FAUSTINA II Jr Marcus Aurelius Wife Ancient SESTERTIUS Roman Coin JUNO i42123

Item: i42123

 Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Marcus Aurelius
–
161-175 A.D. –
Bronze Sestertius 33mm (26.64 grams) Rome mint circa
161-164 A.D.
Struck under Marcus Aurelius
Reference: FRIC III 1645 (Aurelius); Banti 69.
Draped bust right, wearing circlet of pearls
 Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter; peacock at side.

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Juno is an
ancient Roman goddess
,
the protector and special counselor of the state. She is
a daughter of
Saturn
and sister (but
also the wife) of the chief god
Jupiter
and the mother
of
Mars
and
Vulcan
. Juno also
looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent is
Hera
, her Etruscan
counterpart is
Uni
. As the
patron goddess
of
Rome
and the
Roman Empire
, Juno was
called Regina (“queen”) and, together with Jupiter and
Minerva
, was worshipped
as a triad on the Capitol (Juno Capitolina) in Rome.

Juno’s own warlike aspect among the Romans is
apparent in her attire. She often appeared sitting
pictured with a peacock armed and wearing a goatskin
cloak. The traditional depiction of this warlike aspect
was assimilated from the Greek goddess
Hera
, whose goatskin
was called the ‘aegis’.

Etymology

The name Iuno was also once thought to be
connected to Iove (Jove), originally as Diuno
and Diove from *Diovona. At the beginning
of the 20th century, a derivation was 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
(αιών) through
a common
Indo-European root

referring to a concept of vital energy or “fertile
time”. The iuvenis 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 the site.

Ancient etymologies associated Juno’s name with
iuvare, “to aid, benefit”, and iuvenescendo,
“rejuvenate”, sometimes connecting it to the renewal of
the new and waxing moon, perhaps implying the idea of a
moon goddess.

Roles and epithets

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 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,
fulness of vital energy, 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 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 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 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 the view of
G. Dumezil
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 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
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 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 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 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 the iuvenes,
word often used to design 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. Other think her military and poliadic qualities
arise from her being a fertility goddess who through her
function of increasing the numbers of the community
became also associated to political and military
functions.

Juno Sospita and Lucina

Part of the following sections is based on the
article by Geneviève Dury Moyaers and Marcel Renard
“Aperçu critique des travaux relatifs au culte de Junon”
in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römische Welt 1981
p. 142-202.

The rites of the month of February and the Nonae
Caprotinae of July 5 offer a depiction of the
interrelated roles of the deity in the spheres of
fertility, war, and regality.

February is a month of passages, of ends and
beginnings, and as such the month of yearly universal
purification and renewal. Ovid discusses the etymology
of February at the beginning of book II of the Fasti,
connecting it to februae, i.e. piamina,
expiations. As the most important time of passage of the
year it implies risks for the community that have to be
averted: the risk of contamination brought about by the
contact with the underworld. Juno is then present and
active at the three most prominent and relevant times of
the month: on the kalendae (the first), with the
celebration of the
dies natalis

(“birthday”) of Juno Sospita on the
Palatine
, on 15th as
Juno Lucina, inspirator and patroness of the
Lupercalia
and as
Lucina and at its end, on March 1, as the protectress of
the Matronae and of the preservation of marriages:
this day united into one three festivals as it was the
kalendae of the month, the beginning of the new year and
the birthday of Romulus (as well as the date of the
commemoration of the appeasing role of women during the
war between Romans and Sabines).

Juno as Sospita (the Saviour) is thus the goddess
that defends and protects the Romans since the first day
in this perilous time of passage. On the same day
recurred the celebration at the lucus grove of
Helernus
, which Dumezil
thinks was a
god of vegetation

related to the cult of
Carna
/Crane, a nymph
who may be an image of Juno Sospita. The way this period
should be dealt with came to a concrete acme on
the 15 in the
Lupercalia
: the rite
was directly suggested to the Roman couples by Juno
Lucina in her lucus on the
Esquiline
, and was
considered to be a rite of periodical purification and
fertility. It was perhaps also associated to the renewal
of political power, as it may appear in the competition
between the two groups of the
Luperci
, the Fabii and
the Quinctii, mythically associated to Remus and
Romulus. This political valence is illustrated by the
episode of
Julius Caesar
who chose
this occasion to enact the scene of his crowning by
Mark Antony
and by the
fact that he created a third group, the Luperci Iulii.
This element would perhaps be the reason of the eulogy
of Augustus at the beginning of book II of Ovid’s
Fasti: as the heir of Caesar he had indeed succeeded
in his stepfather’s plan. Here is then the sovereign
function of Juno that is highlighted.

