Central Themes In Roman Mythology

At first the Roman Bacchanalia was held in secret for three days out of the year and only women attended. In 188 BC, shortly after Bacchanalia spread in Rome, Paculla Annia changed the method of celebration entirely when pretending to act under the influence of Bacchus. She admitted men into the initiation and increased the celebrations from three days a year to five nights a month. It’s believed the real reason behind the change was so she could allow her sons, Minucius and Herrenius (both surnamed Cerrinius) in the rites. Soon after, the celebrations became overly debauch and the rites started to symbolize a frightening and sexually traumatic interpretation of the death and rebirth of Bacchus. These new initiations involved wine-fueled violent

The Feast of Tabernacles was the third feast the Jews celebrated and it also was one of the pilgrimages they made. The other two feast celebrated are they Passover and the Pentecost. During these times the people were required to travel to the Temple. Each of the feasts that went on was celebrated annually. The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated in the seventh month, which corresponds with our month of October, on the fifteenth day and it would last for eight days. The Feast of Tabernacles began when the harvest was finished which would be five days after the Day of Atonement. The Feast of Tabernacles can also be known as the Feast of Booths. The Feast of Tabernacles was sometimes called the Feast of Ingathering because of it marking the end of the harvest, which made it a time of rejoicing. The Feast of Tables came from the Hebrew word Sukkot.

The cultural of the Roman Empire was a melting pot of the religious and cultural influences of the conquered societies that had been assimilated into the Empire. The various religions and cultural practice created a complex pantheon of “gods.” Ever larger temples and statues were erected to bring glory and honor to cities and give honor the Emperor. Additionally, cities would host gladiatorial games to bring honor to the Emperor. These events and building projects were facilitated by those who sought to bring greater glory and honor upon themselves with Roman society.

These celebrations represented the resurrection of new life in spring after the cold, frozen winter. Celebrations like these were celebrated in many countries, especially ones of great Catholic populations. Soon when christianity appeared in Rome, religious leaders encouraged the rituals into the faith. Christians and others who encourage this holiday celebrate this time of feasting from January sixth to Shrove Tuesday, The Epiphany to the Day before Ash Wednesday (Thompson, 1998). This time period became known as Carnival; Carnival in Latin means farewell to meat. The motto farewell to meat relates to the fasting that is coming with the Lenten season celebrated by the Christian faith. “Carnival” was soon spread worldwide. In France, this celebration became known to may as Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” says the authors of

In ancient Greece festivals were mainly held at the Great Dionysia. This was the oldest theatre in Greece and many plays were performed here for example the first performance of Antigone. The patron of the theatre was the God

Focusing on two of history’s most notorious mythologies, Greek and Roman, one may believe that they are exceedingly comparable; however, beyond a first glance, it is clear that each system is extremely distinguished. The Roman Empire, developed nearly a millennia following the great, Greek Trojan war, was highly influenced by the elaborate Greek myths of gods, goddesses, monsters, and mythical creatures. Their captivation of Greek culture bore a permanent effect on the Roman Empire, as Rome adopted much that defined Greece, including its art, philosophy, literature, drama, and most importantly, mythology. However, despite their indistinguishable origins, Roman and Greek mythologies prove to be very individualized.

Throughout the history of Rome, from the monarchy to the late empire, religion had played a great role in it's society and was involved in almost every aspect of the life of the Roman citizen. It was common for each house to have it's own patron god/gods and ,on special occasions, the head of the house would make a sacrifice to the personal gods of the family. Also, great festivals were usually held in honor of certain gods and would include spectacles like chariot races and Gladiatorial fights.

Throughout this course, I have learned about what a myth is and all of the themes that fit into myths. The most common themes seen throughout the myths we have studied during this course are fate, pride and hubris, heroism, justice and vengeance, and beauty. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about mythology throughout this course and I have always felt that the controlling question driving this course is, why is mythology so important to us, even today? It is important to know the answer to this question and to know about the different themes seen throughout the myths studied in this course.

Greek and Roman mythology is well know. The people of that time period were passionate about the gods and did everything in their power to please them. Like most religions the goal is be like one of the gods in order to achieve good fortune or to gain everlasting life. One of the most interesting characteristics about the Greek and Roman Gods is how the gods are not perfect in that they make the same mistakes that the average human would make. These characteristics were put into place to allow ancient Greeks and Romans to effectively relate to the gods making them more believable. This is unlike other religions where the god(s) are shown as the all perfect character making no mistakes. These characteristics relate back to the family and

In “The Greek Gods” from The Romans Anne Millard and Susan Peach describes that the Greeks had monthly festivals for the Greek gods. Their goal was to persuade the gods to grant their wishes. Some families were so religious to the gods

The City Dionysia Festival was a celebration of the god Dionysus’ arrival in Athens in mythical times and was usually held annually between March and April. The festival and theater performances were ways of honoring the god Dionysus, who is the god of the grape harvest,

Gladiatorial events were a token of the Roman civilization. A brutal form of sacrifice adapted from the earlier civilization of Etruscans, who believed when a person dies, his spirit relies on a blood sacrifice to survive in the afterlife. The first event to take place in Rome was in 264 BC, when Decimus Brutus held a sacrifice to honor his dead father (Roman Gladiator). Soon after these events became an undeniable part of the Romans lives, used for political power and general entertainment.

Theatre became important to Greek cultures when it became a part of the festival honoring the god Dionysus (The god of wine and fertility).”( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) The theater festival was founded to bring unity among the Attican tribes.( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) Athens was the main center of these traditions. Everyone came to sing and dance in hope for a good harvest. At one point, a Greek named Thespis began to sing praises to the god, with others responding, which led to the actor and chorus. During the festival everyone would dance and sing in a circle, in the middle of which was the altar to Dionysus. Over time the festivals started giving thanks to other themes, and eventually had nothing to do with Dionysus or any god, but began to turn into classical Greek plays. (First Ancient History, Oxford University Press 2000 pg.166)

In Ancient Greece religion and theater went hand in hand. The Greeks developed religion that was based on worship of many Gods. In honor of the Gods there were festivals with dancing, music, and theatrical performances. During the festivals the whole city would come to a complete stand still. All businesses were closed, politics were put on the back burner, and wars were halted. All social classes were welcome to come to the festival, and they all did. One of the most famous religious festivals is the City Dionysia, a festival in honor of the god Dionysus, god of wine, revelry, and fertility. The festival was held in ancient Athens, in March for five days, featuring dramatic competitions. These dramatic competitions consisted of dithyrambs, tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. The tragedy competition was four plays per playwright, three tragedies and one satyr play. There were two processions; the first was carrying the statue of Dionysus from the temple to the theater of Dionysus at the foot of the Acropolis. The second were the patrons parading through the

the inventor of the bridle, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow,