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188-663: Juno's own warlike aspect among the Romans is apparent in her attire. She was often shown armed and wearing a goatskin cloak. The traditional depiction of this warlike aspect was assimilated from the Greek goddess Athena , who bore a goatskin, or a goatskin shield, called the Aegis . Juno was also shown wearing a diadem. The name Juno was once popularly thought to be connected to Iove (Jove), originally as Diuno and Diove from *Diovona . Although this etymology still receives some support,

376-461: A founding myth reported by Pseudo-Apollodorus, Athena competed with Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that Cecrops , the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water spring sprang up; this gave the Athenians access to trade and water. Athens at its height

564-412: A temple built on the spot where the Romans and Sabines laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus (traditionally reigned 753–717 BC). The institution of the senate was always ascribed to Romulus; although the first senate was said to comprise 100 members, the earliest number which can be called certain is 300, probably connected with the three tribes and 30 curiae also attributed to Romulus. After

752-534: A "terrifying warrior goddess" and that both goddesses were closely linked with creation. Athena's birth from the head of Zeus may be derived from the earlier Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent into and return from the Underworld . Plato notes that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess known as Neith , whom he identifies with Athena. Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who

940-460: A Juno Regina is mentioned before Marcus Furius Camillus , while she is attested in many Etruscan and Latin towns. Before that time her Roman equivalent was Juno Moneta. Marcel Renard for his part considers her an ancient Roman figure since the title of the Veian Juno expresses a cultic reality that is close to and indeed presupposes the existence at Rome of an analogous character: as a rule it is

1128-516: A Juno other than that of the temple on the Aventine built to lodge the evocated Veian Juno as the rex sacrorum and his wife-queen were to offer a monthly sacrifice to Juno in the Regia. This might imply that the prerepublican Juno was royal. J. Gagé dismisses these assumptions as groundless speculations as no Jupiter Rex is attested and in accord with Roe D'Albret stresses that at Rome no presence of

1316-453: A chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both the palaestra and the race. Out of envy, the other athletes murdered her, but Athena took pity in her and transformed her dead body into a myrtle , a plant thereafter as favoured by her as the olive was. An almost exact story was said about another girl, Elaea , who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca , Athena advised Argos ,

1504-466: A cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion , a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. Here Athena's statue was undressed, her clothes washed, and body purified. Athena was worshipped at festivals such as Chalceia as Athena Ergane , the patroness of various crafts, especially weaving . She was also the patron of metalworkers and was believed to aid in the forging of armor and weapons. During

1692-505: A connection to the Rigvedic god Trita , who was sometimes grouped in a body of three mythological poets. Michael Janda has connected the myth of Trita to the scene in the Iliad in which the "three brothers" Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divide the world between them, receiving the "broad sky", the sea, and the underworld respectively. Janda further connects the myth of Athena being born of

1880-834: A curia. Today, the most famous curia is the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church , which assists the Roman Pontiff in the hierarchical government of the Church. The word curia is thought to derive from Old Latin coviria , meaning 'a gathering of men' ( co- , 'together' = vir , 'man'). In this sense, any assembly, public or private, could be called a curia . In addition to the Roman curiae, voting assemblies known as curiae existed in other towns of Latium , and similar institutions existed in other parts of Italy. During

2068-432: A daughter of Zeus ( Διός θυγάτηρ ; cfr. Dyeus ). However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to " a-ta-nū-tī wa-ya ", quoted as SY Za 1 by Jan Best. Best translates the initial a-ta-nū-tī , which is recurrent in line beginnings, as "I have given". A Mycenean fresco depicts two women extending their hands towards a central figure, who is covered by an enormous figure-eight shield; this may depict

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2256-470: A derivation was later proposed from iuven- (as in Latin iuvenis , "youth"), through a syncopated form iūn- (as in iūnix , "heifer", and iūnior , "younger"). This etymology became widely accepted after it was endorsed by Georg Wissowa . Iuuen- is related to Latin aevum and Greek aion (αἰών) through a common Indo-European root referring to a concept of vital energy or "fertile time". The iuvenis

2444-551: A just cause and was thought to view war primarily as a means to resolve conflict. The Greeks regarded Athena with much higher esteem than Ares. Athena was especially worshipped in this role during the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia , both of which prominently featured displays of athletic and military prowess. As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength. In her aspect as

2632-644: A man injured during the construction of the gateway to the Acropolis . Mechanitis (Μηχανῖτις), meaning skilled in inventing, was one of the epithets of her. At Athens there is the temple of Athena Phratria , as patron of a phratry , in the Ancient Agora of Athens . Athena's epithet Pallas – her most renowned one – is derived either from πάλλω , meaning "to brandish [as a weapon]", or, more likely, from παλλακίς and related words, meaning "youth, young woman". On this topic, Walter Burkert says "she

2820-702: A month was named after Juno (Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Praeneste, Tibur). Outside Latium in Campania at Teanum she was Populona (she who increase the number of the people or, in K. Latte's understanding of the iuvenes , the army), in Umbria at Pisaurum Lucina, at Terventum in Samnium Regina, at Pisarum Regina Matrona, at Aesernia in Samnium Regina Populona. In Rome she was since the most ancient times named Lucina, Mater and Regina. It

3008-505: A new temple to both Matuta and Iuno Regina hint to a degree of identity between them: this assumption has by chance been supported by the discovery at Pyrgi of a bronze lamella which mentions together Uni and Thesan , the Etruscan Juno and Aurora, i.e. Mater Matuta. One can then suppose Camillus's simultaneous vow of the temples of the two goddesses should be seen in the light of their intrinsic association. Octavianus will repeat

3196-415: A recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery. Even beyond recognition, the Athenians allotted the goddess value based on this pureness of virginity, which they upheld as a rudiment of female behavior. Kerényi's study and theory of Athena explains her virginal epithet as a result of her relationship to her father Zeus and a vital, cohesive piece of her character throughout

3384-445: A symbol of Athenian economic prosperity. Robert Graves was of the opinion that "Poseidon's attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths", which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions. Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, Halirrhothius , to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him. This

3572-456: A table to Juno in every curia, that Dionysius still saw. Modern scholars have proposed the town of Currium or Curria, Quirinus , *quir(i)s or *quiru , the Sabine word for spear and curia . The *quiru- would design the sacred spear that gave the name to the primitive curiae. The discovery at Sulmona of a sanctuary of Hercules Curinus lends support to a Sabine origin of the epithet and of

3760-471: A temple at Phrixa in Elis , reportedly built by Clymenus , she was known as Cydonia (Κυδωνία). Pausanias wrote that at Buporthmus there was a sanctuary of Athena Promachorma (Προμαχόρμα), meaning protector of the anchorage . The Greek biographer Plutarch describes Pericles's dedication of a statue to her as Athena Hygieia (Ὑγίεια, "Health") after she inspired, in a dream, his successful treatment of

3948-448: A temple was built to her at Las . In Pergamon, Athena was thought to have been a god of the cosmos and the aspects of it that aided Pergamon and its fate. She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, and emerged full-grown from his forehead. There was an alternate story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena and when she was fully grown she emerged from Zeus' forehead. Being

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4136-561: A war with the Galli Insubri ); in it the goddess was honoured in military garb. The flamen or special priest belonging to Juno Seispes continued to be a Lanuvian, specially nominated by the town to take care of the goddess even though she was housed in her temple at Rome (in the Forum Holitorium). At the time of Cicero , Milo , who served as the city's dictator and highest magistrate in 52 BC (Cic. Mil. 27), and of course

4324-565: A warrior maiden, Athena was known as Parthenos ( Παρθένος "virgin"), because, like her fellow goddesses Artemis and Hestia , she was believed to remain perpetually a virgin. Athena's most famous temple, the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis , takes its name from this title. According to Karl Kerényi , a scholar of Greek mythology, the name Parthenos is not merely an observation of Athena's virginity, but also

