Download Greek Mythology and Morals Vs. Roman Mythology and Morals (2).

Running head: Morals of Greek and Roman Mythology
Greek Mythology and Morals vs. Roman Mythology and Morals
Danielle Matuszak
Salt Lake Community College
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Morals of Greek and Roman Mythology
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Greek Mythology and Morals vs. Roman Mythology and Morals
From the ancient and long ago Balkan Peninsula came stories and myths about Gods and
Goddesses. The myths came to life by what some call heroes who defeated the enemy by
outsmarting them and with special powers. Greece and Rome had such a fascination for these
mythological creatures that it governed their lives on a daily basis. The people of Greece
centered a lot of their lives on the beauty of human beings and feeling’s that human beings
posses. From there the myths came about, and so did the Roman belief on what the myths
represented to them. “The Romans were already a superstitious but cynical people; the idea that
the future could be influenced by magical rituals, including sacrifices, and the casting of spells,
fit in very well with their shrewdness and practicality (Daly & Rengel, 2004, table x).” They
used the same base as the Greeks did on their Gods and Goddesses but with a twist, it brought
more personality and distinctiveness to their beliefs. Before the Romans spun their own take on
things they had 3 chief gods that they worshiped. “The Romans paid homage to their gods, in
return for which they expected protection, prosperity, fertility, good health, and so on (Daly &
Rengel, 2004, table x).” Greeks and Roman depicted their Gods and Goddesses differently as
well, the Greek Gods were a bigger, better, and faster version of a human being and a Roman
God were quite the opposite. Morals played a big part in these mythologies because that is how
the people of that time ran their lives. Some examples will be shown of the morality of each side,
and how they viewed myths similarly and differently.
Pandora represents human’s natural curiosity, and how to distinguish right from wrong.
Sometimes curiosity can be good, but on the flip side it can also be a very bad and gloomy thing.
She was given a jar from the Gods that held all of life’s upsets and battles but that didn’t seem to
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stop her “Pandora’s great curiosity overcame a natural fear of what might be inside, and she
broke the seal, releasing sorrow, disease and conflict” (Cotterell, 1997, 2006, p. 68). She was
fearful for what might be but went against that anyways to overcome her undying curiosity for
what was inside the jar. In today’s world that still happens, from the time you are little you learn
a great moral, right from wrong but as people grow older they can’t seem to help themselves they
will go against what is right anyways to get rid of the curiosity in their minds and do the wrong
thing no matter the outcome.
It was believed that Zeus dictated the fate of mankind, and when he thought he should, he
took action. He was the almighty god the leader of the skies who used a lightning bolt as a
weapon to overthrow his father Cronous with the help of his two brothers Hades and Poseidon,
whom of which he saved from their father after he had swallowed up Zeus’s brothers and sisters.
Zeus represents morality in that fate is your own destiny and you choose what to with your life.
Things are not handed to you in his world or ours. For example Zeus had chose to overtake his
father with determination and will power. In life that is all it takes is a push from inside yourself
to take action and pursue your destiny. He was worshiped and looked up to because he went after
what he wanted and got the power to basically rule the Greek world. “He was called the father of
both gods and humans (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 135).” For a very good reason everyone loved
and worshiped the kind of man he was. On the other hand Zeus also depicts a man who
committed a lot unfaithfulness and Adultery towards his wife. He would sleep with multiple
women and had multiple kids from these different women. Adultery in and of itself is something
everyone learns is not to be done it is morally wrong in so many ways. Zeus did what he did
because he could; he was the leader of all and no matter how much it was wrong who was going
to stop him from taking part in those endeavors.
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Hera was said to be the first wife of Zeus, she held “The title of a powerful mother
goddess (Cotterell, 1997, 2006, p. 45).” Which seem to fit her all too well, she had a lot of power
and say amongst the Gods and Goddesses, or so she thought. “Often her fits of jealousy and
quarrelsomeness led to disaster for the gods (Cotterell, 1997, 2006, p. 45).” This is a great
example of morals because her actions caused problems for everyone surrounding her; she was a
jealous person of Zeus and his mistresses. This seems fair due to the fact that her husband was
sleeping with other women and having babies with them, she would yell and scowl the other
women and children even tried to kill one of them, which was ironic because “Hera was the
goddess most concerned with the welfare of women and children (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 61).”
You cannot act like that and except respect or get what you want. People will not put up with that
kind of attitude in the world then and now. Because of her actions Zeus ended up leaving her
then returning later after she pleaded she had turned a new leaf. The moral of her story is treat
people how you want to be treated, it’s that simple, and in return good things will come of it.
