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In ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, Jupiter ( or Iuppiter,Iūpiter is thought to be the historically older form and Iuppiter, to have arosen through the so-called littera-rule. Compare from Proto-Italic *djous "day, sky" + *patēr "father", thus "sky father" Greek: Zeus or Zeus), also known as Jove (nominative case and genitive case. Iovis ), was the sky god and thunder, and king of the gods. Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Roman Republic and Roman Empire eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice.
Jupiter is thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying implement is the thunderbolt and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, citing Pliny Naturalis Historia X 16. A. Alföldi Zu den römischen Reiterscheiben in Germania 30 1952 p. 188 and n. 11. which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspicesServius Ad Aeneidem II 374. and became one of the most common symbols of the Roman army (see Aquila). The two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins.Dictionary of Roman Coins, see e.g. reverse of "Consecratio" coin of Emperor Commodus & coin of Ptolemy V Epiphanes minted –180 BC. As the skygod, he was a divine witness to oaths, the sacred trust on which justice and good government depend. Many of his functions were focused on the Capitoline Hill, where the citadel was located. In the Capitoline Triad, he was the central guardian of the state with Juno and Minerva. His sacred tree was the oak.
The Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus, Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. and in Latin literature and Roman art, the myths and iconography of Zeus are adapted under the name Jupiter. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Jupiter was the brother of Neptune and Pluto, the Roman equivalents of Poseidon and Hades respectively. Each presided over one of the three realms of the universe: sky, the waters, and the underworld. The Italic peoples Diespiter was also a sky god who manifested himself in the daylight, usually identified with Jupiter. Diespiter should not be confused with Dis pater, but the two names do cause confusion even in some passages of ancient literature; P.T. Eden, commentary on the Apocolocyntosis (Cambridge University Press, 1984, 2002), pp. 111–112. Tinia is usually regarded as his Etruscan counterpart.Massimo Pallottino, "Etruscan Daemonology", p. 41, and
Robert Schilling, "Rome", pp. 44 and 63,
both in (1981, 1992) Roman and European Mythologies, University of Chicago Press, 1992, transl. from the 1981 French edition;
Giuliano Bonfante and Larissa Bonfante, (1983, 2003) The Etruscan Language: An Introduction, Manchester University Press rev. ed., pp. 24, 84, 85, 219, 225;
Nancy Thomson de Grummond, (2006), Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, pp. 19, 53–58 et passim;
Jean MacIntosh Turfa, (2012), Divining the Etruscan World: The Brontoscopic Calendar and Religious Practice Cambridge University Press, p. 62.
The consuls swore their oath of office in Jupiter's name, and honoured him on the annual feriae of the Capitol in September. To thank him for his help, and to secure his continued support, they sacrificed a white ox (bos mas) with gilded horns.Scheid, in ; citing Jean Bayet Les annales de Tite Live édition G. Budé vol. III 1942 Appendix V p. 153 and n. 3. A similar sacrificial offering was made by Roman Triumph, who surrendered the tokens of their victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue in the Capitol. Some scholars have viewed the triumphator as embodying (or impersonating) Jupiter in the triumphal procession.: cf. Servius Eclogae X 27 " unde etiam triumphantes habent omnia insignia Iovis, sceptrum palmatamque togam" "wherefore also the triumphing commanders have all the insignia of Jupiter, the sceptre and the toga palmata'". On the interpretation of the triumphal dress and of the triumph, Larissa Bonfante has offered an interpretation based on Etruscan documents in her article: "Roman Triumphs and Etruscan Kings: the Changing Face of the Triumph" in Journal of Roman Studies 60 1970 pp. 49–66 and tables I–VIII. Mary Beard rehearses various views of the triumphator as god or king in The Roman Triumph (Harvard University Press, 2007), pp. 226–232, and expresses skepticism.
Jupiter's association with kingship and sovereignty was reinterpreted as Rome's form of government changed. Originally, Rome was ruled by kings; after the monarchy was abolished and the Roman Republic established, religious prerogatives were transferred to the patres, the patrician ruling class. Nostalgia for the kingship (affectatio regni) was considered treasonous. Those suspected of harbouring monarchical ambitions were punished, regardless of their service to the state. In the 5th century BC, the triumphator Camillus was sent into exile after he drove a chariot with a team of four white horses (quadriga)—an honour reserved for Jupiter himself. When Marcus Manlius, whose defense of the Capitol against the invading Gauls had earned him the name Capitolinus, was accused of regal pretensions, he was executed as a traitor by being cast from the Tarpeian Rock. His house on the Capitoline Hill was razed, and it was decreed that no patrician should ever be allowed to live there. citing Livy V 23, 6 and VI 17, 5. Capitoline Jupiter represented a continuity of royal power from the Roman Kingdom, and conferred power to the magistrates who paid their respects to him.
During the Conflict of the Orders, Rome's plebs demanded the right to hold political and religious office. During their first Secessio plebis (similar to a general strike), they withdrew from the city and threatened to found their own. When they agreed to come back to Rome they vowed the hill where they had retreated to Jupiter as symbol and guarantor of the unity of the Roman res publica. citing Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities VI 90, 1; Festus s.v. p. 414 L 2nd. Plebeians eventually became eligible for all the magistracies and most priesthoods, but the high priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) remained the preserve of patricians.
The office of Flamen Dialis was circumscribed by several unique ritual prohibitions, some of which shed light on the sovereign nature of the god himself.Most of the information about the Flamen Dialis is preserved by Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights X 15. For instance, the flamen may remove his clothes or apex (his pointed hat) only when under a roof, in order to avoid showing himself naked to the sky—that is, "as if under the eyes of Jupiter" as god of the heavens. Every time the Flaminica saw a lightning bolt or heard a clap of thunder (Jupiter's distinctive instrument), she was prohibited from carrying on with her normal routine until she placated the god.Macrobius Saturnalia I 16, 8: flaminica quotiens tonitrua audisset feriata erat, donec placasset deos. The adjective feriatus, related to feriae, "holy days", pertains to keeping a holiday, and hence means "idle, unemployed", not performing one's usual tasks.
Some privileges of the flamen of Jupiter may reflect the regal nature of Jupiter: he had the use of the curule chair,Livy I 20, 1–2. and was the only priest (sacerdos) who was preceded by a lictorPlutarch Quaestiones Romanae 113. and had a seat in the Roman senate.Livy XXVII 8, 8. Other regulations concern his ritual purity and his separation from the military function; he was forbidden to ride a horse or see the army outside the sacred boundary of Rome (pomerium). Although he served the god who embodied the sanctity of the oath, it was not religiously permissible (fas) for the Dialis to swear an oath.Aulus Gellius, 10.15.5: item iurare Dialem fas numquam est; Robert E.A. Palmer, "The Deconstruction of Mommsen on Festus 462/464L, or the Hazards of Interpretation", in Imperium sine fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic (Franz Steiner, 1996), p. 85; Francis X. Ryan, Rank and Participation in the Republican Senate (Franz Steiner, 1998), p. 165. The Vestals and the Flamen Dialis were the only Roman citizens who could not be compelled to swear an oath (Aulus Gellius 10.15.31); Robin Lorsch Wildfang, Rome's Vestal Virgin: A Study of Rome's Vestal Priestesses in the Late Republic and Early Empire (Routledge, 2006), p. 69. He could not have contacts with anything dead or connected with death: corpses, funerals, funeral fires, raw meat. This set of restrictions reflects the fulness of life and absolute freedom that are features of Jupiter.
