When the planets were first discovered ...............?

Question

when the planets were first discovered why were they given the names of greek and roman gods?

Answer 1

The naked-eye planets, along with the sun and moon, are the 7 moving lights in the sky, and these were not exactly discovered as they were just known since the depths of time. (The names of the days of the week come from these)

We happen to use the Roman names because of the history of Europe -- these names were in use at the time Rome ruled Europe. Latin became the language of science in the Middle Ages. Hence the English names used today.  

Answer 2

Because it was the Romans who gave the names that stuck. The Babylonians, the Mesopotamians, and the Sumerians were the ones who "discovered" them but the names never stuck.

Answer 3

The Babylonians, whose studies of the sky were ancestral to the Greeks' astronomy, believed that when you were looking at the planet they called Marduk you were really looking at the god Marduk.  This concept passed along to the Greeks and from them to the Romans.  Mars (Nirgal to the Babylonians) was red, hence associated with blood and fire.

For the modern planets, Uranus was the father of Saturn, who was the father of Jupiter and Mars.  Neptune was one of the brothers of Jupiter and Mars, there not being any record of a father of Uranus.  Pluto was another brother.

Note that the moons of Jupiter are from his many love affairs in mythology.  Moons of Uranus, however, are named for characters from Shakespeare or Alexander Pope, so they do get away from the Greeks and Romans.

Answer 4

The Earth was first discovered.  

Answer 5

Because the romans named it at first.

Answer 6

It's the Roman language that adheres to time.  I feel that it was those names that "stuck" because they were to the true nature of the said planets.