The Mythology of Ancient Rome and Greece

For the most part, Ancient Greece and Rome have had similar histories, and much of the culture that one of these countries has is the reflected in the other country. Roman art was very much so an imitation of the Greek art which preceded it (Gill, 2007). Many of the Grecian deities and Roman deities bear significant similarities to each other. For example, in the Greek tradition, Zeus is the king of the Gods and Hera is the queen. In the corresponding Roman tradition, Jupiter is the king and Juno is the queen. The similarities between these two cultures does not diminish the importance of either’s contributions to the modern world, however because of the similarities between the deities, for the purpose of this essay it is more appropriate to talk about mythological figures who are not main deities. These figures are Prometheus and Romulus and Remus. Prometheus and Romulus and Remus have nothing in common as far as the two myths go outside of very basic things. Prometheus is the story of a Titan who disobeys the god’s orders (Walker, 132), whereas Romulus and Remus are the twin brothers who go on to found the city known today as Rome (Plutarch, 2007).

Prometheus’ myth is very famous and one that has been told in many different ways. It began as a play called Prometheus Bound by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus (Walker, 132). Prometheus was a Titan, which is to say that he is a pre-Olympian god, one of the twelve children of Uranus and Gala who were the supreme rulers of the universe until Zeus overthrew them (Microsoft, 2007). He is most noted for giving fire to the Greeks after it was taken away by Zeus as a punishment and being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten away (Gill, 2007). These stories seem unrelated but actually have their basis in the same story.

Prometheus’ myth begins with the war between the Titans—the older Gods—and the Olympians, who included Zeus, who were the newer Gods who wanted to take power from the Titans (Walker, 132). The Olympians emerged victorious, but because Prometheus hadn’t sided with his relatives, which included his brother Atlas, Zeus spared him (Gill, 2007). Zeus gave him the task of creating humans out of water and clay. In the process, Prometheus became very fond of the humans—something Zeus had not anticipated. Zeus did not share Prometheus’ feelings and didn’t want mankind to have any sort of power, especially fire (Gill 2007). Prometheus cared more for man than for the wrath he would receive from the Gods, so he stole fire from Zeus’ lightning and brought it to man concealed in a stock of fennel. He also stole skills from Athena and Hephaestus to bring to mankind (Gill 2007). As if this were not enough to incur the wrath of the gods, Prometheus also tricked Zeus during the sacrifice of a bull (Walker, 132). He wrapped up animal bones in the animal fat, and then put all of the meat inside of the stomach of the animal, and asked Zeus to pick one package, and whichever Zeus didn’t pick would be given to mankind (Walker, 132). Zeus picked the one richer in appearance—the fatted one—and in the process ensured that humans could feast on meat whenever they wanted as long as they sacrificed the bones to the gods (Gill, 2007). Zeus flew into a rage and deprived mankind of the gift of fire to punish Prometheus.

Prometheus then stole fire back and returned it to earth, along with art and civilization. This theft made Zeus even angrier, so he created a woman named Pandora who married Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus. Pandora is warned against opening the box that Zeus gives her, but she does so anyhow, and as such, sets free evil, hard work and disease to humanity. Only hope was left inside Pandora’s box (Walker, 132). Even at this point, Prometheus still refused to obey Zeus, so he didn’t warn him about the Nymph of Thetis—who is the future mother of Achilles. Zeus decided to retaliate by attacking Prometheus instead of his loved ones (Gill, 2007). Zeus gets Hephaestus to bind Prometheus to a rock on Mount Caucasus (Gill, 2007). Every day, Zeus sent an eagle to devour Prometheus’ ever-regenerating liver (Walker, 132). This is the subject of Aeschylus’ play “Prometheus Bound”. In it, Prometheus laments about being chained to the rock: “Behold what I, a God, from Gods endure/ Look down upon my shame/ The cruel wrong that racks my frame…” (Aeschylus, 2007). He doesn’t feel that he deserves to be chained to the rock with his liver eaten out day after day, even after what he’s done to Zeus. The hero, Heracles eventually kills the eagle and sets Prometheus free (Walker, 132).

Romulus and Remus are the twin brothers who founded the great empire known to the world as Rome (Plutarch, 2007). For people who are credited to founding the whole Roman Empire, it is almost ironic that their story is much less well known than that of Prometheus. However, they have an equally important part in history, and as such, are the second myth discussed in this essay. They are also considered feral children because a wolf raised them for a portion of their life after they were abandoned (Ward, 2007).

The story of Romulus and Remus begins when Amulius fights his brother, the king of Alba Longa, Numitor, and sends him into exile. He forces Numitor’s daughter, Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin. Mars falls in love with her, and she gives birth to to twin boys. Amulius ordered one of his slaves to drown them in the river Tiber (Plutarch, 2007). The slave leaves them in the cradle to give them a chance, and a she-wolf finds, which is the sacred animal of Mars, them and takes care of them as if they were her own (Walker, 179). A shepherd called Faustulus finds the children and named them Romulus and Remus (Plutarch, 2007). He and his wife raised them as if they were their own children. When they grew up, Romulus and Remus took back the throne from Amulius, avenged their mother and decided to found a city where the she-wolf had found them (Walker, 179). However, they argued and eventually, Romulus killed Remus and gave the city they founded together it’s name—Rome (Plutarch, 2007).

These stories, as any good literature will, have survived the test of time. The verity of the stories is debatable, but that doesn’t make them any less poignant and relevant in today’s society. Many books and television shows make use of these two myths. The extremely well known television series, “Star Trek” makes quite blatant use of the names and myth of “Romulus and Remus”, and actually has a whole civilization—the Romulans—named after one of the brothers. The Romulan senate mirrors the Roman senate with its members—both senates include proconsuls, senators and praetors (Hunt, 2007). Even in modern times, the story of Romulus and Remus is relevant to pop culture and many things that people see everyday and take for granted as an invention of the writers of the television show are actually ancient myths. Another example of this is Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein”, whose additional title is “The Modern Prometheus” (US, 2002). Many people dismiss this without realizing the connection that is made between the character Victor Frankenstein and the Titan named Prometheus. Both characters wanted a better life for man and by trying to do so, unleashed havoc and a wrath unknown to man before this point. Prometheus does it by incurring the wrath of Zeus, and Victor Frankenstein does it by incurring the wrath of his own creation, known only as The Monster (US, 2002). Similarly, in Ayn Rand’s novel, “Anthem”, a character originally named Equality 7-2521 takes on the name Prometheus after he discovers how to use electricity and escapes from the collectivist civilization he lives in after they refuse his gift and try to burn him to death (Schwartzwald, 2005). This is similar to Prometheus in that Prometheus attempts give electricity to mortal man but incurs the wrath of Zeus, and Equality 7-2521 also tries to give electricity to his fellow man, but incurs the wrath of the government. Modern interpretations of the myths of Prometheus and Romulus and Remus have aided the original myths to retain their relevancy to today’s society, where we can still learn the same lessons that are pertinent to this time period as much as thousands of years ago when they were written. It is for this reason that myths are an essential part of daily life, even in this day and age, and we should continue to study them in the future.