The action of the fetials falls under Jupiter's jurisdiction as the divine defender of good faith. Several emblems of the fetial office pertain to Jupiter. The silex was the stone used for the fetial sacrifice, housed in the Temple of Feretrius, as was their sceptre. Sacred herbs (sagmina), sometimes identified as vervain, had to be taken from the nearby citadel (arx) for their ritual use., citing Paulus p. 92 M.; Servius Aeneis XII 206; Livy I 24, 3–8; IX 5, 3; XXX 43, 9; Festus p. 321 M.; Pliny Naturalis historia XXII 5; Marcianus apud Digesta I 8, 8 par. 1; Servius Aeneis VIII 641; XII 120.
The first secession was caused by the excessive debt burden on the plebs. The legal institute of the nexum permitted a debtor to become a slave of his creditor. The plebs argued the debts had become unsustainable because of the expenses of the wars wanted by the patricians. As the senate did not accede to the proposal of a total debt remission advanced by dictator and augur Manius Valerius Maximus the plebs retired on the Mount Sacer, a hill located three Roman miles to the North-northeast of Rome, past the Nomentan bridge on river Anio.Varro in his Lingua Latina V writes of "Crustumerian secession" (" a secessione Crustumerina"）. The place is windy and was usually the site of rites of divination performed by haruspices. The senate in the end sent a delegation composed of ten members with full powers of making a deal with the plebs, among whom were Menenius Agrippa and Manius Valerius. It was Valerius, according to the inscription found at Arezzo in 1688 and written on the order of Augustus as well as other literary sources, that brought the plebs down from the Mount, after the secessionists had consecrated it to Jupiter Territor and built an altar ( ara) on its summit. The fear of the wrath of Jupiter was an important element in the solution of the crisis. The consecration of the Mount probably referred to its summit only. The ritual requested the participation of both an augur (presumably Manius Valerius himself) and a pontifex.F. Vallocchia "Manio Valerio Massimo dittatore ed augure" in Diritto @ Storia 7 2008 (online).
The second secession was caused by the autocratic and arrogant behaviour of the decemviri, who had been charged by the Roman people with writing down the laws in use till then kept secret by the patrician magistrates and the sacerdotes. All magistracies and the tribunes of the plebs had resigned in advance. The task resulted in the XII Tables, which though concerned only private law. The plebs once again retreated to the Sacer Mons: this act besides recalling the first secession was meant to seek the protection of the supreme god. The secession ended with the resignation of the decemviri and an amnesty for the rebellious soldiers who had deserted from their camp near Mount Algidus while warring against the Volscians, abandoning the commanders. The amnesty was granted by the senate and guaranteed by the pontifex maximus Quintus Furius (in Livy's version) (or Marcus Papirius) who also supervised the nomination of the new tribunes of the plebs, then gathered on the Aventine Hill. The role played by the pontifex maximus in a situation of vacation of powers is a significant element underlining the religious basis and character of the tribunicia potestas.C. M. A. Rinolfi "Plebe, pontefice massimo, tribuni della plebe: a proposito di Livio 3.54.5–14" in Diritto @ Storia 5 2006 (online).
The Elder Tarquin is credited with introducing the Capitoline Triad to Rome, by building the so-called Capitolium Vetus. Macrobius writes this issued from his Samothracian mystery beliefs.Macrobius Saturnalia III 6.
Jupiter's Capitoline Temple probably served as the architectural model for his provincial temples. When Hadrian built Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem, a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was erected in the place of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.
A second temple of Iuppiter Stator was built and dedicated by Quintus Caecilus Metellus Macedonicus after his triumph in 146 BC near the Circus Flaminius. It was connected to the restored temple of Iuno Regina with a portico ( porticus Metelli). and n. 1 citing Vitruvius De Architectura III 1, 5. Augustus constructed the Temple of Jupiter Tonans near that of Jupiter Capitolinus between 26 and 22 BC.
Iuppiter Victor had a temple dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the third Samnite War in 295 BC. It was probably on the Quirinal, on which an inscription reading Diovei VictoreCIL VI 438. has been found, but was eclipsed by the imperial period by the Temple of Jupiter Invictus on the Palatine, which was often referred to by the same name. Inscriptions from the imperial age have revealed the existence of an otherwise-unknown temple of Iuppiter Propugnator on the Palatine.Protocols of a sacerdotal collegium: , citing CIL VI 2004–2009.
After the destruction of Alba by king Tullus Hostilius the cult was forsaken. The god manifested his discontent through the prodigy of a rain of stones: the commission sent by the Roman senate to inquire was also greeted by a rain of stones and heard a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the mount requesting the Albans perform the religious service to the god according to the rites of their country. In consequence of this event the Romans instituted a festival of nine days ( nundinae). Nonetheless a plague ensued: in the end Tullus Hostilius himself was affected and lastly killed by the god with a lightning bolt.Livy I 31 1–8. The festival was reestablished on its primitive site by the last Roman king Tarquin the Proud under the leadership of Rome.
The feriae Latinae, or Latiar as they were known originally,Macrobius I 16. This identification has though been challenged by A. Pasqualini. were the common festival ( panegyris) of the so-called Priscan LatinsFestus s.v. prisci Latini p.: "the Latin towns that existed before the foundation of Rome". and of the Albans.L. Schmitz in W. Smith Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities London 1875 s. v. Feriae p. 529. Their restoration aimed at grounding Roman hegemony in this ancestral religious tradition of the Latins. The original cult was reinstated unchanged as is testified by some archaic features of the ritual: the exclusion of wine from the sacrifice,Cicero De Divinatione I 18; Dionysius Hal. AR IV 49, 3; Festus p. 212 L l. 30 f.; Scholiasta Bobiensis ad Ciceronis pro Plancio 23. the offers of milk and cheese, and the ritual use of rocking among the games. Rocking is one of the most ancient rites mimicking ascent to Heaven and is very widespread. At the Latiar the rocking took place on a tree and the winner was of course the one who had swung the highest. This rite was said to have been instituted by the Albans to commemorate the disappearance of king Latinus, in the battle against Mezentius king of Caere: the rite symbolised a search for him both on earth and in heaven. The rocking as well as the customary drinking of milk was also considered to commemorate and ritually reinstate infancy.Festus s.v. oscillantes p. 194 M; C. A. Lobeck Aglaophamus sive de theologiae mysticae Graecorum causis libri tres Königsberg 1829 p. 585. The Romans in the last form of the rite brought the sacrificial ox from Rome and every participant was bestowed a portion of the meat, a rite known as carnem petere.Cicero Pro Plancio 23; Varro De Lingua Latina VI 25; Pliny Naturalis historia III 69. Other games were held in every participant borough. In Rome a race of chariots ( quadrigae) was held starting from the Capitol: the winner drank a liquor made with absynth.Pliny XXVII 45. This competition has been compared to the Vedic rite of the vajapeya: in it seventeen chariots run a phoney race which must be won by the king in order to allow him to drink a cup of madhu, i. e. soma. cites A. Alföldi Early Rome and the Latins Ann Arbor 1965 p. 33 n. 6. The feasting lasted for at least four days, possibly six according to Niebuhr, one day for each of the six Latin and Alban decuriae.; L. Schmitz in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities London 1875 s. v. Feriae p. 529: Niebuhr History of Rome II p. 35 citing Livy V 42, Plutarch Camillus 42. According to different records 47 or 53 boroughs took part in the festival (the listed names too differ in Pliny Naturalis historia III 69 and Dionysius of Halicarnassus AR V 61). The Latiar became an important feature of Roman political life as they were feriae conceptivae, i. e. their date varied each year: the consuls and the highest magistrates were required to attend shortly after the beginning of the administration, originally on the Ides of March: the Feriae usually took place in early April. They could not start campaigning before its end and if any part of the games had been neglected or performed unritually the Latiar had to be wholly repeated. The inscriptions from the imperial age record the festival back to the time of the .. CIL 2011–2022; XIV 2236–2248. Wissowa remarks the inner linkage of the temple of the Mons Albanus with that of the Capitol apparent in the common association with the rite of the Roman triumph: since 231 BC some triumphing commanders had triumphed there first with the same legal features as in Rome.Livy XLII 21, 7.
