Splendid temples were erected to the gods in all the chief cities, where they were worshiped with many ceremonies. Valuable gifts in gold and silver were presented at their shrines, and at their altars animals were killed and portions of the flesh burned as sacrifices. Such offerings were thought to be very pleasing to the gods.
The head or king of the gods was Ju'pi-ter, also called Jove or Zeus.
He was the great Thunderer, at whose word the heavens trembled.
He, whose all conscious eyes the world behold,
The eternal Thunderer sat enthroned in gold.
High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes,
And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes.
HOMER, Iliad, BOOK VIII.
The wife of Jupiter, and the queen of heaven, was Ju'no, who, as we shall see, persecuted the hero AEneas with "unrelenting hate." Nep'tune, represented as bearing in his hand a trident, or three- pronged fork, was the god of the sea.
Neptune, the mighty marine god,
Earth's mover, and the fruitless ocean's king.
HOMER
Mars was the god of war, and Plu'to, often called Dis or Ha'des, was the god of the lower or "infernal" regions, and hence also the god of the dead. One of the most glorious and beautiful of the gods was Apollo, god of the sun, of medicine, music, poetry, and all fine arts.
Bright-hair'd Apollo!—thou who ever art
A blessing to the world—whose mighty heart
Forever pours out love, and light, and life;
Thou, at whose glance, all things of earth are rife
With happiness.
PIKE.
[Illustration: A ROMAN AUGUR.]
Another of the famous divinities of the ancients was Venus, the goddess of beauty and love. According to some of the myths she was the daughter of Jupiter. Others say that she sprang from the foam of the sea.
These and countless other imaginary beings were believed in as deities under the religious system of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and every unusual or striking event was thought to be caused by some god or goddess.