SpaceWhy are all the planets, except ours, named after the Roman gods?
The tradition of naming planets after gods dates back to ancient times, and then the Greeks and Romans borrowed this idea later.
They named the red planet after the god of war.
The fastest planet was named after the god of commerce and cunning.
The planet that shines beautifully in the pre-dawn rays was named after the goddess of love and beauty.
Eventually it was the Roman names and the associated myths and symbolism that stuck with the planets.
However, this didn’t apply to the Earth simply as the Earth wasn’t considered a planet at the time. There was simply earth, with a lowercase letter – dirt underfoot. Certainly, when it finally became clear that the Earth was a planet, it was too late to rename it