Three Roman festivals were connected with viniculture and wine.
The rustic Vinalia altera on 19 August asked for good weather for ripening the grapes before harvest., citing Pliny NH XVIII 289: "This festival day was established for the placation (i. e. averting) of storms", " Hunc diem festum tempestatibus leniendis institutum". When the grapes were ripe,, citing Pandects II 12, 4. a sheep was sacrificed to Jupiter and the flamen Dialis cut the first of the grape harvest.
The Meditrinalia on 11 October marked the end of the grape harvest; the new wine was pressed, tasted and mixed with old wine, citing Varro De Lingua Latina VI 21 Novum vetus vinum bibo, novo veteri morbo medeor. to control fermentation. In the Fasti Amiternini, this festival is assigned to Jupiter. Later Roman sources invented a goddess Meditrina, probably to explain the name of the festival.G. Dumézil, Fêtes romaines d' été et d' automne, Paris, 1975, pp. 97–108.
At the Vinalia urbana on 23 April, new wine was offered to Jupiter. Large quantities of it were poured into a ditch near the temple of Venus Erycina, which was located on the Capitol., citing Varro De Lingua Latina VI 16; Pliny Naturalis historia XVIII 287; Ovid Fasti IV, 863 ff; Paulus p. 65 and 374 M.
The Poplifugia ("Routing of Armies"), a day sacred to Jupiter, may similarly mark the second half of the year; before the Julian calendar, the months were named numerically, Quintilis (the fifth month) to December (the tenth month). The Poplifugia was a "primitive military ritual" for which the adult male population assembled for purification rites, after which they ritually dispelled foreign invaders from Rome.
The games of September were named Ludi Magni; originally they were not held every year, but later became the annual Ludi RomaniMommsen Römischen Forschungen II p. 42 ff. puts their founding on 366 BC at the establishment of the curule aedility. Cited by . and were held in the Circus Maximus after a procession from the Capitol. The games were attributed to Tarquinius Priscus,Livy I 35, 9. and linked to the cult of Jupiter on the Capitol. Romans themselves acknowledged analogies with the Roman triumph, which Dumézil thinks can be explained by their common Etruscan origin; the magistrate in charge of the games dressed as the triumphator and the pompa circensis resembled a triumphal procession. Wissowa and Mommsen argue that they were a detached part of the triumph on the above grounds, citing Livy V 41, 2; Tertullian De corona militis 13; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Antiq. Rom. VII 72. Marquardt Staatsverwaltung III 508. (a conclusion which Dumézil rejects).
The Ludi Plebei took place in November in the Circus Flaminius. citing Jean Bayet Les annales de Tite Live édition G. Budé vol. III 1942 Appendix V p. 153 and n. 3. Theodor Mommsen argued that the epulum of the Ludi Plebei was the model of the Ludi Romani, but Wissowa finds the evidence for this assumption insufficient., citing Mommsen CIL I 2nd p. 329, 335; Rǒmische Forschungen II 45, 4. The Ludi Plebei were probably established in 534 BC. Their association with the cult of Jupiter is attested by Cicero. In Verrem V 36 and Paulus s.v. ludi magni p. 122 M.
Older forms of the deity's name in Rome were Dieus-pater ("day/sky-father"), then Diéspiter., citing Varro De Lingua Latina V 66: "The same peculiarity is revealed even better by the ancient name of Jupiter: since once he was named Diovis and Diespiter, that is Dies Pater (Day Father); consequently the beings issued from him are named dei (gods), dius (god), diuum (day) hence the expressions sub diuo and Dius Fidius. This is why the temple of Dius Fidius has an opening in the roof, in order to allow the view of the diuum i. e. the caelum sky" tr. by J. Collart quoted by Y. Lehmann below; Paulus p. 71:" dium (the divinised sky), who denotes what is in the open air, outside the roof derives from the name of Iupiter, as well as Dialis, epithet of the flamen of Jupiter and dius that is applied to a hero descended from the race of Jupiter" and 87 M. The 19th-century philologist Georg Wissowa asserted these names are conceptually- and linguistically-connected to Diovis and Diovis Pater; he compares the analogous formations Vedius- Veiove and fulgur Dium, as opposed to fulgur Summanum (nocturnal lightning bolt) and flamen Dialis (based on Dius, dies). The Ancient later viewed them as entities separate from Jupiter. The terms are similar in etymology and semantics ( dies, "daylight" and Dius, "daytime sky"), but differ linguistically. Wissowa considers the epithet Dianus noteworthy., n. 2.CIL V 783: Iovi Diano from Aquileia. Dieus is the etymological equivalent of ancient Greece's Zeus and of the Germanic peoples Ziu (genitive Ziewes). The Indo-European deity is the god from which the names and partially the theology of Jupiter, Zeus and the Indo-Aryans Vedic mythology Dyaus Pita derive or have developed.
The Roman practice of swearing by Jove to witness an oath in law courts Der Große Brockhaus, vol. 9, Leipzig: Brockhaus 1931, p. 520 is the origin of the expression "by Jove!"—archaic, but still in use. The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter; the adjective "" originally described those born under the planet of JupiterWalter W. Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1882, Oxford University Press 1984, p. 274 (reputed to be jolly, optimistic, and buoyant in temperament).
Jove was the original namesake of Latin forms of the Week-day names now known in English as Thursday (originally called Iovis Dies in Latin language). These became jeudi in French, jueves in Spanish, joi in Romanian, giovedì in Italian, dijous in Catalan language, Xoves in Galician, Joibe in Friulian and Dijóu in Provençal.