4512-494: A young priestess who served in the temple of Athena in Athens. Poseidon lusted after Medusa, and raped her in the temple of Athena, refusing to allow her vow of chastity to stand in his way. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with serpents for hair whose gaze would turn any mortal to stone . Curiae Curia ( pl. : curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of

4700-425: Is Glaukopis ( γλαυκῶπις ), which usually is translated as, "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes". The word is a combination of glaukós ( γλαυκός , meaning "gleaming, silvery", and later, "bluish-green" or "gray") and ṓps ( ὤψ , "eye, face"). The word glaúx ( γλαύξ , "little owl") is from the same root, presumably according to some, because of the bird's own distinctive eyes. Athena

4888-408: Is a decisive factor in ensuring the safety of the community and the growth of crops. The role of Iuno is at the crossing point of civil and natural life, expressing their interdependence. At Laurentum she was known as Kalendaris Iuno and was honoured as such ritually at the kalendae of each month from March to December, i.e. the months of the pre-Numan ten-month year, a fact which is a testimony to

5076-407: Is also refuted by Mommsen . Each curia had its own sacra , in which its members, known as curiales, worshipped the gods of the state and other deities specific to the curia, with their own rites and ceremonies. Each curia had a meeting site and place of worship, named after the curia. Originally, this may have been a simple altar, then a sacellum , and finally a meeting house. The curia

5264-522: Is also the tutelary goddess of the curiae and of the new brides, whose hair was combed with the spear called caelibataris hasta as in Rome. In her annual rites at Falerii youths and maiden clad in white bore in procession gifts to the goddess whose image was escorted by her priestesses. The idea of purity and virginity is stressed in Ovid's description. A she goat is sacrificed to her after a ritual hunting. She

5452-629: Is believed to be dead, but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself. Impressed by his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself and tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom. She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope, and helps him to defeat the suitors. Athena also appears to Odysseus's son Telemachus. Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades and ask about his father. He hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey. Athena's push for Telemachus's journey helps him grow into

5640-448: Is certainly the divine protectress of the community, who shows both a sovereign and a fertility character, often associated with a military one. She was present in many towns of ancient Italy: at Lanuvium as Sespeis Mater Regina, Laurentum , Tibur , Falerii , Veii as Regina, at Tibur and Falerii as Regina and Curitis, Tusculum and Norba as Lucina . She is also attested at Praeneste , Aricia , Ardea , Gabii . In five Latin towns

5828-408: Is connected to regality: the existence and welfare of the community was protected by virgin goddesses or the virgin attendants of a goddess. This theme shows a connexion with the fundamental theological character of Iuno, that of incarnating vital force: virginity is the condition of unspoilt, unspent vital energy that can ensure communion with nature and its rhythm, symbolised in the fire of Vesta . It

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6016-464: Is debated whether she was also known as Curitis before the evocatio of the Juno of Falerii: this though seems probable. Other epithets of hers that were in use at Rome include Moneta and Caprotina, Tutula, Fluonia or Fluviona, Februalis, the last ones associated with the rites of purification and fertility of February. Her various epithets thus show a complex of mutually interrelated functions that in

6204-604: Is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. She was known as Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin". In one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius , an important Athenian founding hero. Athena

6392-616: Is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of the Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess . The cult of Athena may have also been influenced by those of Near Eastern warrior goddesses such as the East Semitic Ishtar and the Ugaritic Anat , both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms. Classical scholar Charles Penglase notes that Athena resembles Inanna in her role as

6580-458: Is he who has the fullness of vital force. In some inscriptions Jupiter himself is called Iuuntus , and one of the epithets of Jupiter is Ioviste , a superlative form of iuuen- meaning "the youngest". Iuventas , "Youth", was one of two deities who "refused" to leave the Capitol when the building of the new Temple of Capitoline Jove required the exauguration of deities who already occupied

6768-497: Is mentioned several times by Livy in connexion with sacrifices offered in atonement of prodigia . It was restored by Augustus. Two inscriptions found near the church of S. Sabina indicate the approximate site of the temple, which corresponds with its place in the lustral procession of 207 BC, near the upper end of the Clivus Publicius. The day of the dedication and of her festival was September 1. Another temple stood near

6956-404: Is more broadly used to designate an assembly , council , or court , in which public, official, or religious issues are discussed and decided. Lesser curiae existed for other purposes. The word curia also came to denote the places of assembly, especially of the senate . Similar institutions existed in other towns and cities of Italy. In medieval times, a king's council was often referred to as

7144-432: Is no longer accepted by scholars, as such a role belongs to Diana Lucifera : through her association with the moon she governed the feminine physiological functions, menstrual cycle and pregnancy: as a rule all lunar deities are deities of childbirth. These aspects of Juno mark the heavenly and worldly sides of her function. She is thus associated to all beginnings and hers are the kalendae of every month: at Laurentum she

7332-572: Is no sure document of its existence elsewhere either in Latium or Etruria. A direct Greek influence is possible but it would be also plausible to consider it a local creation. Dumézil advanced the hypothesis it could be an ideological construction of the Tarquins to oppose new Latin nationalism, as it included the three gods that in the Iliad are enemies of Troy . It is probable Latins had already accepted

7520-402: Is occasionally referred to as "Tritonia". Another possible meaning may be "triple-born" or "third-born", which may refer to a triad or to her status as the third daughter of Zeus or the fact she was born from Metis, Zeus, and herself; various legends list her as being the first child after Artemis and Apollo, though other legends identify her as Zeus' first child. Several scholars have suggested

7708-479: Is often named Iunonius . Some scholars view this concentration of multiple functions as a typical and structural feature of the goddess, inherent to her being an expression of the nature of femininity. Others though prefer to dismiss her aspects of femininity and fertility and stress only her quality of being the spirit of youthfulness, liveliness and strength, regardless of sexual connexions, which would then change according to circumstances: thus in men she incarnates

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7896-399: Is particularly revealing since it reflects two interrelated aspects of the function of Juno: cyclical renewal of time in the waning and waxing of the moon and protection of delivery and birth (as she who brings to light the newborn as vigour, vital force). The ancient called her Covella in her function of helper in the labours of the new moon. The view that she was also a Moon goddess though

8084-655: Is referred to their Curia. The Court of Justice of the European Union uses "CURIA" (in roman script) in its official emblem. The term curia may refer to separate electoral colleges in a system of reserved political positions (reserved seats), e.g. during the British mandate of Palestine at the third election (1931) of the Asefat HaNivharim there were three curiae, for the Ashkenazi Jews ,

8272-420: Is sometimes translated as ' ward '. Only a few of the names of the 30 curiae have been preserved, including Acculeia, Calabra, Faucia, Foriensis, Rapta, Veliensis, Tifata , and Titia. The assertion that the plebeians were not members of the curiae, or that only the dependents ( clientes ) of the patricians were admitted, and not entitled to vote, is expressly contradicted by Dionysius . This argument

8460-656: Is the Pallas of Athens, Pallas Athenaie , just as Hera of Argos is Here Argeie ". In later times, after the original meaning of the name had been forgotten, the Greeks invented myths to explain its origins, such as those reported by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus and the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, which claim that Pallas was originally a separate entity, whom Athena had slain in combat. In one version of

8648-425: Is then the patroness of the young soldiers and of brides. At Lanuvium the goddess is known under the epithet Seispes Mater Regina. The titles themselves are a theological definition: she was a sovereign goddess, a martial goddess and a fertility goddess. Hence her flamen was chosen by the highest local magistrate, the dictator, and since 388 BC the Roman consuls were required to offer sacrifices to her. Her sanctuary

8836-580: Is to be identified with Juno Populona of later inscriptions, a political and military poliadic (guardian) deity who had in fact a place in the Capitoline temple and was intended to represent the Regina of the king. The date of her introduction, though ancient, would be uncertain; she should perhaps be identified with Hera Basilea or as the queen of Jupiter Rex. The actual epithet Regina could though come from Veii. At Rome this epithet may have been applied to

