Greek and Roman Gods

“Mythology is a body of stories told to explain the world and its mysteries,” Doctor Scott A. Leonard explains in his article, “Mythology”. Before the knowledge to provide scientific reasoning towards the world’s events, people told myths about heroes, gods and goddesses to explain natural events. (Leonard, “Mythology”). In mythology, most stories are connected and explain another myth, (Stapleton 42). According to the article “Roman Gods”, the twelve greatest gods and goddess of Rome were parallel to the twelve Olympian gods in Greek Mythology. Many of the Roman gods were believed to have been involved in founding Rome (“Roman gods”).

The Greek god, Zeus was King and father of all the gods and the sky (“Principal Greek and Roman Gods”). Zeus was brothers to Poseidon and Hades whose parents were Cronus and Rhea. Zeus was also the protector and ruler of mankind. He was the weather god and maintained customary laws on Earth (Stapleton 212). He led the twelve major Greek gods and goddesses and they were called the Olympians. Zeus was associated with rain, thunder and lightning and the Greeks believed he was an all-seeing and all-knowing god. Zeus was always seen as the father of the world (Phillips, “Zeus”). Author, E. M. Berens, states that the Roman God, Jupiter is often confused with the Greek God of Zeus (50). The Roman god Jupiter was the god of light and the sky god of Italy. The Romans believed he was the giver of victory and the force of union in the community. He protected the state during war and maintained its well-being in peace (Stapleton 126). Jupiter, like most of the other Roman Gods had no mythology of his own and was given Zeus’ when the Romans started to associating Jupiter with Zeus (Stapleton 127). Unlike Zeu...

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