To the earliest Romans, their gods were powerful forces of nature, or spirits. These gods did not behave as human beings did, and they had no personalities or emotions.
However, as Rome’s empire grew and Romans met new cultures, they were exposed to new ideas. Through contact with the Greeks, the Roman conception of gods and goddesses was transformed.
In the Greek view, gods and goddesses behaved very much as human beings did. The Greek gods could be jealous, angry, passionate, kind, petty, or foolish. Not only did the Romans borrow this idea from the Greeks, they even borrowed some Greek deities. Roman gods went from being spirits or forces of nature to being divine and human at the same time.
