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89-474: The three deities who are most commonly referred to as the "Capitoline Triad" are Jupiter , the king of the gods; Juno (in her aspect as Iuno Regina , "Queen Juno"), his wife and sister; and Jupiter's daughter Minerva , the goddess of wisdom. This grouping of a male god and two goddesses was highly unusual in ancient Indo-European religions , and is almost certainly derived from the Etruscan trio of Tinia ,

178-492: A "kingly" drink with the power to inebriate and exhilarate, analogous to the Vedic Soma . 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. When the grapes were ripe, a sheep was sacrificed to Jupiter and the flamen Dialis cut the first of the grape harvest. The Meditrinalia on 11 October marked

267-447: A book by Numa recording a secret rite on how to evoke Iuppiter Elicius . The king attempted to perform it, but since he executed the rite improperly the god threw a lightning bolt which burned down the king's house and killed Tullus. When approaching Rome (where Tarquin was heading to try his luck in politics after unsuccessful attempts in his native Tarquinii ), an eagle swooped down, removed his hat, flew screaming in circles, replaced

356-653: 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. Capitoline Jupiter represented

445-517: A child. Faced by a period of bad weather endangering the harvest during one early spring, King Numa resorted to the scheme of asking the advice of the god by evoking his presence. He succeeded through the help of Picus and Faunus, whom he had imprisoned by making them drunk. The two gods (with a charm) evoked Jupiter, who was forced to come down to earth at the Aventine (hence named Iuppiter Elicius , according to Ovid). After Numa skilfully avoided

534-439: A clap of thunder (Jupiter's distinctive instrument), she was prohibited from carrying on with her normal routine until she placated the god. Some privileges of the flamen of Jupiter may reflect the regal nature of Jupiter: he had the use of the curule chair , and was the only priest ( sacerdos ) who was preceded by a lictor and had a seat in the senate . Other regulations concern his ritual purity and his separation from

623-473: A clear sky, Jupiter sent down from heaven a shield. Since this shield had no angles, Numa named it ancile ; because in it resided the fate of the imperium , he had many copies made of it to disguise the real one. He asked the smith Mamurius Veturius to make the copies, and gave them to the Salii . As his only reward, Mamurius expressed the wish that his name be sung in the last of their carmina . Plutarch gives

712-579: A continuity of royal power from the Regal period , and conferred power to the magistrates who paid their respects to him. During the Conflict of the Orders , Rome's plebeians demanded the right to hold political and religious office. During their first secessio (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

801-629: A phoney race which must be won by the king in order to allow him to drink a cup of madhu , i. e. soma . The feasting lasted for at least four days, possibly six according to Niebuhr , one day for each of the six Latin and Alban decuriae . 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:

890-531: A separate cella , with Juno Regina on the left, Minerva on the right, and Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the middle. It included a podium and a tetrastyle (four-columned) pronaos (porch). Another shrine ( sacellum ) dedicated to Jupiter, Juno Regina and Minerva was the Capitolium Vetus on the Quirinal Hill . It was thought to be older than the more famous temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on

979-463: A sky god. His identifying implement is the thunderbolt and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspices 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. As

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1068-603: 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 . The place

1157-639: A slightly different version of the story, writing that the cause of the miraculous drop of the shield was a plague and not linking it with the Roman imperium . Throughout his reign, King Tullus had a scornful attitude towards religion. His temperament was warlike, and he disregarded religious rites and piety. After conquering the Albans with the duel between the Horatii and Curiatii , Tullus destroyed Alba Longa and deported its inhabitants to Rome. As Livy tells

1246-399: A wild bird. They were subject to protective taboos and also called sacred birds. According to unanimous testimony from ancient sources the use of auspices as a means to decipher the will of the gods was more ancient than Rome itself. The use of the word is usually associated with Latins as well as the earliest Roman citizens. Though some modern historians link the act of observing Auspices to

