2.  Most of the Roman gods and goddesses were a blend of several
religious influences. Many were introduced via the Greek colonies
of southern Italy. Many also had their roots in old religions of the
Etruscans or Latin tribes.
 Often the the old Etruscan or Latin name survived but the deity
over time became to be seen as the Greek god of equivalent or
similar nature. And so it is that the Greek and Roman pantheon
look very similar, but for different names.

3.  Jupiter was king of the Gods. The
eagle was his messenger. His weapon
was the Thunderbolt (thunder and
lightning). All other gods were
terrified of him, although he was a
little scared of his wife Juno! Jupiter,
Neptune and Pluto were the three sons
of Saturn. They divided up the world
between themselves. Jupiter took the
air, Neptune had the sea and Pluto
ruled under the earth, the home of the
Dead.
 Jupiter means Father Jove (Father in
Latin is "pater"). There was a big
temple on the Capitol in Rome
dedicated to Jupiter Optimus
Maximus (which means Jupiter Best
and Greatest). The Romans thought
that Jupiter guarded their city and
looked after them.

4. Title: King of the gods
Greek name: Zeus
Day of the Week: Thursday
Solar system: planet Jupiter
Wonder of the World: Statue at Olympia
Relations: Son of Saturn
Grandson of Uranus
Husband of Juno
Brother of Neptune Brother of Pluto
Many children
English words: Jovial means jolly.

7.  Juno was the wife of Jupiter and
queen of the gods. She was the
goddess of women and marriage.
Her bird was the peacock.
 The Romans believed that every
man had a spirit that looked after
him all his life. This was called
his genius. Some people believed
each man had both a good genius
and a bad genius. Women didn't
have a genius, they had a juno
instead.
 The first day in each month (the
Kalends) belonged to Juno.

8. Title: Queen of the
gods
Greek name: Hera
Month: June
Relations: Wife of
Jupiter
Mother of Mars
Mother of Vulcan
English word
Junoesque means a
large beautiful
woman.

10. Neptune
Neptune
 Neptune was the god of the sea. He
carried a trident, which had three
prongs. He rode a dolphin or a horse.
When the sea is rough enough to
show white tops to the waves, these
are called sea horses. On the right, the
back half of the seahorse is a fish.
 It may seem strange that Neptune was
not a more important god, since the
Roman Empire was based on the
Mediterranean. But the Romans were
poor sailors. When Julius Caesar
invaded Britain, it was considered an
astounding adventure, even though
he was just crossing the English
Channel.

 Neptune was the god of earthquakes.
He was called the Earth-shaker. He
was also the god of horses and horse-
racing. The Romans loved watching
horse-racing and had great race tracks
for chariot racing, such as the Circus
Maximus.

11. Title: God of the sea
Greek name:
Poseidon
Solar system: planet
Neptune
Relations: Son of
Saturn
Grandson of Uranus
Brother of Jupiter
Brother of Pluto
Many children
English words: Jovial
means jolly.

13.  Pluto was the god of the Dead. Romans were
afraid to say Pluto's real name because they
were afraid he might notice them and they
would die.
 Pluto sometimes got confused with the
Greek god, Plutus, the god of wealth. This is
not surprising, since the names sound alike,
and also wealth, like gold, silver or jewels, are
found underground, where Pluto ruled.
 The metal Plutonium is radio-active. It was
discovered soon after the planet Pluto. It is
not only used for nuclear bombs, it is deadly
by itself. It deserves to belong to the god of
Death!

 When someone died, they travelled down to
the Underworld. First, they had to cross the
River of the Dead, called the Styx. Everyone
was buried with a coin, to pay the ferryman,
Charon. Then they had to get past Cerberus,
a fierce dog with three heads, which would
only let the Dead through. Finally they had
to come before the Judges of the Dead. The
only living man to fight Cerberus was
Hercules, the strongest man in the world. He
had to bring Cerberus back from the
Underworld. (He let it go afterwards.)