Jupiter's most ancient attested forms of cult belong to the State cult: these include the mount cult (see section above note n. 22). In Rome this cult entailed the existence of particular sanctuaries the most important of which were located on Mons Capitolinus (earlier Tarpeius). The mount had two tops that were both destined to the discharge of acts of cult related to Jupiter. The northern and higher top was the arx and on it was located the observation place of the augurs ( auguraculum) and to it headed the monthly procession of the sacra Idulia., citing Varro De Lingua Latina V 47 and Festus p. 290 M. s.v. Idulia. On the southern top was to be found the most ancient sanctuary of the god: the shrine of Iuppiter Feretrius allegedly built by Romulus, restored by Augustus. The god here had no image and was represented by the sacred flintstone ( silex)., citing Paulus p. 92 M.; Servius Ad Aeneidem VIII 641. The most ancient known rites, those of the spolia opima and of the fetials which connect Jupiter with Mars and Quirinus are dedicated to Iuppiter Feretrius or Iuppiter Lapis., citing Festus p. 189 M. s.v. lapis; Polybius Historiae III 25, 6. The concept of the sky god was already overlapped with the ethical and political domain since this early time. According to Wissowa and Dumézil Iuppiter Lapis seems to be inseparable from Iuppiter Feretrius, in whose tiny temple on the Capitol the stone was lodged.
Another most ancient epithet is Lucetius: although the Ancients, followed by some modern scholars such as Wissowa, interpreted it as referring to sunlight, the carmen Saliare shows that it refers to lightning.. The carmen Saliare has: "cume tonas Leucesie prai ted tremonti/ quot tibi etinei deis cum tonarem". A further confirmation of this interpretation is provided by the sacred meaning of lightning which is reflected in the sensitivity of the flaminica Dialis to the phenomenon. To the same atmospheric complex belongs the epithet Elicius: while the ancient erudites thought it was connected to lightning, it is in fact related to the opening of the reservoirs of rain, as is testified by the ceremony of the Nudipedalia, meant to propitiate rainfall and devoted to Jupiter. citing Petronius Satyricon 44. and the ritual of the lapis manalis, the stone which was brought into the city through the Porta Capena and carried around in times of drought, which was named Aquaelicium.Paulus s. v. p. 94 L 2nd; p. 2 M; Tertullian Apologeticum 40. Other early epithets connected with the atmospheric quality of Jupiter are Pluvius, Imbricius, Tempestas, Tonitrualis, tempestatium divinarum potens, Serenator, SerenusApuleius De Mundo 37; cf. Iuppiter Serenus CIL VI 431, 433; XI 6312; Iuppiter Pluvialis CIL XI 324. and, referred to lightning, Fulgur,Vitruvius De Architectura I 2, 5; CIL I 2nd p. 331: sanctuary in the Campus Martius, dedicated on 7 October according to calendaries. Fulgur Fulmen,CIL XII 1807. later as nomen agentis Fulgurator, Fulminator:CIL VI 377; III 821, 1596, 1677, 3593, 3594, 6342 cited by . the high antiquity of the cult is testified by the neutre form Fulgur and the use of the term for the bidental, the lightning well dug on the spot hit by a lightning bolt.Festus s. v. provorsum fulgur p. 229 M: "...; itaque Iovi Fulguri et Summano fit, quod diurna Iovis nocturna Summani fulgura habentur." as cited by
A group of epithets has been interpreted by Wissowa (and his followers) as a reflection of the agricultural or warring nature of the god, some of which are also in the list of eleven preserved by Augustine.Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 11. Pecunia is tentatively included in this group by n. 4. Cfr. Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 11 & 12. Frugifer CIL XII 336. Apuleius De Mundo 37. The agricultural ones include Opitulus, Almus, Ruminus, Frugifer, Farreus, Pecunia, Dapalis,Cato De Agri Cultura 132; Paulus s. v. p. 51 M. Epulo.CIL VI 3696. Augustine gives an explanation of the ones he lists which should reflect Varro's: Opitulus because he brings opem (means, relief) to the needy, Almus because he nourishes everything, Ruminus because he nourishes the living beings by breastfeeding them, Pecunia because everything belongs to him. n. 4 understands Pecunia as protector and increaser of the flock. Dumézil maintains the cult usage of these epithets is not documented and that the epithet Ruminus, as Wissowa and Latte remarked, may not have the meaning given by Augustine but it should be understood as part of a series including Rumina, Ruminalis ficus, Iuppiter Ruminus, which bears the name of Rome itself with an Etruscan vocalism preserved in inscriptions, series that would be preserved in the sacred language (cf. Rumach Etruscan for Roman). However many scholars have argued that the name of Rome, Ruma, meant in fact woman's breast.Bruno Migliorini s.v. Roma in Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti vol. XXIX p. 589; A. W. Schlegel Sämtliche Werke Leipzig 1847 XII p. 488; F. Kort Römische Geschichte Heidelberg 1843 p.32-3. Diva Rumina, as Augustine testifies in the cited passage, was the goddess of suckling babies: she was venerated near the ficus ruminalis and was offered only libations of milk. Here moreover Augustine cites the verses devoted to Jupiter by Quintus Valerius Soranus, while hypothesising Iuno (more adept in his view as a breastfeeder), i.e. Rumina instead of Ruminus, might be nothing else than Iuppiter: " Iuppiter omnipotens regum rerumque deumque Progenitor genetrixque deum...".
In Dumézil's opinion Farreus should be understood as related to the rite of the confarreatio the most sacred form of marriage, the name of which is due to the spelt cake eaten by the spouses, rather than surmising an agricultural quality of the god: the epithet means the god was the guarantor of the effects of the ceremony, to which the presence of his flamen is necessary and that he can interrupt with a clap of thunder.Servius IV 339.
The epithet Dapalis is on the other hand connected to a rite described by Cato and mentioned by Festus.Cato De Agri Cultura 132; Festus s. v. daps, dapalis, dapaticum pp. 177–178 L 2nd. Before the sowing of autumn or spring the peasant offered a banquet of roast beef and a cup of wine to Jupiter: it is natural that on such occasions he would entreat the god who has power over the weather, however Cato's prayer is one of simple offer with no request. The language suggests another attitude: Jupiter is invited to a banquet which is supposedly abundant and magnificent. The god is honoured as summus. The peasant may hope he shall receive a benefit, but he does not say it. This interpretation finds support in the analogous urban ceremony of the epulum Iovis, from which the god derives the epithet of Epulo and which was a magnificent feast accompanied by flutes. Epulo CIL VI 3696.
Epithets related to warring are in Wissowa's view Iuppiter Feretrius, Iuppiter Stator, Iuppiter Victor and Iuppiter Invictus. Feretrius would be connected with war by the rite of the first type of spolia opima which is in fact a dedication to the god of the arms of the defeated king of the enemy that happens whenever he has been killed by the king of Rome or his equivalent authority. Here too Dumézil notes the dedication has to do with regality and not with war, since the rite is in fact the offer of the arms of a king by a king: a proof of such an assumption is provided by the fact that the arms of an enemy king captured by an officer or a common soldier were dedicated to Mars and Quirinus respectively.