1335-560: Is also from Praeneste, however, says that Fortuna Primigenia was Jupiter's first-born child. Jacqueline Champeaux sees this contradiction as the result of successive different cultural and religious phases, in which a wave of influence coming from the Hellenic world made Fortuna the daughter of Jupiter. The childhood of Zeus is an important theme in Greek religion, art and literature, but there are only rare (or dubious) depictions of Jupiter as

1424-537: Is connected with the founding of Rome. Once the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus , arrived at the Palatine Hill , the two argued over where the exact position of the city should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic and easily fortified Aventine Hill . The two agreed to settle their argument by testing their abilities as augurs and by

1513-432: 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 " jovial " originally described those born under the planet of Jupiter (reputed to be jolly, optimistic, and buoyant in temperament ). Auspices Augury was a Greco - Roman religion practice of observing the behavior of birds , to receive omens . When

1602-399: Is usually regarded as his Etruscan counterpart. The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had. Jupiter was "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested." He personified the divine authority of Rome's highest offices, internal organization, and external relations. His image in

1691-409: 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, of which were part 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

1780-735: The pompa circensis resembled a triumphal procession. Wissowa and Mommsen argue that they were a detached part of the triumph on the above grounds (a conclusion which Dumézil rejects). The Ludi Plebei took place in November in the Circus Flaminius . 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. The Ludi Plebei were probably established in 534 BC. Their association with

1869-654: The Etruscans , Cicero accounts in his text De Divinatione several differences between the auspicial of the Romans and the Etruscan system of interpreting the will of the gods. Cicero also mentions several other nations which, like the Romans, paid attention to the patterns of flying birds as signs of the gods' will but never mentions this practice while discussing the Etruscans. Though auspices were prevalent before

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1958-600: The Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Rome's ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours . 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. A similar sacrificial offering

2047-541: The Via Nova , below the Porta Mugonia , ancient entrance to the Palatine. Legend attributed its founding to Romulus. There may have been an earlier shrine ( fanum ) , since the Jupiter cult is attested epigraphically. Ovid places the temple's dedication on 27 June, but it is unclear whether this was the original date, or the rededication after the restoration by Augustus. A second temple of Iuppiter Stator

2136-527: The provinces , particularly during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods. Most had a triple cella . The earliest known example of a Capitolium outside Italy was at Emporion (now Empúries , Spain). According to Ovid , Terminus also had a place there, since he had a shrine there before it was built and, as the god of boundary stones, refused to yield. Although the word Capitolium (pl. Capitolia ) could be used to refer to any temple dedicated to

2225-467: The Capitoline Hill, and was still a landmark in Martial 's time, in the late 1st century. Jupiter (mythology) Jupiter ( Latin : Iūpiter or Iuppiter , from Proto-Italic * djous "day, sky" + * patēr "father", thus " sky father " Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς ), also known as Jove ( gen . Iovis [ˈjɔwɪs] ), is the god of the sky and thunder , and king of

2314-750: The Capitoline Triad, it referred especially to the temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome known as aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini ("Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest on the Capitoline"). The temple was believed to have been built under the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus , the last King of Rome prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic . Although the temple was shared by Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, each deity had

2403-679: The Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes . This type of omen reading was already a millennium old in the time of Classical Greece : in the fourteenth-century BC diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the Amarna correspondence , the practice was familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who needed an "eagle diviner" to be sent from Egypt. This earlier, indigenous practice of divining by bird signs, familiar in

2492-553: The Ides, a white lamb ( ovis idulis ) was led along Rome's Sacred Way to the Capitoline Citadel and sacrificed to him. Jupiter's two epula Iovis festivals fell on the Ides, as did his temple foundation rites as Optimus Maximus , Victor , Invictus and (possibly) Stator . The nundinae recurred every ninth day, dividing the calendar into a market cycle analogous to a week. Market days gave rural people ( pagi )

2581-504: 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 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

