If we are as familiar with the Greek gods as we are today, it is because classical literature served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for European art. But by confusing the Greek and Roman divinities – which nevertheless had quite distinct origins – and by retaining only their most anecdotal stories, the West also transformed the nature of the Greek gods. The Musée du Louvre’s collection of Greek antiquities shows them as they appeared to people in ancient times.