Iuppiter Stator was first attributed by tradition to Romulus, who had prayed to the god for his almighty help at a difficult time during the battle with the Sabines of king Titus Tatius.Livy I 12, 4–6. Dumézil opines the action of Jupiter is not that of a god of war who wins through fighting: Jupiter acts by causing an inexplicable change in the morale of the fighters of the two sides. The same feature can be detected also in the certainly historical record of the battle of the third Samnite War in 294 BC, in which consul Marcus Atilius Regulus vowed a temple to Iuppiter Stator if "Jupiter will stop the rout of the Roman army and if afterwards the Samnite legions shall be victoriously massacred...It looked as if the gods themselves had taken side with Romans, so much easily did the Roman arms succeed in prevailing...".Livy X 36, 11. In a similar manner one can explain the epithet Victor, whose cult was founded in 295 BC on the battlefield of Sentinum by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges and who received another vow again in 293 by consul Lucius Papirius Cursor before a battle against the Samnite legio linteata. The religious meaning of the vow is in both cases an appeal to the supreme god by a Roman chief at a time of need for divine help from the supreme god, albeit for different reasons: Fabius had remained the only political and military responsible of the Roman State after the devotio of P. Decius Mus, Papirius had to face an enemy who had acted with impious rites and vows, i.e. was religiously reprehensible.Livy X 29, 12–17; nefando sacro, mixta hominum pecudumque caedes, "by an impious rite, a mixed slaughter of people and flock" 39, 16; 42, 6–7.
More recently Dario Sabbatucci has given a different interpretation of the meaning of Stator within the frame of his structuralistic and dialectic vision of Roman calendar, identifying oppositions, tensions and equilibria: January is the month of Janus, at the beginning of the year, in the uncertain time of winter (the most ancient calendar had only ten months, from March to December). In this month Janus deifies kingship and defies Jupiter. Moreover, January sees also the presence of Veiovis who appears as an anti-Jupiter, of Carmenta who is the goddess of birth and like Janus has two opposed faces, Prorsa and Postvorta (also named Antevorta and Antevorta), of Iuturna, who as a gushing spring evokes the process of coming into being from non-being as the god of passage and change does. In this period the preeminence of Janus needs compensating on the Ides through the action of Jupiter Stator, who plays the role of anti-Janus, i.e. of moderator of the action of Janus., as summarized in the review by
In addition, many of the epithets of Zeus can be found applied to Jupiter, by interpretatio romana. Thus, since the hero Trophonius (from Lebadea in Boeotia) is called Zeus Trophonius, this can be represented in English (as it would be in Latin) as Jupiter Trophonius. Similarly, the Greek cult of Zeus Meilichios appears in Pompeii as Jupiter Meilichius. Except in representing actual cults in Italy, this is largely 19th-century usage; modern works distinguish Jupiter from Zeus.
One of the most important sources which preserve the theology of Jupiter and other Roman deities is The City of God against the Pagans by Augustine of Hippo. Augustine's criticism of traditional Roman religion is based on Varro's lost work, Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum. Although a work of Christian apologetics, The City of God provides glimpses into Varro's theological system and authentic Roman theological lore in general. According to Augustine,Augustine De Civitate Dei IV 27; VI 5. Varro drew on the pontiff Mucius Scaevola's tripartite theology:
Wissowa considered Jupiter also a god of war and agriculture, in addition to his political role as guarantor of good faith (public and private) as Iuppiter Lapis and Dius Fidius, respectively. His view is grounded in the sphere of action of the god (who intervenes in battle and influences the harvest through weather).
In Georges Dumézil's view, Jovian theology (and that of the equivalent gods in other Indo-European religions) is an evolution from a naturalistic, supreme, celestial god identified with heaven to a sovereign god, a wielder of lightning bolts, master and protector of the community (in other words, of a change from a naturalistic approach to the world of the divine to a socio-political approach).
In Vedic mythology, Dyaus Pitar remained confined to his distant, removed, passive role and the place of sovereign god was occupied by Varuna and Mitra. In Greek and Roman religion, instead, the homonymous gods *Diou- and Διdigamma- evolved into atmospheric deities; by their mastery of thunder and lightning, they expressed themselves and made their will known to the community. In Rome, Jupiter also sent signs to the leaders of the state in the form of auspices in addition to thunder. The art of augury was considered prestigious by ancient Romans; by sending his signs, Jupiter (the sovereign of heaven) communicates his advice to his terrestrial colleague: the king ( rex) or his successor magistrates. The encounter between the heavenly and political, legal aspects of the deity are well represented by the prerogatives, privileges, functions and taboos proper to his flamen (the flamen Dialis and his wife, the flaminica Dialis).
Dumézil maintains that Jupiter is not himself a god of war and agriculture, although his actions and interest may extend to these spheres of human endeavour. His view is based on the methodological assumption that the chief criterion for studying a god's nature is not to consider his field of action, but the quality, method and features of his action. Consequently, the analysis of the type of action performed by Jupiter in the domains in which he operates indicates that Jupiter is a sovereign god who may act in the field of politics (as well as agriculture and war) in his capacity as such, i.e. in a way and with the features proper to a king. Sovereignty is expressed through the two aspects of absolute, magic power (epitomised and represented by the Vedic god Varuna) and lawful right (by the Vedic god Mitra). However, sovereignty permits action in every field; otherwise, it would lose its essential quality. As a further proof, Dumézil cites the story of Tullus Hostilius (the most belligerent of the Roman kings), who was killed by Jupiter with a lightning bolt (indicating that he did not enjoy the god's favour). Varro's definition of Jupiter as the god who has under his jurisdiction the full expression of every being ( penes Iovem sunt summa) reflects the sovereign nature of the god, as opposed to the jurisdiction of Janus (god of passages and change) on their beginning ( penes Ianum sunt prima).Varro apud Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 9.
| + Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis as applied to Roman religion |
| : |
The sovereign function (1) embodied in Jupiter entailed omnipotence; thence, a domain extended over every aspect of nature and life.
The three functions are interrelated with one another, overlapping to some extent; the sovereign function, although including a part that is essentially religious in nature, is involved in many ways in areas pertaining to the other two. Therefore, Jupiter is the "magic player" in the founding of the Roman state and the fields of war, agricultural plenty, human fertility, and wealth.
This hypothesis has not found widespread support among scholars.
The couple itself though cannot be reduced to a Greek apport. The association of Juno and Jupiter is of the most ancient Latin theology. Praeneste offers a glimpse into original Latin mythology: the local goddess Fortuna is represented as milking two infants, one male and one female, namely Jove (Jupiter) and Juno.Cicero De nat. Deor. II 85–86: "Is est locus saeptus religiose propter Iovis pueri, qui lactens cum Iunone in gremio sedens, mamma appetens, castissime colitur a matribus": "This is an enclosed place for religious reasons because of Iupiter child, who is seated on the womb with Juno suckling, directed towards the breast, very chastely worshipped by mothers". It seems fairly safe to assume that from the earliest times they were identified by their own proper names and since they got them they were never changed through the course of history: they were called Jupiter and Juno. These gods were the most ancient deities of every Latin town. Praeneste preserved divine filiation and infancy as the sovereign god and his paredra Juno have a mother who is the primordial goddess Fortuna Primigenia. Many terracotta statuettes have been discovered which represent a woman with a child: one of them represents exactly the scene described by Cicero of a woman with two children of different sex who touch her breast. Two of the votive inscriptions to Fortuna associate her and Jupiter: " Fortunae Iovi puero..." and "Fortunae Iovis puero..."CIL XIV 2868 and 2862 (mutile).
