Classical mythology

rdf:langString Classical mythology

rdf:langString Classical mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, or Greek and Roman mythology is both the body of and the study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans as they are used or transformed by cultural reception. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture. The Greek word mythos refers to the spoken word or speech, but it also denotes a tale, story or narrative. As late as the Roman conquest of Greece during the last two centuries Before the Common Era and for centuries afterwards, the Romans, who already had gods of their own, adopted much mythology directly from the Greeks while preserving their own Roman (Latin) names for the gods. In storytelling and literature, this thereby caused an equivalence between many Roman and Greek deities; some examples include between the Roman sky god Jupiter or Jove and the Greek counterpart Zeus; between the Roman fertility goddess Venus and the Greek Aphrodite; and between the Roman sea god Neptune and the Greek Poseidon. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when Latin, spread by the Roman Empire, remained the dominant language in Europe for international educated discourse, mythological names almost always appeared in Latinized form. With the Greek revival of the 19th century, however, Greek names began to be used more often, with both "Zeus" and "Jove" being widely used, for instance, as the name of the supreme god of the classical pantheon.