Greek Mythology Series 2: Greek and Roman Influence on Space Objects

You may have heard of the planets and their names before: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and more. But have you ever wondered where they originated?

Well, let us dive deeper into this. Every single planet named in the solar system is named after Roman gods. Mercury, the first planet from the sun, is named after the god Mercury, also known as Hermes. Mercury (or Hermes) is known for being the god of commerce and communication. Now as for Venus, it is named after, well, Venus, the goddess of love. In Greek mythology, she is known as Aphrodite.

Moving on to Earth, which does not have a greek or roman root origin name, we will skip it. Mars is the next planet, and it is named after Mars, the roman god of war. He is also known as Ares in Greek mythology.

Now onto Jupiter. Jupiter in Roman mythology is the king of the gods. He is also known

Saturn is named for Kronos, the titan that defeated Uranos with the sickle and also known as the god of time. Next, Uranus is named after Uranos, the primordial deity born from Gaia and the father of the titans.

And finally, Neptune is the Roman god of the sea, or the Greek equivalent of that to Poseidon.

There is actually one more celestial object to talk about, that is Pluto. Pluto is named after the god of the underworld, or the Greek equivalent of Hades.

That is all of the 8 planets plus Pluto explained in mythology in a nut shell. In the next article, we will go over how the word "Europe" came to be. Until next time!