Differences and Similarities of Greek and Roman Gods free essay sample

There are also tales of how the roman counterparts came to be. Such tales as how Cronus the Greek God became Saturn the Roman God of Agricultural and Fertility. When studying Mythology it is easy to see that the Ancient Greeks and Romans did not idealize their Gods, their Gods felt the same emotions as mortals, they just felt them stronger and their reactions’ where greater than a mere mortals. They welded their powers and strengths to the benefit of themselves and anyone they felt obliged to or favored. They thought little of what their actions aused for the mortals only how it affected them. Cronus was the youngest so of mother earth and father heaven, also known as Gaea and Uranus. Mother Earth had six sons originally but they were so hideous that father heaven imprisoned them in a deep hole. After mother earth gave birth to six more children she challenged them to punish their father for his evil. Her youngest son Cronus took the challenge. He dismembered his father’s manhood and tossed it into the sea. After this he too kept his older hideous siblings locked up and with his other siblings became the titans. He ruled for a time until his sister and also wife bore him six children. He feared the same fate as that of his father and so he swallowed all but the last, the youngest again stood alone. When the last child was born Rhea his wife and sister went to mother earth and asked for help to protect her child. Mother earth agreed and raised Cronus and Rhea’s youngest, Zeus, hidden from his father. Rhea in turn took a rock wrapped in a baby blanket and gave it to Cronus and told him it was his child. He believed her and swallowed it too, leaving Zeus to grow up and one day defeat his father. When Zeus grew up and Cronus discovered he was still alive they fought, Cronus was forced to regurgitate his five other children and the rock. With his siblings and older Uncles, Zeus fought Cronus and the other Titans and in the end forced Cronus to flee. Cronus fled to Latium and here he became known as Saturn, the Roman God and ruler of Latium through marriage. He taught his people to tend the land and became known as the agricultural and fertility god. The era of his rule was known as the Golden Age and they still celebrate Saturn every December during a festival called Saturnalia. The actions of Cronus cut off his fathers manhood resulted in one story of how Aphrodite and Venus came to be. When Cronus removed his father’s manhood and tossed it into the sea, it is said that Aphrodite rose from the sea and came to shore on a conch shell. She is said to be from the mixing of the foam of the sea and the blood of father earth. Being the goddess of love and beauty made her desirable to all men, gods or mortals and at times caused wars, between mortals and between gods and goddesses. She is said to be the mother of Eros, the god of love, Cupid in Roman mythology. As a goddess she possessed many powers and as said earlier, these gods and goddesses did not think anything of wielding their powers in way they pleased. When it was said by others that the mortal, Psyche, was more beautiful than Aphrodite she set out to punish her, (this is just one version of the story as there are many). This tale is told with for both Aphrodite and Venus and their sons Eros and Cupid, the mortal in question Psyche has the same name in all tales. Being jealous or wanting to teach her a lesson, Aphrodite/Venus sent Eros/Cupid to shot her with an arrow and make her fall in love with the first man she saw no matter how ugly. When Eros/Cupid went to do this there was a mess up and he ended up falling for the lovely Psyche, not wanting his mother to know he flew her off to his secluded home and kept her there. He told her she could not lay eyes on him and only visited her at night in the dark. She either got curious on her own or was influenced by her jealous sisters, and one night took her oil lamp and looked at Eros/Cupid while he slept. He woke to find her staring at him and angry at her lack of trust and betrayal left her. She went to his mother Aphrodite/Venus and asked for help to get him back. Aphrodite, still angry, sent Psyche on four dangerous and perceivably impossible tasks to prove her worth as a wife to Eros . She was first required to sort a room of grain in a day’s time, with the help of some ants she succeed. Next she had to get water from a water fall; she passed this test with the help of an eagle. She was challenged to get the fleece from a ferocious. Last she was told to go down to the underworld and retrieve a potion from Persephone. She accomplished all these tasks, Eros/Cupid went to Zeus/Jupiter missing his love and asked for help. Zeus/Jupiter listen to the tale and granted him his wish and made Psyche an immortal Goddess and they lived happily ever after. Venus has her own tales as well. She is viewed in one version, as the mother of Rome. In this story her son Aeneas, fathered by Anchises, flees from Troy after the Greeks gained control and founds Rome. This is another link between the Greeks and Romans in mythology. Eros/Cupid is in most cases, is thought of as the son to Aphrodite/Venus, fathered by Ares/Mars, the God of War, who Aphrodite/Venus had an affair with and in some tales was married to. Eros/Cupid was the God of Love and fertility. Some tales say he is responsible for Heaven/Uranus and Earth/Gaea coming together. His arrows were of two types and could either make a mortal or God for in love with one type or make them indifferent with another arrow. He was often seen as mischievous as he dealt his arrows as he saw fit and sometimes as his mother Aphrodite/Venus saw fit. He finally fell victim to his own arrow, while on an errand for his mother and fell for Psyche. These Gods though mythical have had influence on people since their conception through verbal tales and literature used to explain how things came to be. The tales told of how ancient Greeks, while they were respective of the gods powers, did not see them as role models, yet symbols and figures to effect life. The Greek Gods seem to carry over to the Romans some with different names and different tales. Some were just borrowed as is and praised similarly. The Roman Gods of mythology as many other things the Romans developed have leaked into present day society. Noting the names of the gods and the names of the present day solar system planet names and how each planet is represented by a god’s name, right down to tiny Pluto (no longer considered a planet).