In 1882 though R. Mowat published an inscription in which Fortuna is called daughter of Jupiter, raising new questions and opening new perspectives in the theology of Latin gods.R. Mowat "Inscription latine sur plaque de bronze acquise à Rome par par M. A. Dutuit" in Mem. de la Soc. nat. des Antiquités de France 5me Ser. 3 43 1882 p. 200: CIL XIV 2863: ORCEVIA NUMERI/ NATIONU CRATIA/ FORTUNA DIOVO FILEA/ PRIMOCENIA/ DONOM DEDI. Cited by . Dumézil has elaborated an interpretative theory according to which this aporia would be an intrinsic, fundamental feature of Indoeuropean deities of the primordial and sovereign level, as it finds a parallel in Vedic religion. The contradiction would put Fortuna both at the origin of time and into its ensuing diachronic process: it is the comparison offered by Vedic deity Aditi, the Not-Bound or Enemy of Bondage, that shows that there is no question of choosing one of the two apparent options: as the mother of the Aditya she has the same type of relationship with one of his sons, Dakṣa, the minor sovereign. who represents the Creative Energy, being at the same time his mother and daughter, as is true for the whole group of sovereign gods to which she belongs.Ṛg-Veda X 72, 4–5; and Mariages indo-européens pp. 311–312: "Of Aditi Daksa was born, and of Daksa Aditi, o Daksa, she who is your daughter". Moreover, Aditi is thus one of the heirs (along with Savitr) of the opening god of the Indoiranians, as she is represented with her head on her two sides, with the two faces looking opposite directions. The mother of the sovereign gods has thence two solidal but distinct modalities of duplicity, i.e. of having two foreheads and a double position in the genealogy. Angelo Brelich has interpreted this theology as the basic opposition between the primordial absence of order (chaos) and the organisation of the cosmos.A. Brelich Tre variazioni romane sul tema delle origini. I. Roma e Preneste. Una polemica religiosa nell'Italia antica Pubbl. dell'Univ. di Roma 1955–1956.
The functionality of Sancus occurs consistently within the sphere of fides, oaths and respect for contracts and of the divine-sanction guarantee against their breach. Wissowa suggested that Semo Sancus is the genius of Jupiter,G. Wissowa in Roschers Lexicon 1909 s.v. Semo Sancus col. 3654; . but the concept of a deity's genius is a development of the Imperial period.
Some aspects of the oath-ritual for Dius Fidius (such as proceedings under the open sky or in the compluvium of private residences), and the fact the temple of Sancus had no roof, suggest that the oath sworn by Dius Fidius predated that for Iuppiter Lapis or Iuppiter Feretrius.O. Sacchi "Il trivaso del Quirinale" in Revue internationale de droit de l'Antiquité 2001 pp. 309–311, citing Nonius Marcellus s.v. rituis (L p. 494): Itaque domi rituis nostri, qui per dium Fidium iurare vult, prodire solet in compluvium., 'thus according to our rites he who wishes to swear an oath by Dius Fidius he as a rule walks to the compluvium (an unroofed space within the house)'; Macrobius Saturnalia III 11, 5 on the use of the private mensa as an altar mentioned in the ius Papirianum; Granius Flaccus indigitamenta 8 (H. 109) on king Numa's vow by which he asked for the divine punishment of perjury by all the gods.
G. Wissowa advanced the hypothesis that Semo Sancus is the genius of Jupiter. W. W. Fowler has cautioned that this interpretation looks to be an anachronism and it would only be acceptable to say that Sancus is a Genius Iovius, as it appears from the Iguvine Tables.
Censorinus cites Granius Flaccus as saying that "the Genius was the same entity as the Lar" in his lost work De Indigitamentis.Censorinus De Die Natali 3, 1. probably referring to the Lar Familiaris. Mutunus Tutunus had his shrine at the foot of the Velian Hill near those of the Di Penates and of Vica Pota, who were among the most ancient gods of the Roman community, according to Wissowa.
Dumézil opines that the attribution of a Genius to the gods should be earlier than its first attestation of 58 BC, in an inscription which mentions the Iovis Genius.CIL IX 3513 from the lex templi of the temple of Iuppiter Liber at Furfo, Samnium.
A connection between Genius and Jupiter seems apparent in Plautus' comedy Amphitryon, in which Jupiter takes up the appearance of Alcmene's husband in order to seduce her: J. Hubeaux sees there a reflection of the story that Scipio Africanus' mother conceived him with a snake that was in fact Jupiter transformed.Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae VI 1, 6. Silius Italicus Punica XIII 400–413. Cited by , referencing J. Hubeaux Les grands mythes de Rome Paris 1945 pp. 81–82 and J. Aymard "Scipion l' Africain et les chiens du Capitol" in Revue d'études latins 31 1953 pp. 111–116. Scipio himself claimed that only he would rise to the mansion of the gods through the widest gate.Cicero De Republica VI 13: = Somnium Scipionis.
Among the Etruscan Penates there is a Genius Iovialis who comes after Fortuna and Ceres and before Pales.Arnobius Adversus Nationes IV 40, 2. Genius Iovialis is one of the Penates of the humans and not of Jupiter though, as these were located in region I of Martianus Capella's division of Heaven, while Genius appears in regions V and VI along with Ceres, Favor (possibly a Roman approximation to an Etruscan male manifestation of Fortuna) and Pales.G. Capdeville "Les dieux de Martianus Capella" in Revue de l'histoire des religions 213 1996 3. p. 285. This is in accord with the definition of the Penates of man being Fortuna, Ceres, Pales and Genius Iovialis and the statement in Macrobius that the Larentalia were dedicated to Jupiter as the god whence the souls of men come from and to whom they return after death.Macrobius I 10, 16.
Other scholars assert that there was no Liber (other than a god of wine) within historical memory. cites Fr. Bömer Untersuchungen über die Religion der Sklaven in Griechenland und Rom I Wiesbaden 1957 p. 127 f. Olivier de Cazanove argues that the domain of the sovereign god Jupiter was that of sacred, sacrificial wine ( vinum inferiumTrebatius Testa apud Arnobius Ad nationes VII 31: " solum quod inferetur sacrum..." "only that which is spilt is considered sacred..."; also Cato De Agri Cultura CXXXII 2; CXXXIV 3; Servius IX 641; Isidore XX 2,7.), while that of Liber and Libera was confined to secular wine ( vinum spurcum);Marcus Antistius Labeo apud Festus s. v., p. 474 L. these two types were obtained through differing fermentation processes. The offer of wine to Liber was made possible by naming the mustum (grape juice) stored in sacrima.Fr. Altheim Terra Mater Giessen 1931 p. 22 and n. 4 while acknowledging the obscurity of the etymology of this word proposed the derivation from sacerrima as bruma from brevissima; Onomata Latina et Graeca s.v.: novum vinum; Corpus Glossatorum Latinorum II p. 264: απαρχη γλεύκους.