2670-632: The Old Latin nominative case * Ious . Jove is a less common English formation based on Iov- , the stem of oblique cases of the Latin name. Linguistic studies identify the form * Iou-pater as deriving from the Proto-Italic vocable * Djous Patēr , and ultimately the Indo-European vocative compound * Dyēu-pəter (meaning "O Father Sky-god"; nominative: * Dyēus -pətēr ). Older forms of

2759-728: The Old Testament. Yet augury was first systematized by the Chaldeans according to the Jewish Encyclopedia . In ancient Rome, the appointment and inauguration of any magistrate, decisions made within the people's assembly and the advancement of any campaign, always required a positive auspicium . During Octavian 's first consulship in 43 B.C.E., the positive auspicium corresponded to the spotting of twelve vultures, similar to Romulus. Unlike in Greece where oracles played

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2848-508: The Roman State as Romans saw in Jupiter the only source of state authority. The fetials were a college of 20 men devoted to the religious administration of international affairs of state. Their task was to preserve and apply the fetial law (ius fetiale) , a complex set of procedures aimed at ensuring the protection of the gods in Rome's relations with foreign states. Iuppiter Lapis is the god under whose protection they act, and whom

2937-474: 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

3026-531: The Romans, Romans are often linked with auspices because of their connection to Rome's foundation and because Romans established rules for the reading of auspices that helped keep it an essential part of Roman culture. Stoics, for instance, maintained that if there are gods, they care for men, and that if they care for men they must send them signs of their will. Even the Philistines practiced augury as far back as 740 BC and c. 686 BC as declared by Isaiah 2:6 in

3115-656: 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

3204-466: The annual Ludi Romani and were held in the Circus Maximus after a procession from the Capitol. The games were attributed to Tarquinius Priscus, and linked to the cult of Jupiter on the Capitol. Romans themselves acknowledged analogies with the triumph , which Dumézil thinks can be explained by their common Etruscan origin; the magistrate in charge of the games dressed as the triumphator and

3293-463: 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 . There were two temples in Rome dedicated to Iuppiter Stator ; the first one was built and dedicated in 294 BC by Marcus Atilius Regulus after the third Samnite War. It was located on

3382-414: The basic interpretations as they were often expected to take the auspices whenever they undertook any public business. Until 300 BCE only patricians could become augurs. Plebeian assemblies were forbidden to take augury and hence had no input as to whether a certain law, war or festival should occur. Cicero, an augur himself, accounts how the monopoly of the patricians created a useful barrier to

3471-414: The chief fetial (pater patratus) invokes in the rite concluding a treaty. If a declaration of war ensues, the fetial calls upon Jupiter and Quirinus , the heavenly, earthly and chthonic gods as witnesses of any potential violation of the ius . He can then declare war within 33 days. The action of the fetials falls under Jupiter's jurisdiction as the divine defender of good faith. Several emblems of

3560-452: 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

3649-472: The cult of Jupiter is attested by Cicero. The feriae of 23 December were devoted to a major ceremony in honour of Acca Larentia (or Larentina ), in which some of the highest religious authorities participated (probably including the Flamen Quirinalis and the pontiffs ). The Fasti Praenestini marks the day as feriae Iovis , as does Macrobius. It is unclear whether the rite of parentatio

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3738-615: The deity's name in Rome were Dieus-pater ("day/sky-father"), then Diéspiter . 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

3827-476: The encroachment of the populares . However, in 300 BCE a new law Lex Ogulnia , increased the number of augurs from four to nine and required that five of the nine be plebeians, for the first time granting the ability to interpret the will of the gods to lower classes. With this new power it was not only possible for plebeians to determine the gods' will in their favor but it was also now possible for plebeians to critique unfair interpretations by patricians.

