MEPX
Chapter 3 of 10All chapters

Chapter 3 of 10

Roman mythology

Adoption and founding.

Equivalents

Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Mars and Venus map onto Greek figures, though Roman religion also had older household and state cults of its own.

  • Ritual correctness mattered more than belief in Roman practice.
  • Emperors were incorporated into state religion after death.

Founding myths

Romulus and Remus, and Virgil's Aeneid tracing Rome to Troy, gave the empire a prestigious past and a moral justification for rule.