Sacred wine was obtained by the natural fermentation of juice of grapes free from flaws of any type, religious (e. g. those struck by lightning, brought into contact with corpses or wounded people or coming from an unfertilised grapeyard) or secular (by "cutting" it with old wine). Secular (or "profane") wine was obtained through several types of manipulation (e.g. by adding honey, or mulsum; using raisins, or passum; by boiling, or defrutum). However, the sacrima used for the offering to the two gods for the preservation of grapeyards, vessels and wineColumella De Re Rustica XII 18, 4 mentions a sacrifice to Liber and Libera immediately before. was obtained only by pouring the juice into amphors after pressing.Paulus s. v. sacrima p. 423 L; Festus p. 422 L (mutile). The mustum was considered spurcum (dirty), and thus unusable in sacrifices.Isidore Origines XX 3, 4; Enrico Monatanari "Funzione della sovranitá e feste del vino nella Roma repubblicana" in Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 49 1983 pp. 242–262. The amphor (itself not an item of sacrifice) permitted presentation of its content on a table or could be added to a sacrifice; this happened at the auspicatio vindamiae for the first grapeG. Dumézil "Quaestiunculae indo-italicae" 14–16 in Revue d' études latins XXXIX 1961 pp. 261–274. and for ears of corn of the praemetium on a dish ( lanx) at the temple of Ceres.Henri Le Bonniec Le culte de Cérès à Rome Paris 1958 pp. 160–162.
Dumézil, on the other hand, sees the relationship between Jupiter and Liber as grounded in the social and political relevance of the two gods (who were both considered patrons of freedom). The Liberalia of March were, since earliest times, the occasion for the ceremony of the donning of the toga virilis or libera (which marked the passage into adult citizenship by young people). Augustine relates that these festivals had a particularly obscene character: a phallus was taken to the fields on a cart, and then back in triumph to town. In Lavinium they lasted a month, during which the population enjoyed bawdy jokes. The most honest matronae were supposed to publicly crown the phallus with flowers, to ensure a good harvest and repeal the fascinatio (evil eye). In Rome representations of the sex organs were placed in the temple of the couple Liber Libera, who presided over the male and female components of generation and the "liberation" of the semen.Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 3, 1. This complex of rites and beliefs shows that the divine couple's jurisdiction extended over fertility in general, not only that of grapes. The etymology of Liber (archaic form Loifer, Loifir) was explained by Émile Benveniste as formed on the IE theme *leudh- plus the suffix -es-; its original meaning is "the one of germination, he who ensures the sprouting of crops"."Liber et liberi" in Revue d'études latins 14 1936 pp. 52–58.
The relationship of Jupiter with freedom was a common belief among the Roman people, as demonstrated by the dedication of the Mons Sacer to the god after the first secession of the plebs. Later inscriptions also show the unabated popular belief in Jupiter as bestower of freedom in the imperial era." ...curatores Iovi Libertati" CIL XI 657 and " Iovi Obsequenti publice" CIL XI 658 from Bagnacavallo; " Iuppiter Impetrabilis" from Cremella sopra Monza published by G. Zecchini in Rivista di studi italiani e latini 110 1976 pp. 178–182. The double presence of Jupiter and Feronia at Bagnacavallo has led to speculation that the servile manumissio (legal ritual action by which slaves were freed) was practised in this sanctuary : Giancarlo Susini "San Pietro in Sylvis, santuario pagense e villaggio plebano nel Ravennate" in Mélanges offertes à G. Sanders Steenbrugge 1991 pp. 395–400. Cited in F. Cenerini above p. 103.
The god (under the name Vetis) is placed in the last case (number 16) of the outer rim of the Piacenza Liver—before Cilens (Nocturnus), who ends (or begins in the Etruscan vision) the disposition of the gods. In Martianus Capella's division of heaven, he is found in region XV with the dii publici; as such, he numbers among the infernal (or antipodal) gods. The location of his two temples in Rome—near those of Jupiter (one on the Capitoline Hill, in the low between the arx and the Capitolium, between the two groves where the asylum founded by Romulus stood, the other on the Tiber Island near that of Iuppiter Iurarius, later also known as temple of Aesculapius)Ovid Fasti I, 291–294.—may be significant in this respect, along with the fact that he is considered the father of Apollo, perhaps because he was depicted carrying arrows.Ferruccio Bernini Ovidio. I Fasti (translation and commentary), III 429; Bologna 1983 (reprint). He is also considered to be the unbearded Jupiter.Vitruvius De Architectura IV 8, 4. The dates of his festivals support the same conclusion: they fall on 1 January,Ovid Fasti. Fasti Praenestini CIL I 2nd p. 231: Aescu]lapio Vediovi in insula. 7 MarchFasti Praen.: Non. Mart. F(as)...]ovi artis Vediovis inter duos lucos; Ovid Fasti III, 429–430. and 21 May,Ovid Fasti V, 721–722. XII Kal. Iun. NP Agonia (Esq. Caer. Ven. Maff.); Vediovi (Ven.). the first date being the recurrence of the Agonalia, dedicated to Janus and celebrated by the king with the sacrifice of a ram. The nature of the sacrifice is debated; Gellius states capra, a female goat, although some scholars posit a ram. This sacrifice occurred rito humano, which may mean "with the rite appropriate for human sacrifice".Wissowa on the grounds of Paulus's glossa humanum sacrificium p. 91 L interprets "with a rite proper to a ceremony in honour of the deceased". G. Piccaluga at n. 15 and 21 pp. 231–232 though remarks that Gellius does not state sacrificium humanum but only states... immolaturque ritu humano capra. Gellius concludes by stating that this god is one of those who receive sacrifices so as to persuade them to refrain from causing harm.
The arrow is an ambivalent symbol; it was used in the ritual of the devotio (the general who vowed had to stand on an arrow).Livy VIII 9, 6. It is perhaps because of the arrow and of the juvenile looks that Gellius identifies Veiove with ApolloGellius V 12, 12. and as a god who must receive worship in order to obtain his abstention from harming men, along with Robigus and Averruncus.Gellius V 12. The Romans knew and offered a cult to other such deities: among them Febris, Tussis, Mefitis. The ambivalence in the identity of Veiove is apparent in the fact that while he is present in places and times which may have a negative connotation (such as the asylum of Romulus in between the two groves on the Capitol, the Tiberine island along with Faunus and Aesculapius, the kalends of January, the nones of March, and 21 May, a statue of his nonetheless stands in the arx. Moreover, the initial particle ve- which the ancient supposed were part of his name is itself ambivalent as it may have both an accrescitive and diminutive value.G. Piccaluga "L' anti-Juppiter" in Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni XXXIV 1963 p. 233-234 and notes 30, 31 citing Gellius V 12 and Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia XVI 216: " Non et simulacrum Veiovis in arce?".
