Apollo Coin - Denarius Coin of Apollo

Usually when the Romans took over another country, they took their gods and associated them with pre-existing ones. Thus the Greek Athena was associated with Minerva and when the Romans settled in Britain, the local goddess Sulis, a healing goddess, came to be associated with the Roman Minerva, as well. Apollo, on the other hand, remained Apollo among the Romans, perhaps because he was incomparable. As a sun god, the Romans also called him Phoebus. The Etruscans, who lived in the area of modern Tuscany, had a god named Apulu who is associated with the Greco-Roman god Apollo. Because of his plague-healing powers, Apollo was an important enough god to the Romans that in 212 B.C., they instituted a set of Roman games in his honor called the Ludi Apollinares. The games for Apollo featured circus games and dramatic performances.