8.2 Roman GodsDo Now: Review 8.1 (so map/venn

diagram out)HW Preview: Gods & Planets Worksheet

& MythJupiter Pantomime

Notes: Roman Polytheism (on Venn Diagram)

Roman Gods & Planets An American God Activity

Religion in Rome

•Culture is heavily influenced by Cultural Diffusion

•Many of the Roman ideas came directly from Greece, including their Gods

•But Rome didn’t completely drop their existing religious rituals, they just blended the new with the old – i.e. if one of their gods was similar to a Greek god, they blended them together as one god.

ROMAN RELIGIOUS PRATICES

• Wanted to please the gods because they believed the gods could control their daily lives

• Built temples and shrines offering food and sacrifices

• Leave offerings for favors (i.e. here’s a biscut cause I broke my leg)

• Holidays to honor gods

• Emperors sometimes honored as gods

• Welcomed other religions as long as they didn’t encourage disloyalty to the emperor

•Reminds me of… Could have come from…

Why was Rome so Easily Persuaded by other religious

beliefs?•Romans focused less on using myths to explain phenomena (the reason the Greeks had so many gods to begin with), but were more concerned with rituals to obtain power.

Gods of Rome and GreeceResponsibility Greece Rome

God of War Ares Mars

God of Travel Hermes Mercury

God of Beauty Aphrodite Venus

King of Gods Zeus Jupiter

God of Time Kronos Saturn

God of Heaven Uranus Caelus *not worshipped

God of Sea Poseidon Neptune

God of Underworld Hades Pluto

Why the Names?

•Mercury

•revolves quickly

•Venus

•brightest most beautiful planet

•Mars

•red as the blood from war

Why the Names?

•Jupiter

•largest planet “King of Planets”

•Neptune

•blue color named after god of Sea

•Pluto

•so far away it gets little sunlight

Solar System