Task 3. Roman religion. The classical mythology .

A. Official cults

The Romans were polytheistic and they were always very tolerant of other religions, even they adopted foreign worships like Egyptian goddess called Isis, the oriental goddess called Cibeles or Christianity. The Romans had different official religions
A. Olympic gods adopted of Greek religion and the Imperial cult. The Romans changed the gods´s names but the symbolism was the same:

GREEK NAME	ROMAN NAME	GOD/GODDESS
Zeus	Iupiter	Father of the gods
Hera	Iuno	Iupiter´s wife
Hades	Pluto	Zeus´s brother , god of underworld
Poseidon	Neptune	Zeus´s brother, god of oceans
Athena	Minerva	Goddess of wisdom and virginity
Apollo	Apollo	God of beauty and the Sun
Ares	Mars	God of war
Aphrodite	Venus	Goddess of love
Hermes	Mercury	God of trade . Messenger of gods
Hephaestus	Vulcan	God of fire
Dionysus	Bacchus	God of wine
Artemis	Diana	Goddess of hunting

B. Imperial cult . The emperors were considered from Octavian Augustus as gods too. Emperors ´ temples were in the forum in selected places and emperors´sculptures decorated the forums of Roman cities.