The Origins of Mythology in Roman Empire

The romans were not the first to see mythology as a way of defining or justifying a geo political aspiration or reality. It was borrowed from the greeks when the first greek traders arrived in southern italy, sicily gaul north africa and other areas of the central and western mediterranean. The close allignment of present political needs with a constantly evolving mythic ast was further fuelled by the philosophical tradition of euhemerism which maintained that gods were just deified human beings.