Greek & Roman Gods

Recently while Jesse and I were working on cleaning up the house a bit we started quizzing each other on lower level academics. Things like (answers at end of post):

Can you name the Organization of living organisms? *1

What are the three main types of column arcitecture? *2

Name the three general types of clouds? *3

Then came the question: can you name 5 roman gods and their Greek counterparts?

So let’s give it a shot. I’m going to give you a few of the Greek or Roman god, you give me the counterpart.
(Highlight the text to see the answer.)


Greek ……Roman

Zues ………Jupiter

Hera … …. Juno

Poseidon …Neptune

Athena…….Minerva

Ares ………Mars

Apollo …….Apollo

Hermes …. Mercury

Eros ……… Cupid

Hades …… Pluto

Dionysis … Bacchus

Aphrodite…Venus

Bonus points if you can successfully identify what the god is a god of without looking it up.

*1: Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
*2: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
*3: Cirrus, Cumulus, Stratus

20 thoughts on “Greek & Roman Gods

  • 2/6/2007 at 8:17 am
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    I’m no good at mythology, but I got the organization of living organisms, the column types, and 2 out of 3 on the clouds(cause I answered in a hurry).

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  • 2/6/2007 at 9:10 am
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    Ares/Mars-god of war
    Aphrodite/Venus-goddess of love
    Apollo-god of music (kinda explains the the apollo theatre i guess)
    Hades/Pluto-god of the dead or hell, whichever you choose
    Poseidon/Neptune-god of the sea
    Zues/Jupiter-the supreme ruler of all gods
    (it should also be noted that Poseiden, Zues, and Hades are all brothers… makes for an interesting family reunion I guess)

    And that is all i remember from my greek mythology class in college

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  • 2/6/2007 at 10:50 am
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    Apollo is better known as the god of the sun, but they all covered multiple areas. Kind of sad that the Romans ripped off their entire pagan religions from the Greeks, and didn’t even bother to change the name on Apollo. Pretty lame. Here’s what I remember of the rest:

    Hera/Juno – Zeus’s wife, goddess of nagging
    Hermes/Mercury – Messenger of the gods, god of travelers, gamblers, liars, and thieves
    Eros/Cupid – god of erotic love, as in boning
    Dionysus/Bacchus – god of wine, orgies, and partying

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  • 2/6/2007 at 10:53 am
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    Man I should have got more of the gods. As it is, I only got Mars and Mercury. If I’d twigged that most of the Roman ones were planets it would have been easier.

    Zeus/Jupiter – The boss god
    Hera/Juno – Not sure, but now I know what that British D-Day beach was named after.
    Poseidon/Neptune – God of the Sea
    Athena/Minerva – Goddess of Knowledge
    Ares/Mars – God of War
    Apollo/Apollo – Errr… God of space travel?
    Hermes/Mercury – The messenger guy
    Eros/Cupid – Aphrodite/Venus’ servant guy?
    Hades/Pluto – God of the Underworld
    Dionysis/Bacchus – God of Partying
    Aphrodite/Venus – Goddess of Love

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  • 2/6/2007 at 10:59 am
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    Damn, I almost put Eros as god of lust, then changed it. I think I’m still technically correct though?

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  • 2/6/2007 at 12:35 pm
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    Lust is just erotic love being condemned by repressed people. The Greeks and Romans knew how to have a good time. I say you’re right.

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  • 2/6/2007 at 5:58 pm
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    I meant I was technically right with the answer I put below.

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  • 2/6/2007 at 5:59 pm
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    Dry run here, having not looked at any of the above comments.

    Zeus ………Jupiter = overall leader of the Gods and god of Thunder, famous for throwing lightning bolts

    Hera … …. Juno =ugly and Jealous wife of Zeus/Jupiter, Goddess of the hearth and home

    Poseidon …Neptune = brother to Zeus, God of the Sea, According to Disney he is either the grandfather or great-grandfather of The Little Mermaid.

    Athena…….Minerva =my favorite, Goddess of wisdom and warfare, common symbols are an owl and a snake, legend (if Greece anyway) is that she sprang full grown and fully armed for battle from her father’s head.

    Ares ………Mars =God of war.

    Apollo …….Apollo = the God of the Sun, he drives a golden chariot pulled by fiery steeds across the sky every day; son of Zeus, twin to Artemis/Diana

    Hermes …. Mercury = the guy with the winged sandals, the messenger God, currently employed by FTD

    Eros ……… Cupid = the love God, falsely depicted as a baby, son of Aphrodite/Venus most likely not by her husband

    Hades …… Pluto = dog with floppy ears, oops sorry! God of the Underworld, couldn’t find a girl to marry him so he kidnapped one instead

    Dionysis … Bacchus = God of wine, merryment, and debauchery, official spokesman for New Orleans, LA

    Aphrodite…Venus= Goddess of love, notice she is not the goddess of fidelity, she had numerous lovers, her birth is almost as interesting as Athenas (her father’s blood churned with the sea and she arose from the resulting foam, see Daddy was the Sky God and Mom was the Earth, so the combination was a rocking hot chick who couldn’t be loyal if her life depended on it) married to Hephaestus/Vulcan the God of Fire.

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  • 2/6/2007 at 6:04 pm
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    Eros is the Greek word for physical love, which is not always as erotic as it sounds. (erotic does come from eros though). The other kids of love are Philos (friendly, or familial) and Agape (spiritual).

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  • 2/6/2007 at 6:06 pm
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    Actually the planets were named for them. So the Romans ripped off the Greeks, and the astronomers ripped off the Romans. It all evens up in the end.

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  • 2/6/2007 at 6:07 pm
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    It depends on your point of view. Some people think they are classic. Notice that all three column styles are Greek in origin, no Roman column styles. The copy-cats.

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  • 2/6/2007 at 6:09 pm
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    Although Apollo was a good musician, I believe that music in general falls under the domain of one of the muses. They had the artsy stuff. I can only remember the name Terpsichore and I think she’s dance.

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  • 2/7/2007 at 4:17 am
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    I know, it just would have been easier to remember the gods if I’d remembered they had the same names as the planets :)

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  • 2/7/2007 at 9:03 am
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    Hera wasn’t ugly. Check the wikipedia article for the the Judgement of Paris. She was at least pretty enough to hold her own in a beauty contest against Aphrodite and Athena.

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  • 2/7/2007 at 9:19 am
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    I’d date Hera if it wasn’t for that jealousy thing she had going on. That goddess had issues.

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  • 2/7/2007 at 11:22 am
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    Excuse me, but Hera lost that contest. She was considered unappealing, though admittedly it might have been more of her jealous shrew aspect than her looks. She was ugly personality-wise. Of course if her husband hadn’t played around so much, maybe she would have been nicer.

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  • 2/7/2007 at 3:50 pm
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    Typical, blame the man. (joke)

    I’d say she had an ugly personality because she was created by old men telling stories. They happened to be bitter old men who had bad marriages, hence the goddess of marriage is shrew.

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