Greco-Roman Mythology

Greco-Roman mythology was a shared cultural language of the ancient Mediterranean: stories about gods, heroes, monsters, genealogies, cities and wars. In the Greek tradition myths were tied to epic, tragedy, vase painting, local cults and family memory. In Rome they were reinterpreted through state cult, domestic memory, the origin of the city and the idea of continuity from Troy to Italy.

This cycle separates mythological narrative from religious practice, while showing their constant connection. Myth explains who Zeus, Athena, Medusa or Odysseus are; religion shows how people sacrificed, kept household shrines, addressed Lares and Penates, and placed the gods within civic life.

How the cycle is organised

I. Gods and equivalences

• Greek Gods
• Roman Gods
• Greek and Roman God Equivalences
• Differences Between Greek and Roman Religion

II. Creatures and monsters

• Medusa Gorgon
• Cyclopes
• Minotaur
• Centaurs
• Sirens
• Scylla and Charybdis
• Cerberus
• Lernaean Hydra

III. Epic and heroes

• Iliad
• Odyssey
• Trojan War
• Labours of Heracles
• Perseus
• Theseus
• Argonauts
• Aeneas and Aeneid

IV. Roman household cult

• Roman Household Religion
• Lares
• Lararium
• Penates

Myth, cult and image

Major ancient myths survive not only in texts. Vase painting, reliefs, statues, frescoes, coins and household shrines often preserve details absent from a literary version, or show which stories were especially recognisable. For that reason the articles in this cycle place museum objects beside Homer, Hesiod, Ovid and Virgil: they make myth visible as part of material culture.

Additional sources and visual checks

The mythology hub is strengthened as a source map: epic, poetry, Roman reworking, vase painting, relief, fresco and household cult give different versions of the same stories. The gallery shows that myths lived in objects as well as texts.

For source checks: - Perseus Digital Library - Beazley Archive - LIMC online - Getty Museum collection

Related topics

• Antiquity
• Roman Religion
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Rome

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