History Main / AncientGrome

This is usually a matter of DidNotDoTheResearch and is further exacerbated by the fact that the Romans drew a lot from the Greeks (Classical Greeks, that is, contemporary Roman Greeks were more likely to end up as the butt of jokes for being failures and rather demotic). Believe it or not, this one is OlderThanFeudalism, as the Romans themselves would place plays in Athens or other Greek cities, to avoid slandering the state, but leave everything else Roman-like. Indeed, due to massive Greek colonization, a large chunk of southern Italy was known as ''Magna Græcia'' (''Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, Megálē Hellás'') -- "Great Greece."

* A lot of [[ClassicalMythology mythological Greek characters]] that Rome borrowed are known either by one or the other, even when set the "other" culture. Many of their Roman names are now {{Forgotten Trope}}s. Despite the ''planets of the solar system'' being named after them. Or perhaps because of it; through a OneMarioLimit effect, "Jupiter" and "Mars" have too great a tendency to call the planets to mind for a modern hearer.

* ''BattlestarGalactica'' (the 2000's version): has Greek and Roman themes side by side. Justified, seeing as how [[spoiler:it predates our world by several thousand years.]]

* ''BattlestarGalactica'' (the 2000's version): has Greek and Roman themes side by side. Justified, seeing as how [[spoiler: it predates our world by several thousand years.]]

* The film ''ClashOfTheTitans'' (both versions) has a weird example where the monster terrorising the town of Joppa is the Kraken from Norse mythology (it was Cetus/Ceto in the original Greek). Don't even get me started on Bubo the mechanical owl, Calibos or Medusa being an only child.

** Oddly, it also refers to Rho Aias as the shield of Ajax rather than the shield of Aias.

* ''[[FateStayNight Fate/stay night]]'' uses the Greek names for its ancient Greek characters, but if the Roman name is more common, every translation, fanmade or official, is likely to change it to that (e.g. the original uses Heracles but the subs say Hercules).

** Not sure if this one counts. As far as This Troper knows, in Japanese, Hercules is called by his Greek name in general, possibly the same for the other Greek Heroic Spirits. He could be wrong, though.

* In ''GodOfWar'', the Spartan protagonist faces off against the Greek gods... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Hercules]].
** Hercules ''was'' worshipped as a god by some cults. Of course, mythological accuracy is not exactly the first priority of the ''GodOfWar'' series.

* Marvel's ''IncredibleHercules'': Two different explanations have been provided in the comics for the use of his Roman name when everything else is drawn from the Greek myths. The first was that Herakles is his real name and Hercules is his "superhero" name, since that name is more familar to Americans. This was later retconned into his having changed his name to distance himself from his stepmother Hera (since Herakles means "Glory of Hera").

*** Bacchus was, again, simply a Romanization of Greek ''Bacchos'' (''Βάκχος''), an alternative name for Dionysos -- who was not even a Greek god to begin with, but was imported from the East, much as Isis was later imported to Rome. The native Roman name for the god of viniculture was ''Pater Liber'', the "Free Father," who was identified with the Greek Bacchus much as ''Iuppiter''=''Deus/Iovis Pater'' ("God/Jove the Father") was identified with Zeus, father of the gods.

*** Interestingly, while the Tauron language is revealed on ''{{Caprica}}'' to be Ancient Greek (or more likely [[TranslationConvention represented by Ancient Greek]]), the Taurons consistently refer to their chief/patron god as "Mars" rather than Ares. Of course, the Greek Ares was a tremendous [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty]] [[JerkassGods dick]] who was the closest thing the Greeks had to an [[GodOfEvil evil god]] (Hades [[DarkIsNotEvil actually being quite a decent fellow]]), while Mars (fittingly for the conquering Romans) was rather more positive.

** [[{{QI}} A rather interesting fact about the Acropolis...]]

** Also a book written from the show featured the Pid family arriving in Westbridge from Greece. The son Quentin is actually Cupid while his parents are Martin (Mars) and Veronica (Venus). And then for some reason Quentin/Cupid said that Valentine's Day cards with Cupid on them are actually reproductions of his baby pictures.

This is usually a matter of DidNotDoTheResearch and is further exacerbated by the fact that the Romans drew a lot from the Greeks (Classical Greeks, that is, modern Roman Greeks are more likely to end up as the butt of jokes for being failures and rather demotic). Believe it or not, this one is OlderThanFeudalism, as the Romans themselves would place plays in Athens or other Greek cities, to avoid slandering the state, but leave everything else Roman-like. Indeed, due to massive Greek colonization, a large chunk of southern Italy was known as ''Magna Græcia'' (''Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, Megálē Hellás'') -- "Great Greece."

