The Gods of Rome most widely known today are those the ancient Romans identified with Greek counterparts.
History
Pre-Crisis
During Pre-Crisis time, the Gods of Rome and the Gods of Olympus were often depicted as one and the same. Thus, each Greek god and his/her Roman counterpart were characterized as the same deity, and it was commonplace to use their Greek and Roman names interchangeably. They were not definitively made separate until the War of the Gods event.
New Earth
Thousands of years ago, a young Darkseid from Apokolips, then known only as Uxas, arrived on Earth attracted by the power of the Olympian Gods worshipped in Greece with the intention of controlling it, but realizing that they were too much for him to easily manipulate, he devised a scheme that took him to another part of the Mediterranean, a village founded by a human named Romulus in Italy. He introduced himself to the Romans as a holy man, telling great tales of the Olympians, but giving them other names, initiating the worship of those Gods in that region. Sensing the adoration of these new worshipers, the Gods showed themselves to them, even establishing a second Olympus in the mountains of Italy. But after a thousand years they learned that they could not handle twice the worshipers, so each they created avatars to do the work for them, unintentionally fulfilling Darkseid's wish, which was to weaken them. Over time, these Gods grew apart and became separate entities.[2]
During the War of the Gods, the Roman deities, manipulated by Circe, invaded Mount Olympus and claimed it for their own. Holding Troia as a hostage and brainwashing Captain Marvel into becoming their champion, the Roman gods battled their Greek counterparts for control of Olympus. However, their old champion, the Son of Vulcan, turned against them and aided the Greek gods.[3]
After their encounter with the Source, the Roman god Jupiter and the Greek god Zeus fused into their singular complete forms. Eventually, the other gods did the same, except for the Roman goddess Diana (not to be confused with her namesake, Wonder Woman).[4]
Prime Earth
Many, like Mary Marvel, who counts some Roman goddesses among her patrons, believe that the Roman and Greek deities are the same gods with different names. However, as Wonder Woman explained to her, while the Greek and Roman gods are not so different, they are distinct pantheons, even though many of them are counterparts of each other, such as Athena and Minerva, Hermes and Mercury, and others.[5]
Only the two-faced god Janus does not have a Greek equivalent,[6] and the hero the Romans called Hercules is probably the same Heracles of the Greeks, just as the worship of the Greek Apollo seems to have been imported into Rome in ancient times, for his was the oracle of the Cumaean Sibyl in southern Italy,[7] the sibyl who most concerned the Romans (sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece and Rome).
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Godly Physiology
- Immortality
- Power Distribution: The Roman gods can grant their powers to others.[1]
- Additionally, the Roman gods have some power related to his/her individual sphere of influence.
Weaknesses
- Power Loss: The powers of the Roman gods depend on the faith of their followers.[citation needed]
Miscellaneous
Representatives:
Champions
- Captain Marvel (briefly)[3]
- Son of Vulcan
- Mary Marvel
Notes
- These characters are an adaptation of the Gods of Rome, characters in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
See Also