---
title: "Greek to Roman Gods Name Converter | Myth Marsh"
description: "Greek god names to Roman and back: Zeus and Jupiter, Hera and Juno, Ares and Mars, with Etruscan names where attested and why the matches are loose."
url: https://mythmarsh.me/greek-roman-names/
---

Interpretatio romana

# Greek ↔ Roman names

Type a Greek or a Roman name and get its counterpart, with the Latin passage that uses it, the Etruscan name where one is well attested, and the catch.

## Why the matches are not exact

The Romans had gods of their own long before they read Greek poetry, and as they came to know Greek myth they identified each with a Greek god. In 217 BC Rome honoured twelve gods in six pairs, Jupiter and Juno, Neptune and Minerva, Mars and Venus, Apollo and Diana, Vulcan and Vesta, Mercury and Ceres (Livy 22.10.9): one for each of the twelve Greek gods usually counted as Olympians. Latin poets then told Greek stories under Roman names, which is why Ovid's Venus and Mars are caught in Vulcan's net exactly as Aphrodite and Ares are in the Odyssey.

But the pairs were never the same gods under two names, an identification that scholars call *interpretatio romana*:

- **Different weight.** Mars was father of Romulus and Remus in Rome's founding story (Livy 1.4.2), far more central than Ares was in Greece.
- **Old Italian gods.** Saturn was an Italian god whom Virgil has rule a golden age in Latium after fleeing Jupiter (Aeneid 8.319–325), not simply Cronus renamed.
- **Merged gods.** Cicero separates Liber, the son of Semele, from the Roman Liber worshipped with Ceres and Libera (On the Nature of the Gods 2.62).
- **No match at all.** Janus, god of doors and beginnings, says in Ovid that Greece has no god like him (Fasti 1.89–90).

## All the names

Etruscan god names are known from inscriptions, including the labels on engraved bronze mirrors that show Greek myths. The table lists only names that a reference work gives with their Greek or Roman match, such as Tinia for Zeus and Fufluns for Dionysus; many Etruscan gods had no Greek match at all.

