Overview
Roman mythology (ローマ神話, Rōma shinwa) can be roughly divided into two categories. One is the mythology of the founding of the nation, which can be found among all peoples, and the other is a translation of Greek mythology.
The Romans were an extremely religious people, as the ancient Roman intellectual Cicero noted that the Romans were superior to other peoples in terms of their religious beliefs.
Their religious views can be simplified and expressed in terms of "formalism" and "worldly interests". Rather than always praying to God inwardly, it was considered more correct to perform rituals perfectly according to prescribed procedures. In addition, the wishes they prayed to God were mainly practical ones, not for the salvation of the soul after death or for the hope of the afterlife.
The Romans also believed in their native gods, but after coming into contact with the Greeks living in southern Italy, they accepted the Greek gods and began to identify themselves with the native gods they had previously believed in. This phenomenon is called syncretism, but it is not unique to the Romans.
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