9024-468: Is unity between fertility, regality and purification. This unity is underlined by the role of Faunus in the aetiologic story told by Ovid and the symbolic relevance of the Lupercal : asked by the Roman couples at her lucus how to overcome the sterility that ensued the abduction of the Sabine women, Juno answered through a murmuring of leaves " Italidas matres sacer hircus inito " "That a sacred ram cover

9212-577: The Libri Lintei , monere would thence have the meaning of recording: Livius Andronicus identifies her as Mnemosyne . Her dies natalis was on the kalendae of June. Her Temple on the summit of the Capitol was dedicated only in 348 BC by dictator L. Furius Camillus, presumably a son of the great Furius. Livy states he vowed the temple during a war against the Aurunci . Modern scholars agree that

9400-664: The Acropolis , dying instantly, but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead. Erichthonius was one of the most important founding heroes of Athens and the legend of the daughters of Cecrops was a cult myth linked to the rituals of the Arrhephoria festival. Pausanias records that, during the Arrhephoria, two young girls known as the Arrhephoroi , who lived near

9588-487: The Acropolis of Athens is dedicated to her. Her major symbols include owls , olive trees , snakes, and the Gorgoneion . In art, she is generally depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear. From her origin as an Aegean palace goddess , Athena was closely associated with the city. She was known as Polias and Poliouchos (both derived from polis , meaning "city-state"), and her temples were usually located atop

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9776-526: The Athenai , a sisterhood devoted to her worship. In ancient times, scholars argued whether Athena was named after Athens or Athens after Athena. Now scholars generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city; the ending - ene is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names. Testimonies from different cities in ancient Greece attest that similar city goddesses were worshipped in other cities and, like Athena, took their names from

9964-664: The Laconian towns of Mantineia and Tegea . The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece. The geographer Pausanias was informed that the temenos had been founded by Aleus . Athena had a major temple on the Spartan Acropolis , where she was venerated as Poliouchos and Khalkíoikos ("of the Brazen House", often latinized as Chalcioecus ). This epithet may refer to

10152-760: The Linear B tablets from the Late Minoan II-era "Room of the Chariot Tablets"; these comprise the earliest Linear B archive anywhere. Although Athana potnia is often translated as "Mistress Athena", it could also mean "the Potnia of Athana", or the Lady of Athens . However, any connection to the city of Athens in the Knossos inscription is uncertain. A sign series a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja appears in

10340-626: The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus . The temple was dedicated by Alexander the Great and an inscription from the temple declaring his dedication is now held in the British Museum . She was worshipped as Athena Asia in Colchis -- supposedly on an account of a nearby mountain with that name -- from which her worship was believed to have been brought by Castor and Pollux to Laconia , where

10528-699: The Palatine pomerium of Roma quadrata . It is probable that this shrine was located at the northeast corner of the Palatine Hill . Its remains have likely been identified in excavations carried out by Clementina Panella . As the Republic continued, the curiae grew too large to meet conveniently at the Curiae Veteres , and a new meeting place, the Curiae Novae , was constructed. A few of

10716-512: The Palatine Hill within the Pomerium . This was located near or under the site of the 6th century church of San Teodoro , which has an unusual circular shape similar to that of the nymphaeum later misnamed the Temple of Minerva Medica . In his early 1st-century poem Fasti , Ovid states that by his time this temple had become so dilapidated that it was no longer discernible "because of

10904-707: The Ramnes, Tities , and Luceres , was divided into ten curiae. In theory, each gens (family, clan) belonged to a particular curia, although whether this was strictly observed throughout Roman history is uncertain. Each curia had a distinct name, said to have been derived from the names of some of the Sabine women abducted by the Romans in the time of Romulus. However, some of the curiae evidently derived their names from particular districts or eponymous heroes. The curiae were probably established geographically, representing specific neighborhoods in Rome, for which reason curia

11092-468: The Renaissance , Athena has become an international symbol of wisdom, the arts , and classical learning . Western artists and allegorists have often used Athena as a symbol of freedom and democracy. Athena is associated with the city of Athens . The name of the city in ancient Greek is Ἀθῆναι ( Athȇnai ), a plural toponym , designating the place where—according to myth—she presided over

11280-537: The Trojan war , make Athena instead the daughter of Cronus , a king of Byblos who visited "the inhabitable world" and bequeathed Attica to Athena. In Homer's Iliad , Athena, as a war goddess, inspired and fought alongside the Greek heroes; her aid was synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derived in part from

11468-470: The circus Flaminius , vowed by consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187 BC during the war against the Ligures and dedicated by himself as censor in 179 on December 23. It was connected by a porch with a temple of Fortuna, perhaps that of Fortuna Equestris. Its probable site according to Platner is just south of the porticus Pompeiana on the west end of circus Flaminius. The Carthaginian goddess Tanit

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11656-445: The comitium , and abandoned the original orientation of the previous curiae, pointing slightly northwest. The building featured a large central hall with a daïs for magistrates, and marble benches on one side. There was also a record office on one side. The building was completed by Caesar's grandnephew, Octavian , the future emperor Augustus, in 29 BC, although he reduced the senate itself to its former number of 600. The Curia Cornelia

11844-408: The curio maximus was probably elected by the curiones , but in later times by the people themselves. Each curia was attended by one lictor ; an assembly of the comitia curiata was attended by thirty lictors. The comitia curiata voted to confirm the election of magistrates by passing a law called the lex curiata de imperio . It also witnessed the installation of priests, and adoptions, and

12032-476: The dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 80 BC. Sulla had doubled the senate's membership from 300 to 600, necessitating a larger building, which retained the original orientation of the Curia Hostilia , but extended further south into the comitium. In 52 BC, following the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher , his clientes set fire to the senate house, which was rebuilt by Faustus Cornelius Sulla , son of

12220-480: The homonymous sea-deity was her parent according to some early myths. One myth relates the foster father relationship of this Triton towards the half-orphan Athena, whom he raised alongside his own daughter Pallas . Kerényi suggests that "Tritogeneia did not mean that she came into the world on any particular river or lake, but that she was born of the water itself; for the name Triton seems to be associated with water generally." In Ovid 's Metamorphoses , Athena

12408-418: The iuvenes , a word often used to designate soldiers, hence resulting in a tutelary deity of the sovereignty of peoples; in women capable of bearing children, from puberty on she oversees childbirth and marriage. Thence she would be a poliad goddess related to politics, power and war. Others think her military and poliadic qualities arise from her being a fertility goddess who through her function of increasing

12596-433: The matronae collected money for the service, and to the times of Augustus during the ludi saeculares in the sacrifices to Capitoline Juno are proof of the resilience of this foreign tradition. Gagé and D'Albret remark an accentuation of the matronal aspect of Juno Regina that led her to be the most matronal of the Roman goddesses by the time of the end of the republic. This fact raises the question of understanding why she

12784-475: The poplifugia , i.e. when the community is in its direst straits, needs the intervention of a divine tutelary goddess, a divine queen, since the king (divine or human) has failed to appear or has fled. Hence the customary battles under the wild figs, the scurrilous language that bring together the second and third function. This festival would thus show a ritual that can prove the trifunctional nature of Juno. Other scholars limit their interpretation of Caprotina to

12972-589: The prodigia (supernatural or unearthly phenomena) which happened in her temple were referred to Rome and accordingly expiated there. Many occurred during the presence of Hannibal in Italy. Perhaps the Romans were not completely satisfied with this solution as in 194 BC consul C. Cornelius Cethegus erected a temple to the Juno Sospita of Lanuvium in the Forum Holitorium (vowed three years earlier in

13160-486: The semen off using a tuft of wool , which she tossed into the dust, impregnating Gaia and causing her to give birth to Erichthonius . Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son and raised him. The Roman mythographer Hyginus records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus

13348-454: The Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess", hē theós (ἡ θεός), certainly an ancient title. After serving as the judge at the trial of Orestes in which he was acquitted of having murdered his mother Clytemnestra , Athena won the epithet Areia (Αρεία). Some have described Athena, along with the goddesses Hestia and Artemis as being asexual, this is mainly supported by

13536-527: The Elder writes that Hera "rejoices" at Athena's birth "as though Athena were her daughter also". The second-century AD Christian apologist Justin Martyr takes issue with those pagans who erect at springs images of Kore , whom he interprets as Athena: "They said that Athena was the daughter of Zeus not from intercourse, but when the god had in mind the making of a world through a word ( logos ) his first thought

13724-528: The Italic mothers". Februlis oversees the secundament of the placenta and is strictly associated to Fluvonia, Fluonia , goddess who retains the blood inside the body during pregnancy. While the protection of pregnancy is stressed by Duval, Palmer sees in Fluonia only the Juno of lustration in river water. Ovid devotes an excursus to the lustrative function of river water in the same place in which he explains

13912-608: The Latin term for both the place where coins were made, but also for the currency itself (and the Latin word ultimately yielded in English both mint and money ). Juno Regina is perhaps the epithet most fraught with questions. While some scholars maintain she was known as such at Rome since the most ancient times as paredra (consort) of Jupiter in the Capitoline Triad others think she is a new acquisition introduced to Rome after her evocatio from Veii. Palmer thinks she

14100-531: The Latins as hostages. While the senate was debating the issue a slave girl, whose Greek name was Philotis and Latin Tutela or Tutula proposed that she together with other slave girls would render herself up to the enemy camp pretending to be the wives and daughters of the Roman families. Upon agreement of the senate, the women dressed up elegantly and wearing golden jewellery reached the Latin camp. There they seduced

14288-478: The Latins into fooling and drinking: after they had fallen asleep, they stole their swords. Then Tutela gave the convened signal to the Romans brandishing an ignited branch after climbing on the wild fig ( caprificus ) and hiding the fire with her mantle. The Romans then irrupted into the Latin camp killing the enemies in their sleep. The women were rewarded with freedom and a dowry at public expenses. Dumézil in his Archaic Roman Religion had been unable to interpret

14476-518: The Lesser violently tore her away from it and dragged her over to the other captives. Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection. Although Agamemnon attempted to placate her anger with sacrifices, Athena sent a storm at Cape Kaphereos to destroy almost the entire Greek fleet and scatter all of the surviving ships across the Aegean. In Homer 's epic works , Athena's most common epithet

14664-475: The aegis as an apology. In another version of the story, Pallas was a Giant ; Athena slew him during the Gigantomachy and flayed off his skin to make her cloak, which she wore as a victory trophy. In an alternative variation of the same myth, Pallas was instead Athena's father, who attempted to assault his own daughter, causing Athena to kill him and take his skin as a trophy. The palladium

14852-462: The aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Athena appears in Homer's Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources portray her similarly as the helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, and war. In

15040-436: The ages. This role is expressed in several stories about Athena. Marinus of Neapolis reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from the Parthenon , a beautiful woman appeared in a dream to Proclus , a devotee of Athena, and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to dwell with him. Athena was also credited with creating the pebble-based form of divination. Those pebbles were called thriai , which

15228-492: The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–347 BC) gives some rather imaginative etymologies of Athena's name, based on the theories of the ancient Athenians and his etymological speculations: That is a graver matter, and there, my friend, the modern interpreters of Homer may, I think, assist in explaining the view of the ancients. Most of these in their explanations of the poet, assert that he meant by Athena "mind" [ νοῦς , noũs ] and "intelligence" [ διάνοια , diánoia ], and

15416-458: The ancient rites of Fortuna were falling off. Camillus would have then made a political use of the cult of Juno Regina to subdue the social conflicts of his times by attributing to her the role of primordial mother. Juno Regina had two temples ( aedes ) in Rome. The one dedicated by Furius Camillus in 392 BC stood on the Aventine : it lodged the wooden statue of the Juno transvected from Veii. It

15604-604: The antiquity of the custom. A Greek influence in their cults looks probable. It is noteworthy though that Cicero remarked the existence of a stark difference between the Latin Iuno Seispes and the Argolic Hera (as well the Roman Iuno) in his work De natura deorum . Claudius Helianus later wrote "...she has much new of Hera Argolis" The iconography of Argive Hera, matronal and regal, looks quite far away from

15792-526: The arts and handicrafts. Athena was known as Atrytone ( Άτρυτώνη "the Unwearying"), Parthenos ( Παρθένος "Virgin"), and Promachos ( Πρόμαχος "she who fights in front"). The epithet Polias (Πολιάς "of the city"), refers to Athena's role as protectress of the city. The epithet Ergane (Εργάνη "the Industrious") pointed her out as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. Burkert notes that

15980-509: The association of the three gods with the birth of Herakles and the siege of Troy, in which Minerva plays a decisive role as a goddess of destiny along with the sovereign couple Uni Tinia. The cults of the Italic Junos reflected remarkable theological complexes: regality, military protection and fertility. In Latium are relatively well known the instances of Tibur, Falerii, Laurentum and Lanuvium. At Tibur and Falerii their sacerdos

16168-405: The author of it wished to identify this Goddess with moral intelligence [ εν έθει νόεσιν , en éthei nóesin ], and therefore gave her the name Etheonoe; which, however, either he or his successors have altered into what they thought a nicer form, and called her Athena. Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα , Atheonóa —which the later Greeks rationalised as from

16356-509: The blade to behead Medusa, Athena guided it, allowing the blade to cut the Gorgon's head clean off. According to Pindar's Thirteenth Olympian Ode , Athena helped the hero Bellerophon tame the winged horse Pegasus by giving him a bit . In ancient Greek art , Athena is frequently shown aiding the hero Heracles . She appears in four of the twelve metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia depicting Heracles's Twelve Labors , including

16544-636: The builder of the Argo , the ship on which the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts sailed, and aided in the ship's construction. Pseudo-Apollodorus also records that Athena guided the hero Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa . She and Hermes , the god of travelers, appeared to Perseus after he set off on his quest and gifted him with tools he would need to kill the Gorgon. Athena lent Perseus her polished bronze shield to view Medusa's reflection without becoming petrified himself. Hermes lent Perseus his harpe to behead Medusa with. When Perseus swung

16732-441: The chest, but did not explain to them why or what was in it. Aglauros, and possibly one of the other sisters, opened the chest. Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent. In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off

16920-521: The cities where they were worshipped. For example, in Mycenae there was a goddess called Mykene, whose sisterhood was known as Mykenai , whereas at Thebes an analogous deity was called Thebe, and the city was known under the plural form Thebai (or Thebes, in English, where the 's' is the plural formation). The name Athenai is likely of Pre-Greek origin because it contains the presumably Pre-Greek morpheme *-ān- . In his dialogue Cratylus ,

17108-665: The city. In the Western Empire, one hundred seems to have been a common number, but in the East five hundred was customary, on the model of the Athenian Boule. However, by the fourth century, curial duties had become onerous, and it was difficult to fill all the posts; often candidates had to be nominated. The emperor Constantine exempted Christians from serving in the curiae, which led to many rich pagans claiming to be priests in order to escape these duties. The concept of

17296-463: The cult of Juno in the curiae. The spear could also be the celibataris hasta (bridal spear) that in the marriage ceremonies was used to comb the bridegroom's hair as a good omen. Palmer views the rituals of the curiae devoted to her as a reminiscence of the origin of the curiae themselves in rites of evocatio , a practice the Romans continued to use for Juno or her equivalent at later times as for Falerii, Veii and Carthage . Juno Curitis would then be

17484-416: The curia as a governing body, or the court where such a body met, carried on into medieval times, both as a secular institution, and in the church. In medieval times, a king's court was frequently known as the curia regis , consisting of the king's chief magnates and councilors. In England, the curia regis gradually developed into Parliament . In France, the curia regis or Conseil du Roi developed in

