Vejovis or Vejove ( or Vēdiovis; rare Vēive or Vēdius) was a Roman mythology of Etruscan origins (, or ).
Representation and worship
Vejovis was portrayed as a young man, holding a bunch of arrows (or lightning bolts), or a
pilum, in his hand, and accompanied by a goat. Romans believed that Vejovis was one of the first gods to be born. He was a god of healing, and became associated with the Greek
Asclepius.
[ Roman Medicine By John Scarborough] He was mostly worshipped in
Rome and
Bovillae in
Latium. On the
Capitoline Hill and on the
Tiber Island, temples were erected in his honour.
[The New Encyclopædia Britannica: in 30 volumes By Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago University of, Encyclopædia Britannica Staff, Encyclopædia Britannica(ed.) [2]]
Though he was associated with volcanic eruptions, his original role and function is obscured to us.[ Classical Quarterly By Classical Association (Great Britain)] He is occasionally identified with Apollo and young Jupiter.[ The Cambridge History of Classical Literature By E. J. Kenney][ Nova Roma: Calendar of Holidays and Festivals]
Aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae, written around 177 CE,[Leofranc Holford-Strevens, "Towards a Chronology of Aulus Gellius", Latomus, 36 (1977), pp. 93–109] speculated that Vejovis was an ill-omened counterpart of Jupiter; compare Summanus. Aulus Gellius observes that the particle ve- that prefixes the name of the god also appears in Latin words such as vesanus, "insane," and thus interprets the name Vejovis as the anti-Jove.
Temple
He had a temple between the two peaks of the
Capitoline Hill in
Rome, where his statue carried a bundle of arrows and stood next to a statue of a she-goat.
Sacrifices
In spring, multiple goats were sacrificed to him to avert plagues.
Aulus Gellius informs us that Vejovis received the
sacrifice of a female
goat, sacrificed
ritu humano [Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, [6]] (lit. "by human rite"); this obscure phrase could possibly mean "after the manner of a
human sacrifice" or "in the manner of a burial."
[Adkins and Adkins, Dictionary of Roman Religion (Facts On File, 1996) ] These offerings were less about the animal sacrificed and more about the soul sacrificed.
Festivals
Vejovis had three festivals in the Roman Calendar: on 1 January, 7 March, and 21 May.
[ The Nature of the Gods By Marcus Tullius Cicero]
