Comparative Mythology (Guardians)

Strictly speaking, Comparative Mythology is a much broader field of study than is presented here, incorporating many more comparisons between different religions than just pantheons of gods. There are other similarities between such cultures, such as the well known world flood myth that is found in stories around the world. For the purposes of this page, only the similarities of pantheons will be discussed here, as they are the most relevant as far as cultural development in the Mediterranean region is concerned.

During the Classical Era, much cultural mixing occured as the Hellenic and Roman empires stretched from the Celtic Isles all the way to the Persian Gulf. As a result, first Interpretatio Grecae (Greek Interpretation) and later Interpretatio Romana (Roman Interpretation) would occur as both cultures attempted to understand native cultures and religions by aligning native gods to their own. Native cultures did this as well, albeit in a reverse way, in order to better understand their new rulers and their foreign gods.

It is important to note that while the below table equates gods to gods, it is not absolute and not all viewed them this way. Some cultures had goddesses performing the tasks of gods and vice versa and not all equivalents are exactly the same in what they may have been the head god of. Additionally, this does not mean that everyone believed in one pantheon known by many names. Some gods did not have equivalents; some individuals may have believed two or more pantheons to exist seperately at the same time, even fulfilling the same function.

During the late 2nd Century AD, the idea of Polytheistic Syncretism was popular amongst the Roman upper class, who viewed a universal pantheon of gods known by many names as the best means of combating rising monotheistic religions in the Empire such as Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Mithraism. This ultimately failed, but represented the last instance of collective comparative mythology in the Classical Era and partly explains the many comparisons between the deities to this day.