17672-436: The curiae are consecrated to Juno Curitis to justify the false etymology of Curitis from curiae: the tables would assure the presence of the tutelary numen of the king as an adviser within each curia, as the epithet itself implies. It can be assumed thence that Juno Moneta intervenes under warlike circumstances as associated to the sacral power of the king. Since coins were later made near her temple, her epithet, moneta became

17860-462: The curiae continued to meet at the Curiae Veteres due to specific religious obligations. In the Roman Empire a town council was known as a curia, or sometimes an ordo , or boule . The existence of such a governing body was the mark of an independent city. Municipal curiae were co-optive, and their members, the decurions , sat for life. Their numbers varied greatly according to the size of

18048-520: The deity evoked after her admission into the curiae. Juno Curitis had a temple on the Campus Martius . Excavations in Largo di Torre Argentina have revealed four temple structures, one of whom (temple D or A) could be the temple of Juno Curitis. She shared her anniversary day with Juppiter Fulgur, who had an altar nearby. This Juno is placed by ancient sources in a warring context. Dumézil thinks

18236-517: The deity's ( θεός , theós ) mind ( νοῦς , noũs ). The second-century AD orator Aelius Aristides attempted to derive natural symbols from the etymological roots of Athena's names to be aether , air , earth , and moon . Athena was originally the Aegean goddess of the palace, who presided over household crafts and protected the king. A single Mycenaean Greek inscription 𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊 a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja appears at Knossos in

18424-557: The dictator. Following this reconstruction, the building came to be called the Curia Cornelia . A generation after Sulla enlarged the senate from 300 members to 600, Julius Caesar increased its membership to 900, necessitating the construction of a larger meeting house. Shortly before his death in 44 BC, Caesar began the construction of a new building, which became known as the Curia Julia . This structure covered most of

18612-438: The divine structure is supported by many scholars, as M. Renard and J. Poucet. His theory purports that while male gods incarnated one single function, there are female goddesses who make up a synthesis of the three functions, as a reflection of the ideal of woman's role in society. Even though such a deity has a peculiar affinity for one function, generally fertility, i. e. the third, she is nevertheless equally competent in each of

18800-522: The etymology of February. A temple ( aedes ) of Juno Lucina was built in 375 BC in the grove sacred to the goddess from early times. It stood precisely on the Cispius near the sixth shrine of the Argei . probably not far west of the church of S. Prassede, where inscriptions relating to her cult have been found. The grove should have extended down the slope south of the temple. As Servius Tullius ordered

18988-597: The eve of the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them. Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told in Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD); in this late variant Hermes falls in love with Herse. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to

19176-482: The fact that cult statue held there may have been made of bronze, that the walls of the temple itself may have been made of bronze, or that Athena was the patron of metal-workers. Bells made of terracotta and bronze were used in Sparta as part of Athena's cult. An Ionic-style temple to Athena Polias was built at Priene in the fourth century BC. It was designed by Pytheos of Priene , the same architect who designed

19364-552: The fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, To Aphrodite , where Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses. Athena was sometimes given the epithet Hippia (Ἵππια "of the horses", "equestrian"), referring to her invention of the bit , bridle , chariot , and wagon . The Greek geographer Pausanias mentions in his Guide to Greece that the temple of Athena Chalinitis ("the bridler") in Corinth

19552-510: The fact that she represented the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represented mere blood lust. Her superiority also derived in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena was the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personified excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. The qualities that led to victory were found on

19740-552: The favorite child of Zeus, she had great power. In the classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was regarded as the favorite child of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. The story of her birth comes in several versions. The earliest mention is in Book V of the Iliad , when Ares accuses Zeus of being biased in favor of Athena because " autos egeinao " (literally "you fathered her", but probably intended as "you gave birth to her"). She

19928-400: The first part of the poem, however, she largely is confined to aiding him only from afar , mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey home from Troy. Her guiding actions reinforce her role as the "protectress of heroes", or, as mythologian Walter Friedrich Otto dubbed her, the "goddess of nearness", due to her mentoring and motherly probing. It is not until he washes up on

20116-534: The first, in which she passively watches him slay the Nemean lion , and the tenth, in which she is shown actively helping him hold up the sky. She is presented as his "stern ally", but also the "gentle ... acknowledger of his achievements". Artistic depictions of Heracles's apotheosis show Athena driving him to Mount Olympus in her chariot and presenting him to Zeus for his deification. In Aeschylus 's tragedy Orestes , Athena intervenes to save Orestes from

20304-546: The fortified acropolis in the central part of the city. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis is dedicated to her, along with numerous other temples and monuments. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena was known as Ergane . She was also a warrior goddess , and was believed to lead soldiers into battle as Athena Promachos . Her main festival in Athens was the Panathenaia , which was celebrated during

20492-457: The gifts for the newborn to be placed in the treasury of the temple though it looks that another shrine stood there before 375 BC. In 190 BC the temple was struck by lightning, its gable and doors injured. The annual festival of the Matronalia was celebrated here on March 1, day of the dedication of the temple. One temple of Juno Sospita was located near the Temple of Cybele northwest of

20680-528: The goat by stonethrowing at Falerii is described in Ovid Amores III 13, 16 ff. In fact the Juno Curritis of Falerii shows a complex articulated structure closely allied to the threefold Juno Seispes of Lanuvium. Ancient etymologies associated the epithet with Cures , with the Sabine word for spear curis , with currus cart, with Quirites , with the curiae , as king Titus Tatius dedicated

20868-554: The god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. Pindar, in his "Seventh Olympian Ode", states that she "cried aloud with a mighty shout" and that "the Sky and mother Earth shuddered before her". Hesiod states that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having given birth to a child on his own that she conceived and bore Hephaestus by herself , but in Imagines 2. 27 (trans. Fairbanks), the third-century AD Greek rhetorician Philostratus

21056-408: The goddess, considering it as primary: the other ones would then be the natural and even necessary development of the first. Palmer and Harmon consider it to be the natural vital force of youthfulness, Latte women's fecundity. These original characters would have led to the formation of the complex theology of Juno as a sovereign and an armed tutelary deity. Georges Dumézil on the other hand proposed

21244-533: The goddess. In accordance with her central role as a goddess of marriage, these included Pronuba and Cinxia ("she who looses the bride's girdle"). However, other epithets of Juno have wider implications and are less thematically linked. While her connection with the idea of vital force, the fullness of vital energy, and eternal youthfulness is now generally acknowledged, the multiplicity and complexity of her personality have given rise to various and sometimes irreconcilable interpretations among modern scholars. Juno

21432-406: The grounds of an archaeological find at Isaura . Roe D'Albret underlines the role played by Camillus and sees a personal link between the deity and her magistrate. Similarly Dumézil has remarked the link of Camillus with Mater Matuta . In his relationship to the goddess he takes the place of the king of Veii. Camillus's devotion to female deities Mater Matuta and Fortuna and his contemporary vow of

21620-520: The head (i. e. the uppermost part) of Zeus, understanding Trito- (which perhaps originally meant "the third") as another word for "the sky". In Janda's analysis of Indo-European mythology, this heavenly sphere is also associated with the mythological body of water surrounding the inhabited world ( cfr. Triton's mother, Amphitrite ). Yet another possible meaning is mentioned in Diogenes Laertius ' biography of Democritus , that Athena

21808-475: The injuries of time". A later Temple of Juno Sospita was vowed by the consul G. Cornelius Cethegus in 197 BC and consecrated and opened in 194 BC. This temple was located at the Roman vegetable market ( Forum Olitorium ) beside Temples of Hope and Piety and near the Carmental Gate . It was apparently this temple that was later reported as having fallen into disrepute by 90 BC , when it

21996-403: The late fifth century BC, the role of goddess of philosophy became a major aspect of Athena's cult . As Athena Promachos , she was believed to lead soldiers into battle. Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother Ares , the patron of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter—"the raw force of war". Athena was believed to only support those fighting for

