Roman Mythology

Abstract

Abstract As Greek mythology cannot be separated from its background of indigenous pre-Greek cultures, Roman mythology is intricately influenced by ancient Italic cultures, especially those of other Latin tribes, the non-Indo-European Etruscans, and the Greek colonizers of Sicily and southern Italy. By the beginning of the first millennium b.c.e. several tribes who spoke a form of Latin lived along the Tiber in an area known as Latium Vetus (Old Latium), bordered by the Etruscan and Sabine territories. The Latins were united in the worship of the god Jupiter Latiaris, whose sanctuary was on Mons Albanus, and of the goddess Diana Aricina, whose sacred grove was in Aricia. Elaborate ritual sacrifice was made to Jupiter Latiarus. Diana, whose name is formed from the same root as Jupiter, seems to have been just as important, representing night to Jupiter’s day and also demanding significant sacrifice. Later Diana, like the great goddess of Crete and the Artemis of Anatolia, would be reduced in stature.