* Disney's ''{{Disney/Hercules}}'': Set in mythological Greece but mentions gladiators and uses Roman numerals and Roman Name. BUT he gets an "alpha-plus" as a grade in the series, so everything works out fine.
** One episode has the founders of Rome calling for gods to sponsor them. They settle on the Greek gods, on the condition that they use the names the Romans picked out for them. They agree, although Hades is vehemently against being called Pluto, a name he wouldn't even [[ShoutOut give his own dog]].
*** Which is in itself an example of [[DidNotDoTheResearch Not Doing The Research]][[hottip:* : well, that, or RuleOfFunny]], as Pluto was simply a Latinization of the Greek ''Πλούτων'' (''Ploutōn''), the god's actual Roman names being "Dis" or "Orcus."
** In the film, when Pain and Panic are pretending to be children needing Hercules to rescue them, one uses roman numerals by pleading "somebody call IX-I-I" (saying each letter).
** In another episode, [[LampshadeHanging a mailman arrives with a package for Herakles]], and Herc "corrects" him.
** In yet another episode of the animated series, they introduce the god of pleasure and call him Bacchus (Herc wants to throw a "Bacchanale") -- that's the god's Roman name; his Greek name is Dionysus.
*** Bacchus was, again, simply a Romanization of Greek ''Bacchos'' (''Βάκχος''), an alternative name for Dionysos -- who was not even a Greek god to begin with, but was imported from the East, much as Isis was later imported to Rome. The native Roman name for the god of viniculture was ''Pater Liber'', the "Free Father," who was identified with the Greek Bacchus much as ''Iuppiter''=''Deus/Iovis Pater'' ("God/Jove the Father") was identified with Zeus, father of the gods.

* Marvel's ''IncredibleHercules'': Two different explanations have been provided in the comics for the use of his Roman name when everything else is drawn from the Greek myths. The first was that Herakles is his real name and Hercules is his "superhero" name, since that name is more familar to Americans. This was later retconned into his having changed his name to distance himself from his stepmother Hera (since Herakles means "Glory of Hera").
** Worth noting, however, that in that series Pluto is identified by his Roman name, while all the other gods use their Greek names (though Aphrodite does acknowledge having been called Venus in the past).
* {{Shakespeare}}'s ''Timon of Athens'': Justified, in that not much was known about ancient Greece at the time.
* ''TheMatrix'': The Oracle has a reference to the Oracle of Delphi (Greek) over her door, but it's written in Latin.
* [[TheDCU DC]]'s Amazons: The Golden Age Amazons as created by William Marston had a ton of Roman stuff, including the gods going by their Roman names (Mars, Venus, and Minerva most prominently; hence "Merciful Minerva!"). The Post-Crisis rebooted version stripped out all the Roman stuff (Mars becoming Ares, for example), except for [[WonderWoman Diana's]] Latin name, which was justified as her being named after a female pilot named Diana who crashed on Themyscira in the 20th century. This has also been lampshaded on several occasions, such as when a bunch of Neo-Nazis invade Themyscira and comment that some of the statues look vaguely Roman.
** In one story, we're told that the Greek gods created the Roman gods as avatars, but they gradually developed into independent beings with slightly different personalities. This leads to Zeus/Jupiter becoming one being again, and insisting that the others should all do likewise. But that was one CosmicRetcon and several "What the hell's going on with the Greek gods ''now''?"s ago, so probably isn't canon any more.
* ''BattlestarGalactica'' (the 2000's version): has Greek and Roman themes side by side. Justified, seeing as how [[spoiler: it predates our world by several thousand years.]]
** Not to mention there are several gods who are referred to with both Roman and Greek names (Jupiter/Zeus, Mars/Ares). It's probably a cultural/linguistic thing.
*** Interestingly, while the Tauron language is revealed on ''{{Caprica}}'' to be Ancient Greek (or more likely [[TranslationConvention represented by Ancient Greek]]), the Taurons consistently refer to their chief/patron god as "Mars" rather than Ares. Of course, the Greek Ares was a tremendous [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty]] [[JerkassGods dick]] who was the closest thing the Greeks had to an [[GodOfEvil evil god]] (Hades [[DarkIsNotEvil actually being quite a decent fellow]]), while Mars (fittingly for the conquering Romans) was rather more positive.

* ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway?'' had a show where they were playing the game "Questions Only?" set in ancient Rome. Josie Lawrence asks StephenFry whether he's going to the Parthenon tonight. He asks Clive Anderson to please tell her the Parthenon is in Athens. Which results in Josie feeling 2 feet tall.
** [[{{QI}} A rather interesting fact about the Acropolis...]]
* In ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', the title character is called by his Roman name, but all the gods except Cupid have Greek names.
* The historical adviser on ''Alexander'' mentioned an earlier attempt to make a movie on the Great man, where the researcher informed him she's taken pictures of a lot of statues in Italy, where Alexander the Great never went in his entire life.
** Although the Romans copied heavily from the Hellenistic sculpture style, and the most famous statue of Augustus may actually be a statue of Alexander with a new head. So somewhat justified.

* ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': At the end of the episode "Fire from Olympus", Maxie Zeus identifies Two-Face as Janus, a Roman god, despite imagining himself to be a modern incarnation of a Greek god and imagining Joker as Hermes and Poison Ivy as Demeter. Of course, he ''is'' out of his gourd by this point...
** Probably justified, as Janus is an old Roman/Etruscan deity and doesn't have a Greek equivalent.
*** Except, you know, Hecate.
**** Who has three faces and is ''female''. Try to find a classic Batman villain fitting ''that'' description.
**** Well, since you mention that, Countdown introduced Two-Face's Earth 3 doppelganger, Evelyn Dent, also known as "Three-Face," who is female and has three personalities.
* An early episode of ''{{Arthur}}'' has Francine create a comic depicting the Olympic games... for a school report on Ancient Romans. This, as well as her suggestion that they could be "Roman athletes at the Greek Olympics" causes Brain to ask her, [[LampshadeHanging "Didn't you do]] ''[[LampshadeHanging any]]'' [[LampshadeHanging research?"]]
** Well, the Romans were allowed to compete in the Greek Olympics, but if the report has to be about ancient Rome, that does not help much.
* ''[[FateStayNight Fate/stay night]]'' uses the Greek names for its ancient Greek characters, but if the Roman name is more common, every translation, fanmade or official, is likely to change it to that (e.g. the original uses Heracles but the subs say Hercules).
** Oddly, it also refers to Rho Aias as the shield of Ajax rather than the shield of Aias.
* Lampshaded by the protagonist of the Soviet film ''The Pokrovsky Gates'': "My name is Konstantin, which is Classical for "steadfast".
* In GodOfWar, the Spartan protagonist faces off against the Greek gods... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Hercules]].
* An episode of ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' saw Sabrina borrowing ice skates from Mercury who was on the phone to Minerva and later on, Zeus shows up. Insert facepalm.

* The film ''Clash of the Titans'' (both versions) has a weird example where the monster terrorising the town of Joppa is the Kraken from Norse mythology (it was Cetus/Ceto in the original Greek). Don't even get me started on Bubo the mechanical owl, Calibos or Medusa being an only child.
* ''StarTrekNewFrontier'' lampshades this by saying that the superpowered Beings used to be ''both'' Greek and Roman gods...as well as Norse, Hindu, Egyptian...and Santa Claus.

* A common mix-up, mostly by drunken college kids, is the use of toga in a Greek setting. Togas were a Roman article of clothing, the Greeks wore chitons, not togas.
** ''And'' the toga was the equivalent of the three-piece suit, almost never worn in convivial settings.

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Has nothing to do with [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnomes]] from ancient civilizations, and the other title choice -- "Ancient Reece" -- would have been even less indicative due to sounding too much like a slang term for stale candy.

Has nothing to do with [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnomes]], and the other title choice -- "Ancient Reece" -- would have been even less indicative.

** Hercules: Best known by his Latin name, despite being a Greek hero. His Greek name was Herakles. Or, if you want to be especially correct, Ἡρακλῆς.

*** Bacchus was, again, simply a Romanization of Greek ''Bacchos'' (''Βάκχος''), an alternative name for Dionysos -- who was not even a Greek god to begin with, but was imported from the East, much as Isis was later imported to Rome. The native Roman name for the god of viniculture was ''Pater Liber'', the "Free Father," who was identified with the Greek Bacchus much as ''Deus/Iovis Pater'' ("God/Jove the Father") was identified with Zeus, father of the gods.

A sister trope to {{Mayincatec}}, {{Spexico}}, FarEast and {{Scotireland}}, a tendency for writers to overlap the Greek and Roman civilizations and confuse aspects of the two, i.e. Roman numerals in an otherwise Greek setting, Greek Gods in Rome and vice versa, etc.

This is usually a matter of DidNotDoTheResearch and is further exacerbated by the fact that the Romans drew a lot from the Greeks (Classical Greeks, that is, modern Roman Greeks are more likely to end up as the butt of jokes for being failures and rather demotic). Believe it or not, this one is OlderThanFeudalism, as the Romans themselves would place plays in Athens or other Greek cities, to avoid slandering the state, but leave everything else Roman-like.

Has nothing to do with [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnomes]], and the other title choice -"Ancient Reece"- would have been even less indicative.

** In yet another episode of the animated series, they introduce the god of pleasure and call him Bacchus (Herc wants to throw a "Bacchanale")--that's the god's Roman name; his Greek name is Dionysus.