Jupiter (mythology)

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For the planet, see Jupiter. For other uses of this term, see Jupiter (disambiguation).

In Roman mythology, Jupiter (Iuppiter in Latin) held the same role as Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Juppiter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter Best, Greatest) as the patron deity of the Roman state, in charge of laws and social order. He was the chief god of the Capitoline Triad, with Juno and Minerva.

Jupiter is, properly speaking, a derivation of Jove and pater (Latin for father). The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter, and was the original namesake of the weekday that would come to be known in English as Thursday (the etymological root can be seen in various Romance languages, including French jeudi, Castillian jueves, Italian giovedi and Catalan dijous, all from Jovis Dies, whereas English takes his Norse equivalent, Thor). Linguistic studies identify his name as deriving from *dyēus ph₂ter ("god-father"), the Indo-European deity from whom also derive the Germanic *Tiwaz (after whom Tuesday was named), the Greek Zeus, and the Vedic Dyaus Pita. Jove is a vocative and ablative form of the name.

Contents 1 Epithets of Jupiter 2 Capitoline Jupiter 3 In language 4 References

[edit] Epithets of Jupiter

1. Juppiter Caelestis ("heavenly")
2. Juppiter Fulgurator ("of the lightning")
3. Juppiter Latarius ("God of Latium")
4. Juppiter Lucetius ("of the light")
5. Juppiter Pluvius ("sender of rain") See also Pluvius
6. Juppiter Stator (from stare meaning "standing")
7. Juppiter Terminus or Jupiter Terminalus (defends boundaries). See also Terminus
8. Juppiter Tonans ("thunderer")
9. Juppiter Victor (led Roman armies to victory)
10. Juppiter Summanus (sender of nocturnal thunder)
11. Juppiter Feretrius ("who carries away [the spoils of war]")
12. Juppiter Optimus Maximus (best and greatest)

[edit] Capitoline Jupiter

The largest temple in Rome was that of Juppiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. Here he was worshipped alongside Juno and Minerva, forming the Capitoline Triad. Temples to Juppiter Optimus Maximus or the Capitoline Triad as a whole were commonly built by the Romans at the center of new cities in their colonies.

The building was begun by Tarquinius Priscus and completed by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, although it was inaugurated, by a tradition recorded by the historians, on 13 September, at the beginning of the Republican era (509 BC).

The temple building stands on a high podium with an entrance staircase to the front. On three of its sides it was probably surrounded by a colonnade, with another two rows of pillars drawn up in line with those on the façade of the deep pronaos which precedes the three cellae, ranged side by side in the Etruscan manner, the central one being wider than the other two.

The surviving remains of the foundations and of the podium, most of which lie underneath Palazzo Caffarelli, are made up of enormous parallel sections of walling made in blocks of grey tufa-quadriga stone (cappellaccio) and bear witness to the sheer size of the surface area of the temple's base (about 55 x 60 m).

On the roof a terracotta auriga, made by the Etruscan artist Vulca of Veii in the 6th century BC, commissioned by Tarquinius Superbus; it was replaced in 296 B.C., by a bronze one. The cult image, by Vulca, was of terracotta; its face was painted red on festival days (Ovid, Fasti, 1.201f). Beneath the cella were the favissae, or underground passages, in which were stored the old statues that had fallen from the roof, and various dedicatory gifts.

The temple was rebuilt in marble after fires had worked total destruction in 83 BC, when the cult image was lost, and the Sibylline Books kept in a stone chest. Fires followed in 69 BC, when the Capitol was stormed by the supporters of Vitellius and in 80 AD.

In front of the steps was the altar of Jupiter (ara Iovis). The large square in front of the temple (the Area Capitolina) featured a number of temples dedicated to minor divinities, in addition to other religious buildings, statues and trophies.

Its delapidation began in the fifth century, when Stilicho carried off the gold -plated doors and Narses removed many of the statues, in 571 AD.

[edit] In language

It was once believed that the Roman god Jupiter (Zeus in Greece) was in charge of cosmic Justice, and in ancient Rome, people swore to Jove in their courts of law, which lead to the common expression "By Jove!", still used as an archaism today. In addition, "Jovial" is a medium-common adjective still used to describe people who are jolly, optimistic, and buoyant in temperament.

[edit] References

• Article "Jupiter" in The Oxford Classical Dictionary. ISBN 0-19-860641-9.
• Georges Dumézil, Archaic Roman Religion. ISBN 0-8018-5481-4.
• Georges Dumézil, Mitra-Varuna. ISBN 0-942299-13-2.
• Musei Capitolini

8[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Aedes_Jovis_Capitolini.html Samuel Ball Platner and Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, (London: Oxford University Press) 1929: "Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini"

Roman mythology series
Major deities
Apollo | Ceres | Diana | Juno | Jupiter | Mars | Mercury | Minerva | Venus | Vulcan Divus Augustus | Divus Julius | Fortuna | Lares | Pluto | Quirinus | Sol | Vesta