Apollo signifies a light at the end of a tunnel, he was a great god worshiped by both
Greeks and Romans. He was great to look at had a childlike personality but brains of a genius.
“Apollo was above all, a god of justice, law, and order (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 12).” He grew
into a man very fast after being born, he got into an altercation with a serpent who tried to kill his
mother when he was younger and they were homeless. By killing the serpent and taking its place
he was able to give any and all answers, “Zeus twice forced Apollo to be the slave of a mortal
man to pay for his crime (Cotterell, 1996, p. 19).” He was intrigued with healing; he tried to
bring a man back to life but was hit with Zeus’ lightning bolt after doing so, in the end he just
wanted to be a better person. Apollo represents the morality in taking ownership of your deeds.
He served his penance for what killing he did do and tried to make right in the end. Sometimes a
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wrong can make a right; people learn from their mistakes he laid the foundation for good deeds
and now even in today’s world we still believe and teach that.
Ares was not a well liked god he was ruthless and mean. He had a hunch on his shoulder
and loved war “the son of Zeus and Hera, was the Greek god of war, and was later identified
with the Roman was god Mars (Cotterell, 1996, p. 19).” He was a lover and adulterer, had two
kids who fought with him in battle. To most people “Ares was disliked because of what he stood
for: the unrestrained cruelty of war. His own father Zeus called him, in the Iliad, ‘most hateful to
me of all the gods who hold olympos’ (Buxton, 2004, p. 83).” he was an outcast to the
Mythological world who loved anything and everything about war. When there was a battle he
was always a part of it whether he won or lost. “The grisly followers of Ares, Zeus’s hatred of
him, and the humiliation and defeats that plagued him all symbolized the horror that the
Athenians felt toward Ares, for personification of senseless war and brutality (Daly & Rengel,
2004, p. 14).” Even his own sister disliked so much that she hurt him while he was at war and
was forced to leave due to the injury. He was actually not a very successful man in battle he was
considered a weakling, and often defeated by those who had more wisdom. Ares was morally
corrupt he definitely did not kill for the greater good; he killed for himself and created chaos
wherever he was. In today’s society we even see problems with war and killings because they
want to not because they have to or that its right thing to do, in most cases it’s not the right thing
to do. His story is a great lesson on morality and war.
The Roman gods are equivalent to the Greek gods in that they are the same type
of God but with a different meaning. For Instance Jupiter in Roman mythology is
equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology. Considering the fact that the Greeks and Romans
did not like each other, the Romans were fascinated with the mythology. But in no way
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were they going to have the exact same gods that was ludicrous to think so. They lived a
much different lifestyle and had different needs and wants than the Greeks did. Let’s
take a look at the Roman side of things and how morals played a role in the world of their
gods.
Jupiter was also said to be a god of the skies “But he later became the protector of
the Roman people and was their powerful ally in war (Cotterell, 1997, 2006, p. 54).”Jupiter was loved by many and followed by many he gave out peace to all and
victory to those who followed him. After Rome changed to a Republic “the religion
changed, and people worshiped Jupiter as the most powerful member of the supreme trio
that included Juno and Minerva (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 75).” Morally Jupiter seems to
be a great guy he fought for his people and what they stood for but also wanted peace and
victory to come of it. You can apply it to today’s world, soldiers who fight in wars do it
to protect and honor our country but at the same time they are fighting to be victorious
and gain some sort of peacefulness. This is a great moral and lesson because everyone
should fight for what’s right if their intentions are in the right place. sticking up for what
you believe in isn’t wrong, Jupiter differs from Zeus in that he was more of a protector of
the people and for war and Zeus was more Egotistical, all about himself and ruling the
sky.
Mercury is a Roman messenger god who looked over the commerce and trade of
the people, two very important aspects of Roman life. They worshiped him because
without trade there was no money and with no money meant no one got paid and the
higher up powers didn’t get money then life was basically over for the people. They
thrived off money and commerce so he was a very well liked and worshiped god, he got
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them probably one of their most important objects in life, money. “He was associated
with peace and prosperity (Cotterell, 1997, 2006, p. 59).” Which is why morally he is a
good representation, we learn through life that it is all about prospering gaining
knowledge of life and all the great aspects life has to offer. He represented taking full
advantage of prosperity and money. It is kind of ironic though that he was associated with
peace when the Romans were very warlike people; they almost thrived off of it. Life was
always about who has the power and who wants it. But Mercury did represent that if you
work hard at what you do you can get what you want this mainly concerns the
commoners and lower class people more than the royalty because they were the ones in
the nitty gritty of the work making life possible for everyone else, I think this way of life
appealed to the Romans because they were getting something great out of worshipping
him.
