PRESENTS

The basic mythology of Rome was borrowed from the Greeks, though later Romans also borrowed from the Egyptians and some of the religions of Asia Minor and the Middle East as the size of the Roman Empire increased. When the Romans took over the Greek gods, they gave them different names and sometimes combined them with other gods of their own.

The Romans changed the names of ten of the 12 gods of Mount Olympus to Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), Neptune (Poseidon), Vesta (Hestia), Mars (Ares), Minerva (Athena), Venus (Aphrodite), Mercury (Hermes), Diana (Artemis), and Vulcan (Hephaestus). Apollo and Pluto kept their Greek names, but Pluto was not referred to as Hades by the Romans.

The Romans also continued to worship vague powers called the Numina, but these were not thought of as having shape or form. One of the Numina was Janus, the god of doorways and of good beginnings. He was sometimes portrayed as facing in two opposite directions. He was often the first god whose name was invoked in worship rituals. The month of January was named for him.

Each family had its own god, or Lar. Originally gods of cultivated fields, the Lares were worshiped by each household at the crossroads where its property joined that of others. Later they were worshiped in houses in association with the Penates, gods of the storeroom. The state also had its Lares?patrons and protectors of the city who were depicted as men wearing military cloaks, carrying lances, and seated with a dog (the symbol of watchfulness) nearby.

Also associated with the household cult was Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The lack of an easy source of fire in ancient communities placed a special premium on the perpetually burning fire in the hearth, or fireplace. The state worship of Vesta was elaborate. Her shrine was usually in a round building built as a symbolic representation of a hearth. The shrine in the Forum at Rome had a perpetual fire that was renewed every year on March 1, the day of the Roman new year. The fire was attended by six priestesses, called Vestal Virgins, who were chosen from girls between the ages of 6 and 10. They served for 30 years, after which they were free to marry.

The Romans worshiped the goddess of grain as Ceres (origin of the word cereal). Her cult of worship was adopted from the Greek colony of Cumae from which the Romans imported grain. Cumae also played a major role in the introduction of the cult of Apollo to Rome. Much later the Emperor Augustus made Apollo his patron.

Augustus also began the cult of the emperor. His assumption of the title Augustus (his real name was Octavian) helped prepare the way for his being declared a god after his death. This tradition had its roots in the Greek belief that if someone bestowed gifts worthy of a god, he should be treated as one. Later the imperial cult became standardized as emperors, no matter how monstrous, declared deification their right. (See also Augustus.)