22184-463: The later writings of the Roman poet Ovid , Athena was said to have competed against the mortal Arachne in a weaving competition, afterward transforming Arachne into the first spider; Ovid also describes how Athena transformed her priestess Medusa and the latter's sisters, Stheno and Euryale , into the Gorgons after witnessing the young woman being raped by Poseidon in the goddess's temple. Since

22372-430: The legend not only alludes to sex and fertility in its association with wildfig and goat but is in fact a summary of sort of all the qualities of Juno. As Juno Sespeis of Lanuvium Juno Caprotina is a warrior, a fertiliser and a sovereign protectress. In fact, the legend presents a heroine, Tutela, who is a slightly disguised representation of the goddess: the request of the Latin dictator would mask an attempted evocatio of

22560-544: The legend of Aeneas as their ancestor. Among ancient sources indeed Servius states that according to the Etrusca Disciplina towns should have the three temples of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva at the end of three roads leading to three gates. Vitruvius writes that the temples of these three gods should be located on the most elevated site, isolated from the other. To his Etruscan founders the meaning of this triad might have been related to peculiarly Etruscan ideas on

22748-434: The maker of names appears to have had a singular notion about her; and indeed calls her by a still higher title, "divine intelligence" [ θεοῦ νόησις , theoũ nóēsis ], as though he would say: This is she who has the mind of God [ ἁ θεονόα , a theonóa ]. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean "she who knows divine things" [ τὰ θεῖα νοοῦσα , ta theia noousa ] better than others. Nor shall we be far wrong in supposing that

22936-474: The making of wills. The Pontifex Maximus may have presided over these ceremonies. The assembly probably possessed much greater authority before the establishment of the comitia centuriata , which gradually assumed many of the curiate assembly's original functions. Since the Roman Kingdom , the meeting-house of the Roman senate was known as the curia. The original meeting place was said to have been

23124-418: The man role, that his father once held. She also plays a role in ending the resultant feud against the suitors' relatives. She instructs Laertes to throw his spear and to kill Eupeithes , the father of Antinous . The Gorgoneion appears to have originated as an apotropaic symbol intended to ward off evil. In a late myth invented to explain the origins of the Gorgon, Medusa is described as having been

23312-443: The month of Hekatombaion in midsummer and was the most important festival on the Athenian calendar. In Greek mythology , Athena was believed to have been born from the forehead of her father Zeus . In some versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is born from Zeus' forehead by parthenogenesis . In others, such as Hesiod 's Theogony , Zeus swallows his consort Metis , who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena

23500-417: The myth underlying this legendary event, later though he accepted the interpretation given by P. Drossart and published it in his Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automne, suivi par dix questions romaines in 1975 as Question IX . In folklore the wild fig tree is universally associated with sex because of its fertilising power, the shape of its fruits and the white viscous juice of the tree. Basanoff has argued that

23688-433: The myth, Pallas was the daughter of the sea-god Triton , and she and Athena were childhood friends. Zeus one day watched Athena and Pallas have a friendly sparring match. Not wanting his daughter to lose, Zeus flapped his aegis to distract Pallas, whom Athena accidentally impaled. Distraught over what she had done, Athena took the name Pallas for herself as a sign of her grief and tribute to her friend and Zeus gave her

23876-588: The numbers of the community became also associated to political and military functions. The rites of the month of February and the Nonae Caprotinae of July 5 offer a depiction of Juno's roles in the spheres of fertility, war, and regality. In the Roman calendar, February is a month of universal purification, and begins the new year. In book II of his Fasti , Ovid derives the month's name from februae (expiations); lustrations designed to remove spiritual contamination or ritual pollution accumulated in

24064-473: The original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet for only a few purposes by the end of the Republic : to confirm the election of magistrates with imperium, to witness the installation of priests , the making of wills , and to carry out certain adoptions . The term

24252-474: The original temple was destroyed by fire, it was replaced by a new meeting house by Tullus Hostilius , the third King of Rome (traditionally reigned 673–642 BC). The Curia Hostilia stood on the north end of the Comitium , where the comitia curiata and other Roman assemblies met, and was oriented along the four cardinal points . After more than 500 years of service, the building was restored and enlarged by

24440-530: The origins of the cult and of the temple were much more ancient. M. Guarducci considers her cult very ancient, identifying her with Mnemosyne as the Warner because of her presence near the auguraculum , her oracular character, her announcement of perils: she considers her as an introduction into Rome of the Hera of Cuma dating to the 8th century. L. A. Mac Kay considers the goddess more ancient than her etymology on

24628-452: The passage of young women into marriage. These cults were portals of a uniform socialization, even beyond mainland Greece. Athena was frequently equated with Aphaea , a local goddess of the island of Aegina , originally from Crete and also associated with Artemis and the nymph Britomartis . In Arcadia , she was assimilated with the ancient goddess Alea and worshiped as Athena Alea . Sanctuaries dedicated to Athena Alea were located in

24816-419: The pebbles useless. Apollo's words became the basis of an ancient Greek idiom. Athena was not only the patron goddess of Athens, but also other cities, including Pergamon , Argos , Sparta , Gortyn , Lindos , and Larisa . The various cults of Athena were all branches of her panhellenic cult and often proctored various initiation rites of Grecian youth, such as the passage into citizenship by young men or

25004-467: The presence of an original local figure that may allow the introduction of the new one through evocatio. He agrees with Dumézil that we ignore whether the translation of the epithet is exhaustive and what Etruscan notion corresponded to the name Regina which itself is certainly an Italic title. This is the only instance of evocatio recorded by the annalistic tradition. However Renard considers Macrobius's authority reliable in his long list of evocationes on

25192-470: The previous year. On the 1st of the month, a black ox was sacrificed to Helernus , a minor underworld deity whom Dumézil takes as a god of vegetation related to the cult of Carna /Crane, a nymph who may be an image of Juno Sospita. On the same day, Juno's dies natalis ("birthday") as Juno Sospita was celebrated at her Palatine temple. On February 15 the Lupercalia festival was held, in which Juno

25380-628: The priestess, knew what the objects were. The serpent in the story may be the same one depicted coiled at Athena's feet in Pheidias's famous statue of the Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon. Many of the surviving sculptures of Athena show this serpent. Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering. On

25568-497: The republic, local curiae were established in Italian and provincial municipia and coloniae . In imperial times , local magistrates were often elected by municipal senates, which also came to be known as curiae. By extension, the word curia came to mean not just a gathering, but also the place where an assembly would gather, such as a meeting house. In Roman times, curia had two principal meanings. Originally it applied to

25756-425: The same translation with the statue of the Juno of Perusia in consequence of a dream That a goddess evoked in war and for political reasons receive the homage of women and that women continue to have a role in her cult is explained by Palmer as a foreign cult of feminine sexuality of Etruscan derivation. The persistence of a female presence in her cult through the centuries down to the lectisternium of 217 BC, when

25944-428: The second century AD, makes Metis Zeus's unwilling sexual partner, rather than his wife. According to this version of the story, Metis transformed into many different shapes in effort to escape Zeus, but Zeus successfully raped her and swallowed her. After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife, Hera . Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. He

26132-475: The senate house into the church of Sant'Adriano al Foro , preserving the structure at its full height. In 1923, the church and an adjacent convent were bought by the Italian government. The building was further restored from 1935 to 1937, removing various medieval additions, to reveal the original Roman architecture. The Curiae Veteres was the earliest sanctuary of the thirty curiae. It is discussed by both Varro and by Tacitus , who mentions it as one point of

26320-438: The sexual implications of the goat, the caprificus and the obscene words and plays of the festival. Under this epithet Juno is attested in many places, notably at Falerii and Tibur . Dumézil remarked that Juno Curitis "is represented and invoked at Rome under conditions very close to those we know about for Juno Seispes of Lanuvium ". Martianus Capella states she must be invoked by those who are involved in war. The hunt of

