The Connection Between Greek and Roman Myths

• discuss the eclectic nature of Roman myth and culture; distinguish between material borrowed (by the Romans) from the Etruscans and Greeks.
• discuss the Etruscan influence on the role of woman in Rome.
• explain how Romans adopted Greek architecture to meet their own needs.
• discuss the Romans' admiration for—and adaptation of—Greek myth.

A Roman Myth: Romulus and Remus

• recount the myth of Romulus and Remus, from their uncle's usurpation of their grandfather's throne to their conflict which resulted in the founding of Rome.
• explain how this myth supported a "policy of aggressive expansion."
• recount the myth of the Sabine women and explain its significance for Roman society.
• explain the political significance of the Sabine myth as described by Plutarch.
• discuss the speculations surrounding Romulus's death.
• identify the possible origins of the Romulus and Remus myth.
• discuss the origins and significance of the Feast of the Lupercalia.
• explain why myth took on a new function after 296 B.C.; identify the event associated with this function.
• discuss the Saturnalia and the Matronalia.

Characteristics of Roman Myth

• discuss the "quintessentially Roman elements" in the Romulus and Remus myth; namely, its focus on city and expansion, and its quick movement from myth to actual history.
• define pater familias and identify the strong patriarchal theme in Roman myth.
• contrast the myth of the Sabine women with both the abduction of Helen, and the centaurs' attempted rape of the Lapith women.
• identify the Romans' resistance to the fantastic in myth by contrasting the story of the founding of Rome with the Greek myth of the founding of Thebes.
• locate the demythologizing tendency in Plutarch's accounts of the rape of Rhea Silvia, and of the myth of Theseus and the minotaur.
• identify the mythic connections between the populations of Greece and Rome.

Roman Transformations of Greek Myths

• explain why the Greek gods would not have seemed foreign to the Romans.
• explain why and how the Roman pantheon differs from the Greek pantheon.
• describe the shift of emphasis evident in the Romans' attitude toward the war god.
• identify the historicizing impulse in Roman myth and contrast it with similar impulses in Greek myth.
• provide evidence of the text's assertion that "Roman myths are often precisely located in time and space" by contrasting the figures of Romulus and Heracles.
• discuss Virgil's claim that Julius Caesar was a descendant of Romulus.
• explain how, for the Romans, history justified myth, "even as the myths chartered real political claims."
• describe Trajan's column and discuss its function as "a visual illustration of the Roman fascination with the points of intersection of myth and history."
• explain how, "even in the rituals of daily life, the Romans ended up paying service to the gods of state and hence to the state itself."
• discuss T. P. Wiseman's speculation that posits the Romulus and Remus myth as product of Roman politics.
• contrast the nationalism of the Roman gods with the individualism of the Greek gods.
• identify and discuss the "single, inevitable goal" of Roman myth.
• explain why, for the Romans, patriotism was "neither an abstraction nor a sentimental concept," but rather a "survival tool."
• discuss the text's assertion that in the Roman universe "there can ultimately be no tragedy—only history incompletely understood."

The Roman Hero

• explain why the Romans considered Greek heroes improper role models.
• identify and discuss the qualities of gravitas, pietas, and galitas.