Myths and Legends: Ancient Rome: Mythology and Literature - Middle School and High School

Become a vocabulary god or goddess by learning this list of words related to ancient Roman mythology and literature. Review the names of the Roman deities, as well as terms like epic, oracle, muse, and metamorphosis.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. Aeneas
    a mythical Greek warrior who was a leader on the Trojan side of the Trojan War; hero of the Aeneid
  2. Aeneid
    an epic in Latin by Virgil
  3. Apollo
    Greek god of light
  4. augury
    an event indicating important things to come
  5. Aurora
    goddess of the dawn; counterpart of Greek Eos
  6. Carthage
    an ancient city state on the north African coast near modern Tunis; founded by Phoenicians; destroyed and rebuilt by Romans; razed by Arabs in 697
  7. Ceres
    goddess of agriculture; counterpart of Greek Demeter
  8. Cupid
    (Roman mythology) god of love; counterpart of Greek Eros
  9. deity
    a supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  10. Diana
    virgin goddess of the hunt and the Moon
  11. didactic
    instructive, especially excessively
  12. Dido
    a princess of Tyre who was the founder and queen of Carthage
  13. eclogue
    a short poem descriptive of rural or pastoral life
  14. epic
    a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
  15. epistle
    a specially long, formal letter
  16. fate
    the ultimate agency predetermining the course of events
  17. faun
    a mythological creature that is half human and half goat
  18. Fortuna
    the goddess of fortune and good luck
  19. god
    any supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world
  20. goddess
    a female deity
  21. hexameter
    a verse line having six metrical feet
  22. Horace
    Roman lyric poet said to have influenced English poetry
  23. Janus
    the Roman god of doorways and passages
  24. Juno
    queen of the Olympian gods who protected marriage
  25. Jupiter
    supreme god of Romans; counterpart of Greek Zeus
  26. Laocoon
    (Greek mythology) the priest of Apollo who warned the Trojans to beware of Greeks bearing gifts when they wanted to accept the Trojan Horse; a god who favored the Greeks (Poseidon or Athena) sent snakes who coiled around Laocoon and his two twin sons killing them
  27. Latin
    any dialect of the language of ancient Rome
  28. Latium
    an ancient region of west central Italy (southeast of Rome) on the Tyrrhenian Sea
  29. Mars
    Roman god of war and agriculture
  30. metamorphosis
    a complete change of physical form or substance
  31. Minerva
    goddess of wisdom; counterpart of Greek Athena
  32. muse
    the source of an artist's inspiration
  33. Neptune
    god of the sea; counterpart of Greek Poseidon
  34. ode
    a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
  35. oracle
    an authoritative person who divines the future
  36. Ovid
    Roman poet remembered for his elegiac verses on love
  37. Parcae
    any of the three Roman goddesses of fate or destiny
  38. pastoral
    a literary work idealizing the rural life
  39. Priam
    the last king of Troy
  40. Proserpina
    goddess of the underworld; counterpart of Greek Persephone
  41. pyre
    wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
  42. Remus
    (Roman mythology) the twin brother of Romulus
  43. Romulus
    founder of Rome
  44. Saturn
    god of agriculture and vegetation
  45. sibyl
    a woman who was regarded as an oracle or prophet
  46. Trojan Horse
    a large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan War
  47. underworld
    (religion) the place of the dead
  48. Venus
    goddess of love; counterpart of Greek Aphrodite
  49. Vesta
    (Roman mythology) goddess of the hearth and its fire whose flame was tended by vestal virgins; counterpart of Greek Hestia
  50. Virgil
    a Roman poet; author of the epic poem `Aeneid' (70-19 BC)
  51. Vulcan
    god of fire and metal working
Created on Wed Jan 11 15:16:26 EST 2017 (updated Fri Mar 31 11:26:26 EDT 2017)

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