Jupiter caused a shield ( ancile) to fall from heaven into Rome as a talisman of Roman power. Like Zeus, Jupiter had the thunderbolt as his special weapon, and the place where lightning had struck had to be purified by an expiatory ritual. The triumphus (triumph), the procession celebrating a Roman general’s victories, had this temple as its terminus. There he was worshiped as Jupiter Optimus Maximus, “Best and Greatest,” and shared his temple with Minerva and Juno. The Italian sky-god was JUPITER, whose principal temple was dedicated on the Capitoline Hill at Rome in 509 B.C. The woodpecker was said to have been a Latin king, Picus, who was turned into a bird by Circe, while his wife, Canens (“singer”), wasted away into a voice. Animals associated with Mars were the wolf and the woodpecker ( picus in Latin). Among other Roman deities of war was Bellona. He became the Roman god of war, sometimes with the title of Gradivus (“the marcher”), and sometimes associated with the Sabine war god QUIRINUS. His consort was Nerio, a Sabine fertility goddess. Originally an agricultural god, MARS gave his name to March, the first month of the year in the pre-Julian calendar. He was portrayed with two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward. He was also the god of doors, entrances, and archways, and was identified with Portunus, god of harbors. The doors of his temple were closed only in time of peace. The god JANUS was the god of beginnings, associated originally with water and bridges. Non-Italian gods whose names changed from the Greek included the following:ĬASTOR and POLLUX (CASTOR and POLYDEUCES) Italian gods were not originally anthropomorphic like Greek gods, with whom they became identified: Roman religion and mythology had their roots among pre-Roman Italian peoples, for example, the Sabines and Etruscans.
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