3916-525: The end of the grape harvest; the new wine was pressed , tasted and mixed with old wine 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. At the Vinalia urbana on 23 April, new wine was offered to Jupiter. Large quantities of it were poured into a ditch near

4005-536: The epithet Dianus noteworthy. Dieus is the etymological equivalent of ancient Greece 's Zeus and of the Teutonics' Ziu (genitive Ziewes ). The Indo-European deity is the god from which the names and partially the theology of Jupiter, Zeus and the Indo-Aryan Vedic Dyaus Pita derive or have developed. The Roman practice of swearing by Jove to witness an oath in law courts

4094-584: The festival back to the time of the decemvirs . 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 triumph : since 231 BC some triumphing commanders had triumphed there first with the same legal features as in Rome. The Ides (the midpoint of the month, with a full moon) was sacred to Jupiter, because on that day heavenly light shone day and night. Some (or all) Ides were Feriae Iovis , sacred to Jupiter. On

4183-467: The fetial office pertain to Jupiter. The silex was the stone used for the fetial sacrifice, housed in the Temple of Iuppiter 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. The role of Jupiter in the conflict of the orders is a reflection of the religiosity of the Romans. On one side,

4272-465: The figure of Calchas , the bird-diviner to Agamemnon , who led the army ( Iliad I.69), was largely replaced by sacrifice-divination through inspection of the sacrificial victim's liver— haruspices —during the Orientalizing period of archaic Greek culture. Plato notes that hepatoscopy held greater prestige than augury by means of birds. One of the most famous auspices is the one which

4361-455: The flight of birds For the Romans, the high flight of birds ( praepes ) was an auspicious omen, the low flight was less happy ( infera ). There were two classifications of auspices; impetrative ( impetrativa , sought or requested) and oblative ( oblativa , unsought or offered). Impetrativa were signs given in response to the augur's interpretation of the auspice. Oblativa were unexpected and unsought events which occurred either while

4450-411: The fulness of life and absolute freedom that are features of Jupiter. The augures publici , augurs were a college of sacerdotes who were in charge of all inaugurations and of the performing of ceremonies known as auguria . Their creation was traditionally ascribed to Romulus . They were considered the only official interpreters of Jupiter's will, thence they were essential to the very existence of

4539-464: The god with a lightning bolt. 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, were the common festival ( panegyris ) of the so-called Priscan Latins and of the Albans. Their restoration aimed at grounding Roman hegemony in this ancestral religious tradition of

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4628-482: The gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology . Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial 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 usually thought to have originated as

4717-554: The hat on his head and flew away. Tarquin's wife Tanaquil interpreted this as a sign that he would become king based on the bird, the quadrant of the sky from which it came, the god who had sent it and the fact it touched his hat (an item of clothing placed on a man's most noble part, the head). 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. Sacrificial victims ( hostiae ) offered to Jupiter were

4806-420: The hill where they had retreated to Jupiter as symbol and guarantor of the unity of the Roman res publica . Plebeians eventually became eligible for all the magistracies and most priesthoods, but the high priest of Jupiter ( Flamen Dialis ) remained the preserve of patricians. Jupiter was served by the patrician Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the flamines , a college of fifteen priests in

4895-515: The individual, known as the augur , read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" ( Latin : auspicium ) means "looking at birds". Auspex , another word for augur, can be translated to "one who looks at birds". Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable ( auspicious or inauspicious ). Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. Pliny

4984-485: The influence of the Greek narrative tradition . After the influence of Greek culture on Roman culture, Latin literature and iconography reinterpreted the myths of Zeus in depictions and narratives of Jupiter. In the legendary history of Rome, Jupiter is often connected to kings and kingship. Jupiter is depicted as the twin of Juno in a statue at Praeneste that showed them nursed by Fortuna Primigenia . An inscription that

5073-639: The last king ( Tarquinius Superbus ) and inaugurated in the early days of the Roman Republic (13 September 509 BC). It was topped with the statues of four horses drawing a quadriga , with Jupiter as charioteer. A large statue of Jupiter stood within; on festival days, its face was painted red. In (or near) this temple was the Iuppiter Lapis : the Jupiter Stone , on which oaths could be sworn. Jupiter's Capitoline Temple probably served as

5162-470: 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. He could not have contacts with anything dead or connected with death: corpses, funerals, funeral fires, raw meat. This set of restrictions reflects

