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http://www4.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/GrecoRomanReligion/GrecoRomanReligion.htm  Greco-Roman Religions The city of Rome, according to its own traditions, was founded during the eigth century before the Christian era.  At this time, and until the unification of the Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was divided into Greeks in the southern colonies, Latins in the central section, and Etruscans north of the Tiber River. Etruscan influence had its effect in later Roman religion. Although the first four kings of the original Roman period of territorial expansion were themselves Roman, they were followed on the throne by three Etruscans.  Although the last king, Tarquinus Superbus was probably thrown out by the Romans in 510 B.C.E. the Etruscan influence was well-established. After this time Rome was a republic.  However, the power and influence of the military leaders was so great that they became the de facto rulers of the republic and, finally one of them, Julius Caesar, proclaimed himself dictator perpetuus and imperator in 45 B.C.E.  Although Caesar was assassinated for his troubles, his nephew Octavian, later known as Augustus ("the glorious"), became emperor in 27 BCE.  After his death, having established the Pax Augustus or  Pax Romana (the glorious peace or peace of Rome) which was to last for about 500 years, Augustus was declared a god.  This instituted the imperial cult which later became the mark of the end of traditional Roman religion and the beginning of its most decadent period before the final fall of Rome.By the second century of the Christian era the Empire covered the whole Mediterranean world from northern England to Persia.  (Note that the Christian system of dating was not adopted until the sixth century when the Roman Empire fell to the northern "barbarians" and Christianity became the major legacy of the fallen Roman culture.)  In the fourth century the Empire was divided into the western zone centered in Rome itself and the eastern empire with its capital at Constantinople (= Byzantium, now Istanbul) named originally for the Roman Emperor, Constantine, who moved his capital there after approving Christianity as an acceptable religion withing the Empire.Like Greek religion, Roman religion had a pantheon and a complex mythology.  During the first century before the Christian era Roman writers, for example Titus Livius (59 BCE to 17 CE),  would give systematically historical interpretations to their myths.  Livius claimed that the war between the Romans and the Sabines was a historical episode from the Roman past although the same story exists in other Indo-European cultures in an entirely mythic form.  Since the Old Testament texts had been translated into Greek from about the middle of the third century before the Christian era and would have been available to any educated Roman it is not impossible that the emphasis on history found in the Hebrew Bible had influenced this turn of events in Rome.  Euhemerism, the belief that mythic figures are authentic historical figures expanded and aggrandized by the perspective of time, was anyhow common.  The Classicist, Georges Dumézil, has pointed out the significance of the "tripartite ideology," not only for Romans and Etruscans, but for all Indo-European peoples.  The society seemed to be originally divided into three groups of citizens, intellectuals who were rulers, warriors or guardians, and the skilled workers (of course, there were also non-citizens, often slaves, present too).  This tripartite division obviously influenced the philosophy of Plato who likewise divided the human spirit into reason, spirit, and appetite.  The first governs by the application of the second and the restraint of the third.  Whether this is the reason for the similarly tripartite arrangement of gods in Rome is a matter of speculation, but it is certainly the case that Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinius (Rule, War, and Sustenance, respectively) were the central focus of ancient Roman religion, known as the Capitoline Triad.  Although this triad was replaced by Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva (corresponding to Zeus, Hera, and Athene) under the Etruscan kings the triadic arrangement continued.  Later the triad was changed to Ceres (Demeter), Liber (Dionysius), and Libera (Kore).  As well as the interest in historical events of the Jewish religion, Rome also exhibited the respect for tradition and social organization of the Confucian tradition, although this was  certainly not a product of Chinese influence.