Juno was the wife of Jupiter and held a very high status in the Roman world. She
was a protector and religious figurehead. “Her name is joined with a variety of titles that
show her special functions in society (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 74).” Juno represented
women and guarded and ensured those during childbirth gave all men and women good
fortune and all good things that came their way were considered to be from Juno herself.
“Rome’s leaders turned to her to support their wars and to help them on diplomatic
missions (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 74).” She was prayed to at temples and was
considered a religious Power. Her morality was that she represented religion and faith,
having faith in your actions and believing in yourself and a higher power. She
represented their conscious and what was right from wrong. She was similar to Pandora
in Greek mythology only thing is she is the good side of listening to your conscious to do
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the right thing. That is moral value that most people need to work on in today’s society,
listening to you and doing what’s right for you and no one else. Whether you are a
religious person or not sometimes there needs to be faith in the fact that someone is
watching over you and if you’re a good person good things will happen to you.
Vesta was the caretaker of the home; she was worshiped in every home in Roman
society. “Primitive Roman religion was a domestic affair, concerned with the welfare of
the family, house, and farm. The focus was the home and the hearth (Daly & Rengel,
2004, p. 132).” It was mostly women that did worship her though; the young women
were the ones in the homes while the men were out hunting and farming. She represents a
very important moral value and that is family values, protecting and watching over your
loved ones. In the end all you have is your family and making sure they are ok should be
the number one priority to people then and now.
Goddess Diana was the protector of all the earth’s beings, from people to forests
and wildlife. She had many followers whom of which were mainly the lower working
class. That was because they were the ones doing all the work in the forests and were
around nature and they learned by worshiping her to not take it for granted. “Women
worshiped her in groves and woods, in temples on the Aventine Hill in ROME, and in
EPHESUS,
an ancient city in ASIA MINOR (Daly & Rengel, 2004, p. 40).” She represents the
moral that respecting the earth and the bounty that comes from it, food. Without food
humans could not survive then or now that is mans main concern food and home so the
forests represent home where you can build your home and the wildlife represents the
food that you eat. By protecting both of those things both man and wildlife are happy
because they feed off the forests. Littering would be equivalent to that in today’s society.
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Making the earth dirty by our carelessness is wrong and we should take into
consideration everything and everyone but ourselves who have to live with the litter.
Again it’s a moral on what’s right and wrong, and littering is bad everyone knows it but
they still do it.
In conclusion, there are many Gods and Goddesses that represent the Greek world
and each one in their own way identifies morality and what they stand for. The myths were made
so that people could base their life off of what the Gods thought. If certain scenarios happened or
occurred it must be because the Gods were either happy, sad, mad etc. People treated them as if
they were real people, to the real humans that was what they represented someone always
watching over them so they better keep them happy or bad things are to come. The myths were
created to help people learn what to do and what not to do and how to act in their day to day
lives. The Gods that represent the Roman world were different but also had some similarities,
they changed a lot of the myths to suite their lifestyles. The Romans were much more war like
and honorable people who lived off respect. Whereas the Greeks tried to see the beauty in
everything and their gods were usually depicted as larger than life. The Roman gods were
worshiped so that they could get something in return. The Roman’s changed their gods because
they needed ones that fit their needs and culture, the Greek and Roman lifestyle were very
different, also the Romans didn’t have as many Gods as the Greeks did and I think that is
because they chose what they needed to worship, the most and what would you get the most out
of, and did away with the other irrelevant gods that they thought maybe the Greeks had. When
all is said and done the Gods definitely represented right and wrong and how to live your life but
it also gave man an excuse, someone to blame all the happenings on. Man doesn’t take
responsibility even today when things happen it’s always a higher power that controls the good
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and bad in someone’s life. Mythology did just that for both the Greeks and Romans it gave them
someone to blame when things were not going their way.
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References
Buxton, R. (2004). The complete word of Greek mythology. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson
Ltd.
Cotterell, A. (1996). The encyclopedia of classic mythology (1st ed.). Blackfriars Road, London:
Lorenz Books.
Cotterell, A. (1997, 2006). Mythology of Greece and Rome. Blackfriars Road, London:
Southwater.
Daly, K. N., & Rengel, M. (2004). Greek and roman mythology a to z (revised ed.). New York,
NY: Facts on File.