26508-554: The shore of the island of the Phaeacians , where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena arrives personally to provide more tangible assistance. She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus and plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca. Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman; she initially lies and tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried and that he

26696-404: The site of the wild fig ( caprificus ): the custom implied runs, mock battles with fists and stones, obscene language and finally the sacrifice of a male goat to Juno Caprotina under a wildfig tree and with the using of its lymph. This festival had a legendary aetiology in a particularly delicate episode of Roman history and also recurs at (or shortly after) a particular time of the year, that of

26884-483: The site. Ancient etymologies associated Juno's name with iuvare , "to aid, benefit", and iuvenescere , "rejuvenate", sometimes connecting it to the renewal of the new and waxing moon, perhaps implying the idea of a moon goddess. Juno's theology is one of the most complex and disputed issues in Roman religion. Even more than other major Roman deities, Juno held a large number of significant and diverse epithets , names and titles representing various aspects and roles of

27072-557: The so-called caprificatio when branches of wild fig trees were fastened to cultivated ones to promote insemination. The historical episode narrated by ancient sources concerns the siege of Rome by the Latin peoples that followed the Gallic sack. The dictator of the Latins Livius Postumius from Fidenae would have requested the Roman senate that the matronae and daughters of the most prominent families be surrendered to

27260-483: The still undeciphered corpus of Linear A tablets, written in the unclassified Minoan language . This could be connected with the Linear B Mycenaean expressions a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja and di-u-ja or di-wi-ja ( Diwia , "of Zeus" or, possibly, related to a homonymous goddess ), resulting in a translation "Athena of Zeus" or "divine Athena". Similarly, in the Greek mythology and epic tradition, Athena figures as

27448-400: The temple as well as the presence of the snake show she was the tutelary goddess of the city, as Athena at Athens and Hera at Argos. The motif of the snake of the palace as guardian goddess of the city is shared by Iuno Seispes with Athena, as well as its periodic feeding. This religious pattern moreover includes armour, goatskin dress, sacred birds and a concern with virginity in cult. Virginity

27636-413: The temple of Athena Polias, would be given hidden objects by the priestess of Athena , which they would carry on their heads down a natural underground passage. They would leave the objects they had been given at the bottom of the passage and take another set of hidden objects, which they would carry on their heads back up to the temple. The ritual was performed in the dead of night and no one, not even

27824-490: The temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. Hermes gives her the money the sisters have already offered to Athena. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess Envy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. He turns her to stone. Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl named Myrsine ,

28012-466: The testimony of Valerius Maximus who states she was the Juno of Veii. The sacred geese of the Capitol were lodged in her temple: as they are recorded in the episode of the Gallic siege (ca. 396-390 BC) by Livy, the temple should have existed before Furius's dedication. Basanoff considers her to go back to the regal period: she would be the Sabine Juno who arrived at Rome through Cures . At Cures she

28200-499: The theory of the irreducibility and interdependence of the three aspects (sovereignty, war, fertility) in goddesses that he interprets as an original, irreducible structure as hypothesised in his hypothesis of the trifunctional ideology of the Indoeuropeans . While Dumézil's refusal of seeing a Greek influence in Italic Junos looks difficult to maintain in the light of the contributions of archaeology, his comparative analysis of

28388-429: The third and second millennia". The "Black Athena" hypothesis stirred up widespread controversy near the end of the twentieth century, but it has now been widely rejected by modern scholars. Athena was also the goddess of peace. In a similar manner to her patronage of various activities and Greek cities, Athena was thought to be a "protector of heroes" and a "patron of art" and various local traditions related to

28576-484: The third, military, aspect of Juno is reflected in Juno Curitis and Moneta. Palmer too sees in her a military aspect. As for the etymology, Cicero gives the verb monēre warn, hence the Warner . Palmer accepts Cicero's etymology as a possibility while adding mons mount, hill, verb e-mineo and noun monile referred to the Capitol, place of her cult. Also perhaps a cultic term or even, as in her temple were kept

28764-478: The three. Athena Athena or Athene , often given the epithet Pallas , is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva . Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of various cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens , from which she most likely received her name. The Parthenon on

28952-400: The tutelary goddess of Rome. Tutela indeed shows regal, military and protective traits, apart from the sexual ones. Moreover, according to Basanoff these too (breasts, milky juice, genitalia , present or symbolised in the fig and the goat) in general, and here in particular, have an inherently apotropaic value directly related to the nature of Juno. The occasion of the feria , shortly after

29140-780: The twelfth century, with the term gradually becoming applied to a judicial body, and falling out of use by the fourteenth century. In the Roman Catholic Church, the administrative body of the Holy See is known as the Roman Curia . It is through this Curia that the Roman Pontiff conducts the business of the Church as a whole. Among older religious orders , the governing council of the Superior General or Regional Superior and his or her assistants

29328-490: The view of Georges Dumézil and Vsevolod Basanoff (author of Les dieux Romains ) can be traced back to the Indoeuropean trifunctional ideology: as Regina and Moneta she is a sovereign deity, as Sespeis, Curitis (spear holder) and Moneta (again) she is an armed protectress, as Mater and Curitis (again) she is a goddess of the fertility and wealth of the community in her association with the curiae . The epithet Lucina

29516-428: The wards of the comitia curiata . However, over time the name became applied to the senate house, which in its various incarnations housed meetings of the Roman senate from the time of the kings until the beginning of the seventh century AD. The most important curiae at Rome were the 30 that together made up the comitia curiata. Traditionally ascribed to the kings, each of the three tribes established by Romulus ,

29704-582: The warlike and savage character of Iuno Seispes, especially considering that it is uncertain whether the former was an armed Hera. After the definitive subjugation of the Latin League in 338 BC the Romans required as a condition of peace the condominium of the Roman people on the sanctuary and the sacred grove of Juno Seispes in Lanuvium, while bestowing Roman citizenry on the Lanuvians. Consequently,

29892-751: The warrior-goddess with her palladium , or her palladium in an aniconic representation. In the " Procession Fresco " at Knossos , which was reconstructed by the Mycenaeans, two rows of figures carrying vessels seem to meet in front of a central figure, which is probably the Minoan precursor to Athena. The early twentieth-century scholar Martin Persson Nilsson argued that the Minoan snake goddess figurines are early representations of Athena. Nilsson and others have claimed that, in early times, Athena

30080-474: The wrath of the Erinyes and presides over his trial for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra . When half the jury votes to acquit and the other half votes to convict , Athena casts the deciding vote to acquit Orestes and declares that, from then on, whenever a jury is tied, the defendant shall always be acquitted. In The Odyssey , Odysseus ' cunning and shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour. For

30268-564: Was evoked at the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC, and romanized as Juno Caelestis (Heavenly Juno). One of her symbols was of the crescent moon. She did not receive a temple in Rome: presumably her image was deposited in another temple of Juno (Moneta or Regina) and later transferred to the Colonia Junonia founded by Caius Gracchus . The goddess was once again transferred to Rome by emperor Elagabalus . A surviving temple to Juno Caelestis

30456-640: Was Athena." According to a version of the story in a scholium on the Iliad (found nowhere else), when Zeus swallowed Metis , she was pregnant with Athena by the Cyclops Brontes. The Etymologicum Magnum instead deems Athena the daughter of the Daktyl Itonos . Fragments attributed by the Christian Eusebius of Caesarea to the semi-legendary Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon , which Eusebius thought had been written before

30644-440: Was a male, called pontifex sacrarius , a fact that has been seen as a proof of the relevance of the goddess to the whole society. In both towns she was known as Curitis , the spearholder, an armed protectress. The martial aspect of these Junos is conspicuous, quite as much as that of fecundity and regality: the first two look strictly interconnected: fertility guaranteed the survival of the community, peaceful and armed. Iuno Curitis