| Greek | Roman (with the Latin passage) | Etruscan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Gaia](https://mythmarsh.me/#gaia) Γαῖα | Tellus (Terra)[Met. 2.272–275 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=2:card=272) Ovid's “alma Tellus” is the Earth speaking as a goddess. |  |
| [Eros](https://mythmarsh.me/#eros) Ἔρως | Cupid (Amor)[Met. 1.452–473 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=1:card=452)[Met. 5.363–365 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=5:card=363) |  |
| [Uranus](https://mythmarsh.me/#uranus) Οὐρανός | Caelus[Cic. ND 2.63 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=63) |  |
| [Cronus](https://mythmarsh.me/#cronus) Κρόνος | Saturn (Saturnus)[Aen. 8.319–325 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=8:card=319)[Cic. ND 2.63–64 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=63) Saturn was an old Italian god; Virgil has him flee to Latium from Jupiter's arms. |  |
| [Erinyes (Furies)](https://mythmarsh.me/#erinyes) Ἐρινύες | Furiae (Dirae)[Aen. 4.610 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=4:card=610)[Aen. 7.323–327 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=7:card=323) |  |
| [Thanatos (Death)](https://mythmarsh.me/#thanatos) Θάνατος | Letum (Mors)[Aen. 6.277–278 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=6:card=277) Virgil names Letum, with Sopor (Sleep) as its kin, at the gate of the underworld; mors is the everyday Latin word. |  |
| [Hypnos (Sleep)](https://mythmarsh.me/#hypnos) Ὕπνος | Somnus[Met. 11.592–593 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=11:card=592) |  |
| [Moirai (Fates)](https://mythmarsh.me/#moirai) Μοῖραι | Parcae[Cat. 64.305–310 (Catullus, Poems)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0003:poem=64)[Aen. 1.22 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=1:card=22) |  |
| [Eris (Strife)](https://mythmarsh.me/#eris) Ἔρις | Discordia[Aen. 6.280 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=6:card=280) |  |
| [Triton](https://mythmarsh.me/#triton) Τρίτων | Triton[Aen. 1.144 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=1:card=144) |  |
| [Helios](https://mythmarsh.me/#helios) Ἥλιος | Sol[Met. 4.169–176 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=169)[Met. 2.1–4 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=2:card=1) |  |
| [Selene](https://mythmarsh.me/#selene) Σελήνη | Luna[Cic. ND 2.68 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=68) |  |
| [Eos](https://mythmarsh.me/#eos) Ἠώς | Aurora[Met. 13.576–580 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=576) |  |
| [Leto](https://mythmarsh.me/#leto) Λητώ | Latona[Cat. 34.5–8 (Catullus, Poems)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0003:poem=34) |  |
| [Hecate](https://mythmarsh.me/#hecate) Ἑκάτη | Hecate, also called Trivia[Aen. 4.511 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=4:card=511)[Aen. 4.609 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=4:card=609)[Cat. 34.13–16 (Catullus, Poems)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0003:poem=34) Latin poets link her with Diana: Virgil's “three faces of the maiden Diana”, Catullus's Trivia. |  |
| [Hestia](https://mythmarsh.me/#hestia) Ἑστία | Vesta[Cic. ND 2.67 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=67)[Fasti 6.291 (Ovid, Fasti)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat2:6.291/) Cicero says Vesta's name comes from the Greek Hestia. |  |
| [Demeter](https://mythmarsh.me/#demeter) Δημήτηρ | Ceres[Cic. ND 2.67 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=67)[Met. 5.341–343 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=5:card=341) |  |
| [Hera](https://mythmarsh.me/#hera) Ἥρα | Juno[Cic. ND 2.66 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=66)[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/) | Uni[Britannica, “Tinia” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tinia) |
| [Hades](https://mythmarsh.me/#hades) Ἅιδης | Dis (Dis Pater) or Pluto[Cic. ND 2.66 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=66)[Met. 5.395 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=5:card=395) Cicero links Dis (from dives, rich) with the Greek name Plouton. | Aita[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Poseidon](https://mythmarsh.me/#poseidon) Ποσειδῶν | Neptune (Neptunus)[Cic. ND 2.66 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=66)[Met. 6.75–77 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=6:card=75)[Aen. 1.124–147 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=1:card=124) | Nethuns[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Zeus](https://mythmarsh.me/#zeus) Ζεύς | Jupiter (Iuppiter)[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 2.846–851 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=2:card=846) | Tinia[Britannica, “Tinia” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tinia)[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Athena](https://mythmarsh.me/#athena) Ἀθηνᾶ | Minerva[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 6.75–82 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=6:card=75)[Cic. ND 2.67 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=67) | Menrva[Britannica, “Tinia” (Encyclopaedia Britannica)](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tinia) |
| [Apollo](https://mythmarsh.me/#apollo) Ἀπόλλων | Apollo[Cic. ND 2.68 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=68)[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/) Cicero notes that Apollo's name is Greek; Rome kept it. | Aplu[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Artemis](https://mythmarsh.me/#artemis) Ἄρτεμις | Diana[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Cat. 34.1–16 (Catullus, Poems)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0003:poem=34) Catullus also calls Diana Lucina, Trivia and Luna, roles the Greek Artemis does not have in these sources. |  |
| [Ares](https://mythmarsh.me/#ares) Ἄρης | Mars[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 4.171 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=171)[Cic. ND 2.67 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=67) Mars mattered far more at Rome, as father of Romulus and Remus. | Laran[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Aphrodite](https://mythmarsh.me/#aphrodite) Ἀφροδίτη | Venus[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 4.171 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=171) | Turan[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Hephaestus](https://mythmarsh.me/#hephaestus) Ἥφαιστος | Vulcan (Volcanus)[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 4.173–176 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=4:card=173)[Aen. 8.416–423 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=8:card=416) | Sethlans[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Hermes](https://mythmarsh.me/#hermes) Ἑρμῆς | Mercury (Mercurius)[Livy 22.10.9 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:22.10.9/)[Met. 1.668–672 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=1:card=668)[Fasti 5.663–672 (Ovid, Fasti)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat2:5.663-5.672/) | Turms[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Dionysus](https://mythmarsh.me/#dionysus) Διόνυσος | Bacchus, also identified with Liber[Ecl. 7.61 (Virgil, Eclogues)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi001.perseus-lat2:7.61/)[Cic. ND 2.62 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=62) Cicero separates the Liber who was Semele's son from the old Roman Liber worshipped with Ceres and Libera. | Fufluns[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Persephone](https://mythmarsh.me/#persephone) Περσεφόνη | Proserpina[Met. 5.391–395 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=5:card=391) | Phersipnei[BMCR 2007.06.16 (B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006))](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/) |
| [Eileithyia](https://mythmarsh.me/#eileithyia) Εἰλείθυια | Lucina[Met. 9.294 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=9:card=294) Roman women also called on Juno Lucina, and Catullus gives the name to Diana. |  |
| [Charites (Graces)](https://mythmarsh.me/#charites) Χάριτες | Gratiae[Hor. Odes 1.4.5–7 (Horace, Odes)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0025:book=1:poem=4) |  |
| [Muses](https://mythmarsh.me/#muses) Μοῦσαι | Musae[Met. 15.622 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=15:card=622) |  |
| [Pan](https://mythmarsh.me/#pan) Πάν | Faunus[Hor. Odes 1.17.1–4 (Horace, Odes)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0025:book=1:poem=17)[Fasti 2.271–272 (Ovid, Fasti)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat2:2.271-2.272/) Horace's Faunus leaves Lycaeus, Pan's Arcadian mountain; the match is loose. |  |
| [Asclepius](https://mythmarsh.me/#asclepius) Ἀσκληπιός | Aesculapius[Met. 15.622–625 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=15:card=622)[Livy 10.47.7 (Livy, History of Rome)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:10.47.7/) His cult was brought to Rome from Epidaurus in the 290s BC. |  |
| [Heracles](https://mythmarsh.me/#heracles) Ἡρακλῆς | Hercules[Ecl. 7.61 (Virgil, Eclogues)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi001.perseus-lat2:7.61/)[Cic. ND 2.62 (Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=2:section=62) |  |
| [Aeneas](https://mythmarsh.me/#aeneas) Αἰνείας | Aeneas[Aen. 1.286–288 (Virgil, Aeneid)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=1:card=286) The hero of Virgil's Aeneid, claimed as an ancestor of the Julian family. |  |
| [Odysseus](https://mythmarsh.me/#odysseus) Ὀδυσσεύς | Ulixes (Ulysses)[Met. 13.6 (Ovid, Metamorphoses)](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=13:card=6) |  |
| — | Janus[Fasti 1.89–90 (Ovid, Fasti)](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat2:1.89-1.90/) Ovid's Janus says that Greece has no god like him. |  |