14. Title: God of Death
Greek name: Hades
Solar system: dwarf planet
Pluto Relations: Son of
Saturn
Brother of Jupiter
Brother of Neptune
Husband of Proserpine
English word Plutonium

16.  Apollo was the god of the sun. Each
day he drove his chariot of fiery horses
across the sky to give light to the
world. Apollo had a son called
Phaethon, who was human. Phaethon
nagged at Apollo to let him borrow the
sun chariot and fly across the sky.
Finally Apollo agreed. Phaethon
proudly drove the sun chariot up into
the sky, but then he lost control of the
horses. The sun chariot dived towards
the earth, burning everything. Finally
Jupiter had to stop him with a thunder
bolt. Apollo was also the god of music,
and played the lyre.
 His most famous temple was at Delphi
in Greece, see right. There, his
priestess would prophesy the future.
But she wasn't easy to understand.
One day, a great king asked the
priestess if he should invade a nearby
kingdom. She said, "If you do this, a
great kingdom will be destroyed." He
thought that she meant he would be
successful, and so started the war. He
lost disastrously. It was his own
kingdom that got destroyed!

17. Title: God of the sun
Greek name: Apollo is a
Greek name
Day of the Week: Sunday
Solar system: Sun
Relations: Son of Jupiter
Brother of Diana
Wonder of the World:
Colossus at Rhodes

19.  Diana was the goddess of the
moon. Her twin brother
Apollo was the god of the
sun.
 Diana carried a bow and
arrows. She was the goddess
of hunting. Once she was
bathing in a forest pool. A
hunter called Actaeon spied
on her. So Diana turned him
into a stag and he was
chased by his own hunting
dogs.
 She helped women in child-
birth, because her mother
Leto gave birth to her and
her twin brother so easily.

20. Title: Goddess of the
moon
Greek name: Artemis
Day of the Week: Monday
Solar system: Moon
Relations: Son of Jupiter
Sister of Apollo
Wonder of the World:
Temple at Ephesus

22.  The Romans were great soldiers
and thought Mars, the god of War,
was very important. They said that
he was the father of Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome.
When Romulus and Remus were
babies, they were left to die. But
they were found by a mother wolf,
who suckled them. Romulus gave
his name to Rome.
 The Campus Martius or field of
Mars, was next to the river Tiber in
in ancient Rome. It was used to
train soldiers and hold horse races.
March was called after Mars
because that was when the soldiers
started fighting again after winter.

 Here is a painting of Mars and
Venus. Mars is fast asleep. The little
fauns with goats legs are playing
with his armour. One of them is
just about to blow his horn very
loud in Mars's ear. I wonder what
will happen next!

23. Title: God of war
Greek name: Ares
Month: March
Day of the Week:
Tuesday Relations: Son
of Jupiter
Father of Romulus and
Remus
English word: Martial
means warlike.
Solar system: planet
Mars

25.  Venus was born in the sea and
first came to shore at Cyprus,
floating on a scallop shell.
 There was a Golden Apple with
"For the Fairest" written on the
side. Venus, Juno and Minerva all
wanted it. They decided to let a
man, Paris, judge between them.
They were all so beautiful that he
couldn't make his mind up. So
Juno said she would make him
powerful. Minerva said she would
make him wise. Venus offered him
Helen, the most beautiful woman
in the world. He chose Venus, and
Helen. Unfortunately Helen was
married to someone else, and
when Paris carried her off to his
home at Troy, her husband came
with his allies to get her back.
Paris and all his family were killed
and Troy was destroyed. One of
the few Trojans to survive the
Trojan War was Aeneas, the son of
Venus. He went to Italy, and was
the ancestor of the Romans.

26. Title: Goddess of
love
Greek name:
Aphrodite
Day of the Week:
Friday Relations:
Daughter of Jupiter
Mother of Cupid
Solar system: planet
Venus

28.  Cupid was the mischievous little
god of love. His weapon was a bow,
and anyone hit by one of his
arrows fell madly in love. Cupid
once scratched himself with one of
his own arrows by mistake. He was
looking at a woman called Psyche,
and fell in love with her. He knew
that his mother Venus would be
angry, so he hid Psyche away and
told her that she must never try to
look at him. Psyche thought that
she had been captured by a
hideous monster, and, of course,
couldn't resist taking a peep. She
was enchanted by the first sight of
her handsome husband, and while
playing with his arrows, scratched
herself as well. So now they were
both desperately in love with each
other, see right. Venus drove
Psyche away, and she had many
adventures before she was allowed
to stay with Cupid, and Venus
became reconciled to being a
mother-in-law!

