At first glance, the mythology of ancient Rome seems a poor copy of the mythology of ancient Greece - the Roman gods are simply the Greek gods with different names so that Zeus becomes Jupiter, Hera becomes Juno, Aphrodite becomes Venus, Ares becomes Mars, and so on, and Roman myths are merely reproductions of scenes from the Greek epics. Scholars were hard put to define a truly Roman mythology, so much so that they concluded that there was no such mythology, and that Rome had merely taken over the stories of the nations they had conquered. Later scholars, though, disagreed: there is a distinct Roman mythology, they said, that is different from Greek mythology in both origin and function. While Greek mythology was concerned with the heroic and the divine, Roman mythology is connected with city life and often appears disguised as history. Roman myths are not as complex as the Greek stories, and unlike Greek myths, are not much concerned with the gods but are rooted in city life and the social practices of the times. In particular, scholars found that Rome has managed to preserve in its mythology very ancient stories, relating to a time long before the dawn of the classical era (which extends roughly from the 8th century BCE to the 5th century CE). The presence and influence of these ancient tales impart a different, and unique, flavour to Roman mythology. 

Here are some of these ancient stories for you to enjoy .