## Sources

Ancient explanations of the names are guesses, not modern etymology: Cicero's speaker derives Juno from *iuvare*, to help, and Neptune from *nare*, to swim (On the Nature of the Gods 2.66).

### Latin texts

- [Ovid, Metamorphoses](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=1:card=1), Latin text with Brookes More's translation (1922), Perseus Digital Library.
- [Ovid, Fasti](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi007.perseus-lat2:1.1/), Latin text, Scaife reader (Perseus).
- [Virgil, Aeneid](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055:book=1:card=1), Latin text, Perseus Digital Library.
- [Virgil, Eclogues](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi001.perseus-lat2:1.1/), Latin text, Scaife reader (Perseus).
- [Catullus, Poems](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0003:poem=1), Latin text, Perseus Digital Library.
- [Horace, Odes](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0025:book=1:poem=1), Latin text with John Conington's translation (1882), Perseus Digital Library.
- [Livy, History of Rome](https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat2:1.1.1/), Latin text, Scaife reader (Perseus).
- [Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods](https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037:book=1:section=1), Latin text, Perseus Digital Library.

### Reference works

- [Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Tinia”](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tinia), britannica.com.
- [B. B. Powell, review of N. T. de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (2006)](https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2007/2007.06.16/), Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.06.16.

## Questions

**What is Zeus called in Roman myth?**

Jupiter (Latin Iuppiter). Ovid tells the Greek story of Europa and the bull with Jupiter in Zeus's place, and Livy lists Jupiter first among the twelve gods honoured in 217 BC. The Etruscans called him Tinia.

**Is Pluto the Roman name of Hades?**

Mostly Dis, or Dis Pater, with Pluto (from the Greek Plouton) used too. Cicero derives Dis from dives, rich, like the Greek Plouton, and Plato's Cratylus explains Pluto as the giver of wealth that comes up out of the earth.

**Why is Apollo the same in both lists?**

Rome took Apollo over with his Greek name; Cicero remarks that “Apollo's name is Greek”. A few other figures, such as Triton and Aeneas, also keep their names.

**Where do the Etruscan names come from?**

From Etruscan inscriptions, including labels on engraved bronze mirrors. Only names that Encyclopaedia Britannica or the Bryn Mawr Classical Review's discussion of Etruscan myth give with a Greek or Roman match are listed here.