29. Title: God of love
Greek name: Eros
Relations: Son of Venus
English word: Cupidity
means greediness.

31.  Mercury was the god of travellers.
He had a winged hat and sandals,
so he could fly. He carried a staff
which also has wings and two
snakes winding round it.
 He was also the god of thieves.
When he was only a few days old,
he stole the cows of Apollo.
Mercury made special shoes for
the cows and made them walk
backwards, so no-one could
follow their tracks. Eventually
Apollo noticed that Mercury was
playing a new musical
instrument called a lyre, strung
with cow-gut and worked out
that Mercury had stolen his cows.
Apollo was furious with Mercury,
but thought the lyre was
wonderful. So they agreed that
Mercury could keep the cows and
Apollo would get the lyre.
 Mercury was also the god of
science and business. I think that
he's the god of the Internet as
well!

32. Title: Messenger of the
gods
Greek name: Hermes
Day of the Week:
Wednesday
Solar system: planet
Mercury Relations: Son
of Jupiter
Son of Maia
English words: Mercury or
Quicksilver is a liquid
metal.
Mercurial means light-
hearted and active.

34.  Minerva was the goddess of wisdom. Her
symbol was the owl. Her Greek name was
Athene, and Athens was her city.
 She had a strange birth. One day, Jupiter
had a bad headache. Nothing would cure it.
Eventually Vulcan split open Jupiter's head.
Out jumped Minerva in armour with shield
and spear! Jupiter felt much better
afterwards. Don't try this at home.

 Minerva was the goddess of arts and crafts.
She was particularly good at weaving. Once
a woman called Arachne wove a beautiful
picture. Minerva tried to find something
wrong with it. When she couldn't, she tore
it up and turned Arachne into a spider. The
spider still weaves beautiful webs.
 Minerva helped the hero Perseus to kill the
gorgon Medusa, who was a monster with
snakes instead of hair. Anyone who looked
at a gorgon turned to stone! But Minerva
told Perseus to look at Medusa's reflection
in a polished shield. That way he could cut
the head off without looking directly at the
gorgon. He gave the head to Minerva, who
put it on her shield, so it would turn her
enemies to stone.

35. Title: Goddess of
wisdom
Greek name: Athene
Relations: Daughter
of Jupiter

37.  Ceres was the Earth goddess and
goddess of corn. She carried the
cornucopia, a horn full of vegetables
and fruit. Her daughter was
Proserpine.
 Pluto fell in love with Proserpine, and
carried her off to the Underworld.
Ceres searched everywhere, but
couldn't find her. Eventually Ceres
refused to let the plants grow any
more, and everyone begun to die of
hunger. So Pluto admitted he had
Proserpine, but said she could only go
back home if she had eaten none of
the food of the Dead. Proserpine had
eaten almost nothing, as she was so
sad at being kept underground, but
she had eaten six seeds from a
pomergranate. This means that she
could go home, but had to return to
her husband for six months every year.
When this happens, Ceres stops
everything growing, and winter comes.

38. Ceres Proserpine Title: the
Earth goddess
Greek name: Demeter
Relations: Mother of
Proserpine
English word: breakfast
cereal Title: goddess of
the Underworld
Greek name: Persephone
Relations: Daughter of
Ceres
Wife of Pluto

40. Vulcan was the smith of
the gods, and made
Jupiter's thunderbolts.
His smithy was in the
volcano Etna, in Sicily,
where you can see fire
from his forge. Once, he
made Jupiter angry, and
Jupiter threw him out of
Heaven. Vulcan fell to
Earth and broke both legs,
which made him lame. This
picture from a Greek vase
shows him in a sort of
winged wheel-chair.
He made women of gold to
help him in his smithy -
possibly the first robots!

