Poll: Roman vs. Greek Mythology

[legion431]

Greek mythology always seemed more interesting to me.

Roman mythology is Greek mythology. The saying went, during ancient Roman times, "Greece has conquered her conquerer," because the Romans were basically just the Greek's in a spiffy new package, with a more organized front, and the same mythology and everyone named differently.

Sorry if I was rude.

No problem. The names just sound better to me.

 

[Cakes]

Apparently the Romans had shit for creativity, so I feel like I have to give this one to the Greeks.

The Romans turned the Greek religion into thier own Religion. Mostly by swapping names around and executing anyone who didnt agree with them, like almost every European religion.

I'm not aware of any major religious persecution among the European (i.e. Pagan) religions, aside from Early Christianity's trouble in the Roman Empire, since they refused to acknowledge the Imperial Cult.

Christians were persecuted because they worshipped one god and one god only, which was against roman law as it binded people to an authority outside Roman control which was dangerous to the empire. The Romans religion was not a cult, many people embraced it very loosely, there are recorded incidents of many politicians being atheist's and accepting religion only for political purposes.

Yes, their monotheism which prevented them from participating in the Imperial Cult. I'm a little interested in how you seem to justify their persecution.

Imperial Cult does not refer to the entirety of the Roman religion, and is the proper term for the worship of a divine monarch that Rome had at this time.

 

[Smokej]

K I give up! nobody seems to care as same general ignorance is comeing up again an again, don't quote me on anything, I dont care I should of known better to think anyone would listen on a net forum! epic fail

hehe when i was younger i kinda had the same attitude, but now as a professional "smartypants" (aka teacher ) i'm pretty relaxed in those situations. Yeah it's the internet but even here there are alot of decent people who can value a good contribution...

 

[Daveman]

Greek wins any day.

Also, my Classics studying friend tells me that philosphy seriously stopped progressing when the romans took over greece as latin was such a shit language that it didn't allow them to communicate their ideas adequetely compared to greek.

 

[Agayek]

roman mythology is just greek mythology with different names, so on principle I'd have to say greek

To be fair, there actually is a fairly significant amount of original content in Roman myths. The big stuff they took from the Greeks, but they did invent a fair number of their own myths/legends/gods.

 

[mikespoff]

Since the planets are named for Roman mythology, Greek mythology avoids confusion with astronomy and space science. Pluto, Charon and Eris all come from Greek mythology, but the planet names come from Roman.

 

[gavinshai]

So where is the vote for neither? Norse or Egyptian is where its at. I'd say Norse>Egyptian>Roman>Greek.

Roman mythology being a derivative of Greek is a solid argument sure yet I'd say both are subpar to Norse and Egyptian myth.

 

[Smokej]

"the Fall of Troy was 1184 BC...

It's Mythology so who cares if it makes sense "

MOST mythology is based loosely on real events when so much time has passed and its been retold some many times its been blurred (there are some exceptions) and especially in Greek mythology its the only links we have to the ruins and artefacts left behind as its before recorded history. so it does matter, many people have spent years trying to work out what they meen

also nobody knows the true date of the fall of troy where ever you got that is BULLS**T

I was just stating the traditional dating (which is outdated today but gives an indication) of the end of the trojan war. I'm well aware of the problems of the author question and the historic authenticity of homers works and their corresponding events. But that wasn't the point of the posting... It was just a satiric attempt (which was probably lost as i'm not that well versed in the linguistic nuances of english, i'm a bloody Kraut... ) to explain the time difference between a possible landing of Aeneas and the introduction of greek Religion into the cultural circle of the Latins...

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

Pre-Christian Roman Mythology is just an adaptation from Greek Mythology, so the question is somewhat redundant.

And if we're talking about Post-Christian Roman Mythology... Greek wins.

 

[TermOfEndearment]

At first glance I said "Oh thats easy. Greek for sure because they invented it, and the romans literally stole and renamed their gods anyway."

