Expert: Maria - 12/7/2009

Question
When the Roman empire adopted the gods of Olympus they changed their names (Zeus became Jupiter).  Did the Greeks retain the old names or were they obliged to use the Roman names?

Answer
Hello,

First of all it’s not true that the Romans  simply adopted  the Greek gods of Olympus  and merely changed their names so that Zeus became Latin Iuppiter, Hera became Latin Iuno, Aphrodite became Latin Venus, Ares became Latin Mars, Poseidon became Latin Neptunus, Demeter became Latin Ceres, Hephaestus became Latin Vulcanus, Artemis became Latin Diana, etc.

On the contrary the Roman  gods and goddesses above mentioned, i.e. Iuppiter, Iuno, Diana, Venus, etc.,  existed in Roman mythology long before the Romans borrowed from the Greeks some stories  directed to increase the myths related to those gods/goddesses  in a process of syncretism, as  a fusion of differing systems of religion which was common at that time, when e.g. the Romans borrowed religious elements from the bordering Etruscans too.

For example, the Roman goddess Diana, whose worship in Rome  was on the Aventine Hill, where she was invoked to protect the harvest against storms, was originally an indigenous woodland goddess  of light, animals, vegetation and fertility.  
Only later under Greek influence the original Roman goddess Diana  was equated with Artemis, daughter of Zeus and Leto, and assumed many of her aspects so that she became also a  goddess of the moon, hunting and chastity  who demanded all of her followers to dedicate themselves to purity.

As for your question “Did the Greeks retain the old names or were they obliged to use the Roman names?”, the Greeks retained the Greek names of their gods/goddesses  and were not obliged to use the Roman names even when in 146 BC  Greece was  subdued by the Romans and became a province of the Roman empire.

The Romans in fact were always inclined to tolerate the beliefs, practices, or traits of other peoples subject to their rule, with the only exception of the Christians whose faith sapped the very foundations of the Roman power, i.e. the emperor's authority the Christians did not want to pay homage to. Hence the persecution of Christians.

Best regards,
Maria