan mythology, Selvans was god of the woodlands, cognate with Roman Silvanus. His name is mentioned on the Piacenza Liver, a bronze model of a sheep's liver used for divinatory rites.... |
of the woods | |||
| Περσεφόνη | Persephone Persephone In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld.... |
Proserpina Proserpina Proserpina or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose story is the basis of a myth of Springtime. Her Greek goddess' equivalent is Persephone. The probable origin of her name comes from the Latin, "proserpere" or "to emerge," in respect to the growing of grain... |
Proserpine | to emerge | |
| Φήμη | Pheme Pheme In Greek mythology, Pheme was the personification of fame and renown, her favour being notability, her wrath being scandalous rumors. She was a daughter either of Gaia or of Hope, was described as "she who initiates and furthers communication" and had an altar at Athens... |
Fama | Fame/Rumor | ||
| Φωσφόρος (Phōsphoros) | Phosphorus Phosphorus Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks... |
Lucifer Lucifer Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"... |
Light Bearer | ||
| Ποσειδών | Poseidon Poseidon Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon... |
sea, water, horses | Neptune Neptune (mythology) Neptune was the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology and religion. He is analogous with, but not identical to, the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over one of the three realms of the universe,... |
Nethuns Nethuns In Etruscan mythology, Nethuns was the god of wells, later expanded to all water, including the sea. The Etruscan conception of the deity affected Roman Neptune... |
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| Πρίαπος (Priapos) | Priapus Priapus In Greek mythology, Priapus or Priapos , was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his absurdly oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism... |
Mutinus Mutunus | |||
| Ρέα | Rhea Rhea (mythology) Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian... |
Magna Mater / Ops Ops In ancient Roman religion, Ops or Opis, was a fertility deity and earth-goddess of Sabine origin.-Mythology:Her husband was Saturn, the bountiful monarch of the Golden Age. Just as Saturn was identified with the Greek deity Cronus, Opis was identified with Rhea, Cronus' wife... (See Cybele, above) |
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| Σάτυροι (Saturoi) / Πάνες | 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. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing.... s / Panes (See Pan, above) |
Fauni | Faun Faun The faun is a rustic forest god or place-spirit of Roman mythology often associated with Greek satyrs and the Greek god Pan.-Origins:... s |
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| Σελήνη | Selene Selene In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon".... |
Luna | Moon | ||
| Σεμέλη | Semele Semele Semele , in Greek mythology, daughter of the Boeotian hero Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. In another version of his mythic origin, he is the son of Persephone... |
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 Puphluns as he embraces her beside the presence of Apulu who... |
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| Θάνατος | Thanatos Thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the daemon personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person... |
Mors Mors (mythology) In ancient Roman myth and literature, Mors is the personification of death equivalent to the Greek Thánatos. As the Latin noun for "death", mors, genitive mortis, is of feminine gender, but ancient Roman art is not known to depict Death as a woman. Latin poets, however, are bound by the... |
Leinth Leinth In Etruscan mythology, Leinth is the goddess of death, whose name means "Old Age" or "Old Woman". In art, she was portrayed with the face veiled.... , Charun Charun In Etruscan mythology, Charun acted as one of the psychopompoi of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita... |
Death | |
| Θέμις | Themis Themis Themis is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described as "of good counsel", and is the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb τίθημι, títhēmi, "to put"... |
Iustitia Lady Justice Lady Justice |Dike]]) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.-Depiction:The personification of justice balancing the scales of truth and fairness dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later... |
Justice | law of nature | |
| Τύχη (Tukhe) | Tyche Tyche In ancient Greek city cults, Tyche was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny.... |
Fortuna Fortuna (mythology) Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and personification of luck in Roman religion. She might bring good luck or bad: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Justice, and came to represent life's capriciousness... |
Fortune | Nortia Nortia Nortia is the Latinized name of an Etruscan goddess whose sphere of influence was time, fate, destiny and chance. The Etruscan form was perhaps Nurtia. Variant manuscript readings include Norcia, Norsia, Nercia, and Nyrtia.-Ritual of the nail:... |
Luck; Fortune |
| Ουρανός (Ouranos) | Uranus Uranus (mythology) Uranus , was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus. In Ancient Greek literature, according to Hesiod in his Theogony, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth... |
Caelus Caelus Caelus or Coelus was a primal god of the sky in Roman myth and theology, iconography, and literature... |
Sky | ||
| Vertumnus Vertumnus In Roman mythology, Vertumnus — also Vortumnus or Vertimnus — is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees... |
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 Varro... |
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| Ζέφυρος (Zephuros) | Zephyrus / Zephyr Zephyr Zephyr may refer to:* A light or west wind* Zephyrus, one of the Anemoi and the Greek god of the west wind* Zephyranthes, a plant genus whose species include the zephyr lily* Zephyr , a well-known graffiti artist from New York City... |
Favonius | travel, messengers, communication, inns, welcome, and sometimes thieves | the West Wind; Favorable | |
| Ζεύς | Zeus Zeus In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus... |
Iuppiter / Iovis | Jupiter / Jove | Tinia Tinia Tinia was the god of the sky and the highest god in Etruscan mythology, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus. He was the husband of Thalna or Uni and the father of Heracle.... |
Sky Father |
Interpretatio germanica
Interpretatio germanica is the practice by the Germanic peoplesGermanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
of identifying Roman gods with the names of Germanic deities. According to Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek is an Austrian Germanist and Philologian.Simek studied German literature, philosophy and Catholic theology in the University of Vienna, before becoming a librarian and a docent at the institution. He taught among others in the universities of Edinburgh, Tromsø and Sydney...
, 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
Week-day names
The names of the days of the week from the Roman period have been both named after the seven planets of classical astronomy and numbered, beginning with Monday. In Slavic languages, a numbering system was adopted, but beginning with Monday. There was an even older tradition of names in Ancient...
:
- The day of MarsMars (mythology)Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
is translated as the day of Ziu/Tyr (Tuesday). - The day of MercuryMercury (mythology)Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
is translated as the day of Wodan/OdinOdinOdin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
(Wednesday). - The day of JupiterJupiter (mythology)In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
is translated as the day of Donar/ThorThorIn Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
, though Thor is generally identified in interpretatio romana as HerculesHerculesHercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
. (Thursday) - The day of VenusVenus (mythology)Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
is translated as the day of Frija/FriggFriggFrigg 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" and the queen of Asgard. Frigg appears primarily in Norse mythological stories as a wife and a mother. She is also described as having the power...
. (FridayFridayFriday is the day between Thursday and Saturday. In countries adopting Monday-first conventions as recommended by the international standard ISO 8601, it is the fifth day of the week. It is the sixth day in countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention as in Abrahamic tradition...
)
Simek states that the problematic nature of interpretatio 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 mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
.