41. Title: the smith god
Greek name:
Hephaestus
Relations: Son of
Jupiter
English word:
volcano

43.  Bacchus was the god of wine. He
was accompanied by Maenads,
or wild dancing women, see
right. They carried the thyrsus, a
staff of giant fennel, covered
with ivy leaves, with a pine cone
on top. There is a wonderful
description of a Bacchanalia, or
feast in honour of Bacchus, in
Prince Caspian, one of the
Narnia books, by C.S.Lewis.
 Bacchus was also the god of the
theatre, since the first plays in
Greece were performed in his
honour. There were tragedies,
serious stories about heroes and
gods, and comedies, which
laughed at politicians and were
often very rude!

44. Title: God of wine
Greek name:
Dionysos
Relations:

46.  Saturn was god of Time and
his weapon was a scythe. He
is called Old Father Time.
 Saturn ruled the gods before
Jupiter. Jupiter, Neptune and
Pluto were his children. They
represent Air, Water and
Death, the three things that
Time cannot kill.
 The Romans had a mid-
winter festival in honour of
Saturn, called the Saturnalia.
It lasted seven days, and
there was much
merrymaking. Public
business was suspended and
schools were closed. Parents
gave toys to their children
and there was a public
banquet. That is why we eat
so much at Christmas, give
presents and go to parties.

47. Saturn
Title: God of time
Greek name: Cronos
Day of the Week:
Saturday
Solar system: planet
Saturn Relations: Son
of Uranus and Gaia
Father of Jupiter
Father of Pluto
Father of Neptune
English word:
Saturnine means serious
and gloomy.

49.  Vesta was the goddess of the hearth,
the centre of the Roman home.
 She was a quiet well-behaved
goddess, who didn't join in the
arguments and fights of the other
gods.
 She was protector of the sacred
flame, which was supposed to have
been brought from Troy to Rome by
the hero Aeneus. The flame was relit
every March 1st and had to be kept
alight all year. If this flame ever
went out, disaster would fall on
Rome. The flame was kept alive by
the Vestal Virgins. These priestesses
were chosen when they were as
young as six years old. They had to
stay as priestesses for thirty years,
and were not allowed to marry.
 In Roman homes, every day, during
a meal, a small cake was thrown on
the fire for Vesta. It was good luck if
it burnt with a crackle

50. Title: Goddess of the
home
Greek name: Hestia
Relations: Sister of
Jupiter

52.  Janus kept the gate of Heaven,
so he became the god of doors
and gates. He was very
important, because a house is
only as strong as its doors.
 His temple in Rome had its
doors thrown open in times of
War, and closed in times of
Peace. They were usually open!
The Emperor Augustus closed
the doors of the temple, since
he brought peace to the Roman
Empire.
 Janus had two faces, one
looking forwards and one
looking back, since a door can
let you in, or let you out. The
first month of the year is
named after him. In January,
we look back at the last year,
and forward to the next.

53. Title: God of doors
Month: January

55.  Uranus was a shadowly figure
right at the start of time. He came
before Saturn, who came before
Jupiter. He was not worshipped by
the Romans, so there is no picture
of him.
 Uranus was the sky, and his wife
Gaia was the earth. They had
many children, including giants.
They had a violent argument and
split up. Ever since the earth and
sky have been apart.
 Uranium is a radio-active metal
used for nuclear power. It was
called after the planet Uranus, as
it was discovered about the same
time.

56. Title: Uranus was god
of the sky and Gaia
was goddess of the
earth
Greek name: Uranus
and Gaia are Greek
names
Solar system: planet
Uranus Relations:
Parents of Saturn
English word:
Uranium

58.  On the right, this is a picture of
Flora, the goddess of flowers,
rather than Maia, the goddess of
Growth, but they were similar
goddesses.
 In the Middle Ages, people went
out Maying on the first of May.
They would go to the fields and
woods, collecting flowers and
enjoying the sunshine. This
might have been in honour of
Maia, the goddess of May, or
Flora, the goddess of flowers.
Today, we still have the first
Monday in May as a holiday.
Sometimes people dance round a
maypole.

59. Title: Goddess of growth
Month: May
Relations: Mother of
Mercury
English word: May is the
hawthorn in flower.