But after I thought about it I realized something: a lot of the traditions and true humanization of the gods came from the romans. The greeks really acknowledged them. But the romans made them fun. They killed to please them (A LOT), they built some of the worlds most beautiful structures for them, and all around made some pretty badass stories for the rest of the world. So simply due to their inspirational effect I'm gonna have to give it to the Romans.

Vivat Rex!

 

[Mana Fiend]

Am I wrong but didn't the romans copy greek mythology? I'll find out in July when I take it up in university.

A very wise choice. I'm just finishing off a Classical Studies degree at Liverpool. One piece of advice: Take a language. I didn't (though I suck at spoken, didn't think it's all written), and regretting it. Ancient Greek is meant to be great and easy to boot.

With that said, I'm going to go down the Greek route. Greek Tragedy is amazing and just shows the wide range of characters. I always really liked Tiresias. and yes, the Romans did basically take the names and change them.

That said, there are additional figures, such as Aeneas. He's a Trojan, mentioned in Homer's Iliad, who is later fleshed out in one of the foundation myths of Rome, and is the main character in Virgil's Aeneid.

Also, the Greeks tended to only explain about Troy and bits of Persia in their mythology. The Roman mythology involves a lot more places (Greece, Troy, Carthage, and Italy itself). Then again, they had a bigger empire.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Arn't they essentially identical? Are you just asking if I prefer the Greek or Roman names? Ugh the Roman ones, mostly because I'm more familiar with them. The mythology I prefer is of course modern day mythologies, though (comics FTW).

 

[DalekJaas]

Roman mythology IS Greek mythology, there is very little unique Roman mythology, and most of that comes the descendants of Troy settling where Rome would be.

Poll is fail, you are asking people to vote for the same thing, unless the names really matter to some people.

 

[Stephanos]

Meh, it's a moot point because Rome as a city/empire pretty much grew up with those myths. Copying or stealing does not apply, especially since Roman authors added plenty of original stuff themselves.

Plus I'll take my Ovid over Hesiod or Apollonius any day if I want to dip into classical mythology.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

I went with Greek, mostly because I tend to like the names better.

That said, I do like a lot of the syncretist stuff that came out of Roman religious assimilationism.

(Big lol at the people assuming that the Greeks were some superstitious group of primitives compared to the logical, reasonable Romans. Reminder: there were more Greeks and Romans than just famous philosophers.)

 

[Throwitawaynow]

K I give up! nobody seems to care as same general ignorance is comeing up again an again, don't quote me on anything, I dont care I should of known better to think anyone would listen on a net forum! epic fail

These people arn't ignorant they are a fountain of wisdom. I wish you would write more, as I am fascinated and actually do want to hear more (In PM if you don't want to post in the thread.) I don't know much about it.

Pre-Christian Roman Mythology is just an adaptation from Greek Mythology, so the question is somewhat redundant.

And if we're talking about Post-Christian Roman Mythology... Greek wins.

Rome founded rougly 1000 BC, Greek conquests in 281 BC. Christianity at 100 AD. Adaptation by constantine in 400 AD.

So, the Romans had no mythology for 700+ years, and greek only mythology for 300-400 years. Post-Christian Roman Mythology meaning strictly Christianity, as there is no half-way about being Christian. "Yeah I'm Christian I hold that Jesus is the son of the one true and only God, but on alternating weekends I give a tribute to Bacchus as I do love my wine."

I'm taking notes, I hope everyone else is, these people are enlightening.

I mean the differences in personalities, things that they represent, and the new Gods that Greece did not have is so minor it's redundant to compare them.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

roman mythology is just greek mythology with different names, so on principle I'd have to say greek

since this is 90% true , because the only roman part of mythology is mainly forgotten or ignored, i agree with that. The only difference is a spiritistic cult of the ancients that is not really a true pantheon of any kind.


But actually i have to say, i might give my vote to the romans, because their policy was "hey worship whatever you want, as long as you do worship the gods we have think are the right ones Plus yours....and when your ones are cool we add them to our pantheon.
so yeah points to the romans