30832-546: Was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis —but the water was salty and undrinkable. In an alternative version of the myth from Vergil 's Georgics , Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse. Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree . Cecrops accepted this gift and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. The olive tree brought wood, oil, and food, and became

31020-499: Was a statue of Athena that was said to have stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis. Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. The statue had special talisman-like properties and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. When the Greeks captured Troy, Cassandra , the daughter of Priam , clung to the palladium for protection, but Ajax

31208-490: Was able of attracting the devotion of the matronae . Gagé traces back the phenomenon to the nature of the cult rendered to the Juno Regina of the Aventine in which Camillus played a role in person. The original devotion of the matronae was directed to Fortuna. Camillus was devout to her and to Matuta, both matronal deities. When he brought Juno Regina from Veii the Roman women were already acquainted with many Junos, while

31396-424: Was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius. The geographer Pausanias records that Athena placed the infant Erichthonius into a small chest ( cista ), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops : Herse , Pandrosos , and Aglauros of Athens. She warned the three sisters not to open

31584-408: Was also a Roman citizen (he had been tribune of the plebs in 57 BC), resided in Rome. When he fatally met Clodius near Bovillae (Milo's slaves killed Clodius in that encounter), he was on his way to Lanuvium in order to nominate the flamen of Juno Seispes. The complexity of the figure of Juno has caused much uncertainty and debate among modern scholars. Some emphasize one aspect or character of

31772-750: Was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. In Greek mythology, Athena was reported to have visited mythological sites in North Africa, including Libya's Triton River and the Phlegraean plain . Based on these similarities, the Sinologist Martin Bernal created the " Black Athena " hypothesis, which claimed that Neith was brought to Greece from Egypt, along with "an enormous number of features of civilization and culture in

31960-406: Was also the collective name of a group of nymphs with prophetic powers. Her half-brother Apollo, however, angered and spiteful at the practitioners of an art rival to his own, complained to their father Zeus about it, with the pretext that many people took to casting pebbles, but few actually were true prophets. Zeus, sympathizing with Apollo's grievances, discredited the pebble divination by rendering

32148-562: Was associated with the owl from very early on; in archaic images, she is frequently depicted with an owl perched on her hand. Through its association with Athena, the owl evolved into the national mascot of the Athenians and eventually became a symbol of wisdom. In the Iliad (4.514), the Odyssey (3.378), the Homeric Hymns , and in Hesiod 's Theogony , Athena is also given the curious epithet Tritogeneia (Τριτογένεια), whose significance remains unclear. It could mean various things, including "Triton-born", perhaps indicating that

32336-407: Was built between 222 and 235 AD in the town of Dougga . The first mention of a Capitoline triad refers to the Capitolium Vetus . The only ancient source who refers to the presence of this divine triad in Greece is Pausanias X 5, 1–2, who mentions its existence in describing the Φωκικόν in Phocis . The Capitoline triad poses difficult interpretative problems. It looks peculiarly Roman, since there

32524-448: Was called "Tritogeneia" because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her. In her aspect of Athena Polias , Athena was venerated as the goddess of the city and the protectress of the citadel. In Athens, the Plynteria , or "Feast of the Bath", was observed every year at the end of the month of Thargelion . The festival lasted for five days. During this period, the priestesses of Athena, or plyntrídes , performed

32712-442: Was celebrated as the birthday of Rome's founder and first king, Romulus , and the peaceful union of Romans and Sabine peoples through treaty and marriage after their war , which was ended by the intervention of women. After Wissowa many scholars have remarked the similarity between the Juno of the Lupercalia and the Juno of Lanuvium Seispes Mater Regina as both are associated with the goat, symbol of fertility. But in essence there

32900-425: Was demolished, but the precise date is not known. In AD 94, the Curia Julia was rebuilt along Caesar's original plan by the emperor Domitian , who also restored the former orientation of the Curia Hostilia . The building was damaged by fire during the reign of Carinus in 283, and again restored under his successor, Diocletian . The Roman Senate is last mentioned in AD 600. In 630, Pope Honorius I transformed

33088-502: Was either an owl herself or a bird goddess in general. In the third book of the Odyssey , she takes the form of a sea-eagle . Proponents of this view argue that she dropped her prophylactic owl mask before she lost her wings. "Athena, by the time she appears in art," Jane Ellen Harrison remarks, "has completely shed her animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to attributes, but occasionally in black-figure vase-paintings she still appears with wings." It

33276-414: Was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. In the version recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony , Zeus married the goddess Metis , who is described as the "wisest among gods and mortal men", and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. After learning that Metis

33464-402: Was famous, rich and powerful. Her cult included the annual feeding of a sacred snake with barley cakes by virgin maidens. The snake dwelt in a deep cave within the precinct of the temple, on the arx of the city: the maidens approached the lair blindfolded. The snake was supposed to feed only on the cakes offered by chaste girls. The rite was aimed at ensuring agricultural fertility. The site of

33652-412: Was in such pain that he ordered someone (either Prometheus , Hephaestus , Hermes , Ares , or Palaemon, depending on the sources examined) to cleave his head open with the labrys , the double-headed Minoan axe . Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed. The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states in lines 9–16 that the gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance and even Helios ,

33840-476: Was involved as Juno Lucina . This is usually understood to be a rite of purification and fertility. A goat was sacrificed and its hide cut into strips, used to make whips known as februum and amiculus Iunonis , wielded by the Luperci . The Juno of this day bears the epithet of Februalis , Februata , Februa . On the last day of the month, leading into March 1, she was celebrated as protectress of matrons and marriages. The new year began on March 1. The same

34028-412: Was known as Kalendaris Iuno (Juno of the Kalends ). At Rome on the Kalends of every month the pontifex minor invoked her, under the epithet Covella , when from the curia Calabra he announced the date of the nonae . On the same day the regina sacrorum sacrificed to Juno a white sow or lamb in the Regia . She is closely associated with Janus , the god of passages and beginnings who after her

34216-422: Was located near the tomb of Medea 's children. Other epithets include Ageleia , Itonia and Aethyia , under which she was worshiped in Megara . She was worshipped as Assesia in Assesos . The word aíthyia ( αἴθυια ) signifies a "diver", also some diving bird species (possibly the shearwater ) and figuratively, a "ship", so the name must reference Athena teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation. In

34404-419: Was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, because Gaia and Ouranos had prophesied that Metis would bear children wiser than their father. In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because Metis had already conceived. A later account of the story from the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, written in

34592-410: Was presided over by a curio ( pl. : curiones ), who was always at least 50 years old, and was elected for life. The curio undertook the religious affairs of the curia. He was assisted by another priest, known as the flamen curialis . When the 30 curiae gathered to make up the comitia curiata , they were presided over by a curio maximus , who until 209 BC was always a patrician. Originally,

34780-463: Was stained by episodes of prostitution and a bitch delivered her puppies beneath the temple's statue of the goddess. The consul L. Julius Caesar secured its restoration with a Senatorial decree and relics from the temple remain today. The alliance of the three aspects of Juno finds a strictly related parallel to the Lupercalia in the festival of the Nonae Caprotinae . On that day the Roman free and slave women picnicked and had fun together near

34968-518: Was supposedly the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive tree moria , for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal ( moros in Greek). Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the Areopagus ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event. Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped

35156-420: Was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroes Perseus , Heracles , Bellerophon , and Jason . Along with Aphrodite and Hera , Athena was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War . She plays an active role in the Iliad , in which she assists the Achaeans and, in the Odyssey , she is the divine counselor to Odysseus . In

35344-408: Was the tutelary deity of the military chief: as such she is never to be found among Latins. This new quality is apparent in the location of her fanum , her name, her role: 1. her altar is located in the regia of Titus Tatius; 2. Moneta is, from monere , the Adviser : like Egeria with Numa (Tatius's son in law) she is associated to a Sabine king; 3. In Dionysius of Halicarnassus the altar-tables of

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