Maurice Besnier has remarked that a temple to Iuppiter was dedicated by praetor Lucius Furius Purpureo before the battle of Cremona against the Celtic Cenomani of Cisalpine Gaul.Livy XXXI 21. An inscription found at Brescia in 1888 shows that Iuppiter Iurarius was worshipped thereEttore Pais CIL Supplementa Italica I addimenta al CIL V in Atti dei Lincei, Memorie V 1888 n. 1272: I O M IUR D(e) C(onscriptorum) S(ententia). and one found on the south tip of Tiber Island in 1854 that there was a cult to the god on the spot too.CIL I 1105: C. Volcaci C. F Har. de stipe Iovi Iurario... onimentum. Besnier speculates that Lucius Furius had evoked the chief god of the enemy and built a temple to him in Rome outside the pomerium. On 1 January, the Fasti Praenestini record the festivals of Aesculapius and Vediove on the Island, while in the Fasti Ovid speaks of Jupiter and his grandson.Ovid Fasti I, 291–295. Livy records that in 192 BC, duumvir Q. Marcus Ralla dedicated to Jupiter on the Capitol the two temples promised by L. Furius Purpureo, one of which was that promised during the war against the Gauls.Livy XXXV 41. Besnier would accept a correction to Livy's passage (proposed by Jordan) to read aedes Veiovi instead of aedes duae Iovi. Such a correction concerns the temples dedicated on the Capitol: it does not address the question of the dedication of the temple on the Island, which is puzzling, since the place is attested epigraphically as dedicated to the cult of Iuppiter Iurarius, in the Fasti Praenestini of VedioveCfr. above: " Aeculapio Vediovi in insula". and to Jupiter according to Ovid. The two gods may have been seen as equivalent: Iuppiter Iurarius is an awesome and vengeful god, parallel to the Greek Zeus Orkios, the avenger of perjury.Maurice Besnier "Jupiter Jurarius" in Mélanges d'archéologie et d' histoire 18 1898 pp. 287–289.
A. Pasqualini has argued that Veiovis seems related to Iuppiter Latiaris, as the original figure of this Jupiter would have been superseded on the Alban Mount, whereas it preserved its gruesome character in the ceremony held on the sanctuary of the Latiar Hill, the southernmost hilltop of the Quirinal in Rome, which involved a human sacrifice. The gens Iulia had gentilician cults at Bovillae where a dedicatory inscription to Vediove has been found in 1826 on an ara.CIL XIV 2387 = ILS 2988 = ILLRP 270=CIL I 807: Vediovei patrei genteiles Iuliei leege Albana dicata. According to Pasqualini it was a deity similar to Vediove, wielder of lightning bolts and chthonic, who was connected to the cult of the founders who first inhabited the Alban Mount and built the sanctuary. Such a cult once superseded on the Mount would have been taken up and preserved by the Iulii, private citizens bound to the sacra Albana by their Alban origin.A. Pasqualini "Le basi documenatarie della leggenda di Alba Longa" Universita' di Roma Torvergata 2012 online.
A temple was dedicated to the goddess afterwards on the Palatine, testifying to her high station in the Roman mind. When Hieron of Syracuse presented a golden statuette of the goddess to Rome, the Senate had it placed in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter among the greatest (and most sacred) deities.Livy XXVII 2, 10–12.
Although Victoria played a significant role in the religious ideology of the late Republic and the Empire, she is undocumented in earlier times. A function similar to hers may have been played by the little-known Vica Pota.
Terminus is the god of boundaries (public and private), as he is portrayed in literature. The religious value of the boundary marker is documented by Plutarch,Plutarch Numa 16. who ascribes to king Numa the construction of temples to Fides and Terminus and the delimitation of Roman territory. Ovid gives a vivid description of the rural rite at a boundary of fields of neighbouring peasants on 23 February (the day of the Terminalia.Ovid Fasti II, 679. On that day, Roman pontiffs and magistrates held a ceremony at the sixth mile of the Via Laurentina (ancient border of the Roman ager, which maintained a religious value). This festival, however, marked the end of the year and was linked to time more directly than to space (as attested by Augustine's Apologetics on the role of Janus with respect to endings).Augustine De Civitate Dei VII 7. Dario Sabbatucci has emphasised the temporal affiliation of Terminus, a reminder of which is found in the rite of the regifugium. Dumézil, on the other hand, views the function of this god as associated with the legalistic aspect of the sovereign function of Jupiter. Terminus would be the counterpart of the minor Vedic god Bagha, who oversees the just and fair division of goods among citizens.
In Dumézil's analysis, the function of Iuventas (the personification of youth), was to control the entrance of young men into society and protect them until they reach the age of iuvenes or iuniores (i.e. of serving the state as soldiers).
A temple to Iuventas was promised in 207 BC by consul Marcus Livius Salinator and dedicated in 191 BC.Livy XXXV 36, 5.
The concept of di Penates is more defined in Etruria: Arnobius (citing a Caesius) states that the Etruscan Penates were named Fortuna, Ceres, Genius Iovialis and Pales; according to Nigidius Figulus, they included those of Jupiter, of Neptune, of the infernal gods and of mortal men.Arnobius Adversus nationes III 40. Cf. also Lucan Pharsalia V 696; VII 705; VIII 21. According to Varro the Penates reside in the recesses of Heaven and are called Consentes and Complices by the Etruscans because they rise and set together, are twelve in number and their names are unknown, six male and six females and are the cousellors and masters of Jupiter. Martianus states they are always in agreement among themselves.Arnobius Adversus Nationes III 40, 3; Martianus Capella De Nuptiis I 41: "Senatores deorum qui Penates ferebantur Tonantis ipsius quorumque nomina, quoniam publicari secretum caeleste non pertulit, ex eo quod omnia pariter repromittunt, nomen eis consensione perficit". While these last gods seem to be the Penates of Jupiter, Jupiter himself along with Juno and Minerva is one of the Penates of man according to some authors.Arnobius Adversus Nationes III 40 4; Macrobius Saturnalia III 4 9.
This complex concept is reflected in Martianus Capella's division of heaven, found in Book I of his De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, which places the Di Consentes Penates in region I with the Favores Opertanei; Ceres and Genius in region V; Pales in region VI; Favor and Genius (again) in region VII; Secundanus Pales, Fortuna and Favor Pastor in region XI. The disposition of these divine entities and their repetition in different locations may be due to the fact that Penates belonging to different categories (of Jupiter in region I, earthly or of mortal men in region V) are intended. Favor(es) may be the Etruscan masculine equivalent of Fortuna.Gérard Capdeville "Les dieux de Martianus Capella" in Revue de l'histoire des religions 213 1996 3 p. 285 citing Carl Olof Thulin Die Götter des Martianus Capella und der Bronzeleber von Piacenza (=RGVV 3. 1) Giessen 1906 pp. 38–39. On the topic see also A. L. Luschi "Cacu, Fauno e i venti' in Studi Etruschi 57 1991 pp. 105–117.
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