Yes Hotel Rome Travel Blog: The Rome travel guide

Our Blogger: Arianna

Today I would like to tell you about a small and a big story, regarding The mythology of Rome, the importance and the social function that it used to have in old roman society.

As in every capital city, in order to celebrate its greatness, everything was colligated with myth –the foundation of the city for example, goes back to “Enea”. For those of you who don’t’ know who Enea is, I’m going to explain quickly: Enea is the protagonist of Eneide, an epic poem written by Virgilius, who ran away from Troy and once in Lazio married Lavinia, Latino’s daughter. They had a son called Silvio, who founded the family of Romulus and Remus.

In reality, genuine mythology in Rome started with the adaptation of Greek mythology.

You probably already know about the story of Romulus Remus. The difference between Greek legends and roman ones is that while Greek divinities assume a behaviour prevalently human (they were implicated in loving wars, revenges) the Romans had a social function and they interacted with the normal unwinding of life.

At the beginning, roman working people were very humble – many were farmers and shepherds. So many of the Roman Gods related to this way of life – for example, Jupiter was the god of weather, the elements etc. 

Despite this, it’s possible to glimpse into the “res-publica” concept (the public government).

In this society two figures deserved a particular mention: the Pontiffs and the Vestals.

The pontiffs were the highest ranking priests because they used to decide bank holidays and public celebrations, most of the time the pontiff sovereign was an emperor.

The Vestals were priestesses devoted to Vest, they lived in chastity for 30 years before they were able to marry.

Sadly those who didn’t respect this law were killed in terrible circumstances – infact they were buried alive.

The main gods in Rome were : Jupiter, Giunone and Minerva, Diana, Venus, Ceres, Mars, and finally Mercurius.

In all of Rome it’s possible to research the signs and symbols behind the myths. For example Barbo’s Palace portrays Hercules while in one old heating stove at the Vatican palace you can admire Venus etc.

So why don’t stay here at Hotel des Artistes the perfect base to discover the beauty of myths in Rome?