The Romans took most of their mythological ideas directly from the conquered Hellinistic Greeks. They took they're gods, and changed their names. Ex. Zeus became Jupiter, Posieden (sp?) became Neptune, Hades became Pluto. The Roman's also portrayed they're gods as perfect, whereas the Grecian equivalents had several decided flaws. Example: Zeus and his immoral behavior. Roman statues of they're gods showed them as perfect beings. The Romans appreciated the more practical gods, such as Mars/Ares the god of war, and Demeter, the god of harvest.
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
Shadow Stalker said this in post #1 : The Romans took most of their mythological ideas directly from the conquered Hellinistic Greeks. They took they're gods, and changed their names. Ex. Zeus became Jupiter, Posieden (sp?) became Neptune, Hades became Pluto. The Roman's also portrayed they're gods as perfect, whereas the Grecian equivalents had several decided flaws. Example: Zeus and his immoral behavior. Roman statues of they're gods showed them as perfect beings. The Romans appreciated the more practical gods, such as Mars/Ares the god of war, and Demeter, the god of harvest.
The Romans were even more fascinating than that, when they conquered a neighbouring people they aqquired their Gods and bought them back to Roman and added thenm to the pantheon of Gods they worshipped. thus trying to add the protection of additional Gods to their own , and making their state the religious successor to the state they had conquered.
The adoption of Greek gods is a simplification, of what the Romans did. it is ironic then that it was in this tradition that they finally, aqquired their last God..... Christ!
+Most people demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." -Soren Kierkegaaard.
Romans have some mythologies of their own. Some of them were
based on events that occured in the remote past. I wish to
give an example for this. The Aeneid by Virgil is the
largest epic of ancient Europe:
Connected with the cult of Aeneas was that of Anna Perenna.
When the plebians took refuge on the Mons Sacer, she brought
them food to eat in the guise of an old woman. Annona was
the goddess who was prayed to have abundance in grain.' In
India, Goddess Anna Poorna is peculiar to the Andhras. Many
Andhra women are named after this goddess. The name is
rarely heard outside Andhra Pradesh. A legend connected to
her says that once upon a time in remote antiquity there was
famine in the regions around Varanasi and food became
scarce. Goddess Parvati came in the guise of an old woman
named Anna Poorna and gave food to the people who took up
residence in the holy temple city Varanasi. Andhras pray to
goddess Anna Poorna to give abundance in grain.
(1) The god of love in Telugu literature
is called Kaamudu, the word is cognate
with Cupid.
(2) In some old European drawings, the
Cupid is shown wearing blind-folds.
Gamta, a word which is cognate with
Cupid, means 'blind-folds' in Telugu.
(3) Cupid is shown shooting arrows in to
hearts of persons to generate love. The
ancient texts of India say that heart is
the seat of love. Gumde, a word which is
cognate with Cupid, means 'heart' in
Telugu.
(4) Cupid is described as a small child.
Gumta, a word which is cognate with
Cupid, means 'a small child' in Telugu.
Many cognate words have formed due to the interaction.
Some are given below. The second one is a Telugu word
having the same meaning which is being used for more
than a 1000 years:
Many widely located goups of people claim to be descendants
of Aeneas. I belong to Padmasali caste among Andhras in
India. People of my caste also claim the same.
05-20-2004 08:47 PM