5251-537: The monarchy, but the "king" of this festival may have been the priest known as the rex sacrorum who ritually enacted the waning and renewal of power associated with the New Year (1 March in the old Roman calendar). A temporary vacancy of power (construed as a yearly " interregnum ") occurred between the Regifugium on 24 February and the New Year on 1 March (when the lunar cycle was thought to coincide again with

5340-507: 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 Diespiter was also a sky god who manifested himself in the daylight, usually identified with Jupiter. Tinia

5429-409: The necessary rituals, prayers, and other resources to help other augurs, especially members of the ruling aristocracy, to understand the fundamentals of augury. Although augurs had the power to interpret the signs, it was ultimately the responsibility of the magistrate to execute consequent decisions, or withhold or debate judgment as to future actions. The magistrates were also expected to understand

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5518-494: 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 . A dominant line of scholarship has held that Rome lacked a body of myths in its earliest period, or that this original mythology has been irrecoverably obscured by

5607-553: The official public cult of Rome, each of whom was devoted to a particular deity. His wife, the Flaminica Dialis, had her own duties, and presided over the sacrifice of a ram to Jupiter on each of the nundinae , the "market" days of a calendar cycle, comparable to a week. The couple were required to marry by the exclusive patrician ritual confarreatio , which included a sacrifice of spelt bread to Jupiter Farreus (from far , "wheat, grain"). The office of Flamen Dialis

5696-413: 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. The Romans in the last form of

5785-605: The opportunity to sell in town and to be informed of religious and political edicts, which were posted publicly for three days. According to tradition, these festival days were instituted by the king Servius Tullius . The high priestess of Jupiter ( Flaminica Dialis ) sanctified the days by sacrificing a ram to Jupiter. During the Republican era , more fixed holidays on the Roman calendar were devoted to Jupiter than to any other deity. Festivals of viniculture and wine were devoted to Jupiter, since grapes were particularly susceptible to adverse weather. Dumézil describes wine as

5874-430: The ox (castrated bull), the lamb (on the Ides, the ovis idulis ) and the wether (a castrated goat or castrated ram) (on the Ides of January). The animals were required to be white. The question of the lamb's gender is unresolved; while a sacrificial lamb for a male deity was usually male, for the vintage-opening festival the flamen Dialis sacrificed a ewe lamb to Jupiter. This rule seems to have had many exceptions, as

5963-453: The patricians were able to naturally claim the support of the supreme god as they held the auspices of the State. On the other side, the plebs (plebeians) argued that, as Jupiter was the source of justice, they had his favor because their cause was just. The first secession was caused by the excessive debt burden on the plebs. The legal institute of the nexum permitted a debtor to become

6052-479: 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. The second secession

6141-402: The requests of the god for human sacrifices, Jupiter agreed to his request to know how lightning bolts are averted, asking only for the substitutions Numa had mentioned: an onion bulb, hairs and a fish. Moreover, Jupiter promised that at the sunrise of the following day he would give to Numa and the Roman people pawns of the imperium . The following day, after throwing three lightning bolts across

6230-518: The rite brought the sacrificial ox from Rome and every participant was bestowed a portion of the meat, rite known as carnem petere . 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. This competition has been compared to the Vedic rite of the vajapeya : in it seventeen chariots run

6319-404: The role of messenger of the gods, in Rome it was through birds that Jupiter's will was interpreted. Auspices showed Romans what they were to do, or not to do; no explanation for the decision was given except that it was the will of the gods. It would be difficult to execute any public act without consulting the auspices. It was believed that if an augur committed an error in the interpretation of

6408-632: The sacrifice of a ram on the Nundinae by the flaminica Dialis demonstrates. During one of the crises of the Punic Wars , Jupiter was offered every animal born that year. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus stood on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Jupiter was worshiped there as an individual deity, and with Juno and Minerva as part of the Capitoline Triad . The building was supposedly begun by king Tarquinius Priscus , completed by

6497-453: The signs, or vitia , it was considered offensive to the gods and often was said to have disastrous effects unless corrected. Elections, the passing of laws, and initiation of wars were all put on hold until the people were assured the gods agreed with their actions. The men who interpreted these signs, revealing the will of the gods were called augurs . Similar to records of court precedents, augurs kept books containing records of past signs,

6586-550: 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 , and in Latin literature and Roman art ,

6675-487: The solar cycle), and the uncertainty and change during the two winter months were over. Some scholars emphasize the traditional political significance of the day. The Poplifugia ("Routing of Armies" ), a day sacred to Jupiter, may similarly mark the second half of the year; before the Julian calendar reform , the months were named numerically, Quintilis (the fifth month) to December (the tenth month). The Poplifugia

6764-541: The story, omens ( prodigia ) in the form of a rain of stones occurred on the Alban Mount because the deported Albans had disregarded their ancestral rites linked to the sanctuary of Jupiter. In addition to the omens, a voice was heard requesting that the Albans perform the rites. A plague followed and at last the king himself fell ill. As a consequence, the warlike character of Tullus broke down; he resorted to religion and petty, superstitious practices. At last, he found

6853-456: The supreme deity, Uni , his wife, and Menrva , their daughter and the goddess of wisdom. In some interpretations, this group replaced an original Archaic Triad made up of Jupiter, the farming/war god Mars and war/farming god Quirinus . Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were honored in temples known as Capitolia , which were built on hills and other prominent areas in many cities in Italy and

6942-467: The temple of Venus Erycina , which was located on the Capitol. The Regifugium ("King's Flight") on 24 February has often been discussed in connection with the Poplifugia on 5 July, a day holy to Jupiter. The Regifugium followed the festival of Iuppiter Terminus (Jupiter of Boundaries) on 23 February. Later Roman antiquarians misinterpreted the Regifugium as marking the expulsion of

7031-550: The third Samnite War in 295 BC. It was probably on the Quirinal, on which an inscription reading Diovei Victore 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. The cult of Iuppiter Latiaris

7120-439: The will of the gods. Each took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to Plutarch , Remus saw six vultures , after which Romulus saw twelve. The two clashed over whether the preference of the gods was indicated by Remus seeing vultures before Romulus did, or by Romulus seeing twelve vultures while Remus saw six. Vultures were pre-eminent in Roman augury, furnishing the strongest signs an augur could receive from

7209-489: Was a "primitive military ritual" for which the adult male population assembled for purification rites, after which they ritually dispelled foreign invaders from Rome. There were two festivals called epulum Iovis ("Feast of Jove"). One was held on 13 September, the anniversary of the foundation of Jupiter's Capitoline temple. The other (and probably older) festival was part of the Plebeian Games (Ludi Plebei) , and

7298-458: Was abolished and the 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

7387-420: 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 ). 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

7476-464: 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

7565-459: Was circumscribed by several unique ritual prohibitions, some of which shed light on the sovereign nature of the god himself. 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

7654-506: Was held on 13 November. In the 3rd century BC, the epulum Iovis became similar to a lectisternium . The most ancient Roman games followed after one day (considered a dies ater , or "black day", i. e. a day which was traditionally considered unfortunate even though it was not nefas , see also article Glossary of ancient Roman religion ) the two Epula Iovis of September and November. The games of September were named Ludi Magni ; originally they were not held every year, but later became

7743-509: Was itself the reason for the festival of Jupiter, or if this was another festival which happened to fall on the same day. Wissowa denies their association, since Jupiter and his flamen would not be involved with the underworld or the deities of death (or be present at a funeral rite held at a gravesite). The Latin name Iuppiter originated as a vocative compound of the Old Latin vocative * Iou and pater ("father") and came to replace

7832-407: Was made by triumphal generals , 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. 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

7921-527: Was the most ancient known cult of the god: it was practised since very remote times near the top of the Mons Albanus on which the god was venerated as the high protector of the Latin League under the hegemony of Alba Longa . 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

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