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 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
the Italic mothers”.

February owes its name to the februae,
lustrations, and the goat whose hide is used to make the
whips of the
Luperci
is named
februum and amiculus Iunonis. The Juno of
this day bears the epithet of Februalis,
Februata, Februa.^[30]
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 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
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.

A temple to Iuno Sospita was vowed by consul C.
Cornelius Cethegus in 197 BC and dedicated in 194. By 90
BC the temple had fallen into disrepute: in that year it
was stained by episodes of prostitution and a bitch
delivered her puppies right beneath the statue of the
goddess. By decree of the senate consul
L. Iulius Caesar

ordered its restoration. In his poem Fasti Ovid
states the temple of Juno Sospita had become dilapidated
to the extent of being no longer discernible “because of
the injuries of time”: this looks hardly possible as the
restoration had happened no longer than a century
earlier and relics of the temple exixst to-day. It is
thence plausible that an older temple of Juno Sospita
existed in Rome within the
pomerium
, as Ovid says
it was located near the temple of the Phrygian Mother (Cybele),
which stood on the western corner of the
Palatine
. As a rule
temples of foreign, imported gods stood without the
pomerium.

Juno
Caprotina

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 picniced and had fun together
near 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 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 ensued 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 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 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.

Dumezil in his Archaic Roman Religion had been
unable to interpret 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 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 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 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 scurrile 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 the sexual implications of the goat, the
caprificus and the obscene words and plays of the
festival.

Juno
Curitis

Under this epithet Juno is attested in many places,
notably at
Falerii
and
Tibur
. Dumezil 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 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 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
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,
practise the Romans continued to use for Juno or her
equivalent at later times as for Falerii,
Veii
and
Carthage
. Juno Curitis
would then be the evoked deity 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.

Juno
Moneta

This Juno is placed by ancient sources in a warring
context. Dumezil thinks 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 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 dedicted
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 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 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 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 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.

Juno
Regina

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 of
Jupiter in the
Capitoline Triad
^[71]
others think she is a new acquisition introduced to Rome
after her
evocatio
from Veii.

Palmer thinks she is to be identified with Juno
Populona of later inscriptions, a political and military
poliadic 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 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.

 

IVNO REGINA (“Queen Juno”) on a coin
celebrating
Julia Soaemias
.

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 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 the presence of an original local figure that
may allow the introduction of the new one through
evocatio. He agrees with Dumezil 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 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 Dumezil 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 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
the same translation with the statue of the Juno of
Perusia
in consequence
of a dream

The fact 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 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 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 the ancient
rites of Fortuna were falling off. Camillus would have
then have 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 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 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 Juno Cealestis of Carthage
Tanit
was
evoked
according to
Macrobius. 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
.

Juno in the Capitoline triad

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 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 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 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 Junos of Latium

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 was a
male, called pontifex sacrarius, 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
that of fecundity and regality: the first two look
strictly interconnected: fertility guaranteed the
survival of the community, peaceful and armed. Iuno
Curitis 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 annaual 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 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 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
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 motive of the snake of the
palace goddess guardian 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 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 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 prenuman ten month year, fact which is
a testimony to 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 iconogrphy of Argive Hera, matronal
and regal, looks quite far away from 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 Lanuvins. Consequently
the prodigia (supernatural or unearthly
phenomena) happened in her temple were referred to Rome
and accordingly expiated there. Many occurred during the
presence of
Hannibal
in Italy. At
the time of
Cicero

Milo
, Lanuvium’s
dictator and highest magistrate, resided in Rome. When
he met
Clodius
near
Bovillae
and his slaves
murdered the politician, he was on his way to Lanuvium
in order to nominate the flamen of Juno Seispes. Perhaps
the Romans were not completely satisfied of 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 a
war with the
Galli Insubri
): in it
the goddess was honoured in martial effigy.

Theological and comparative remarks

The complexity of the figure of Juno has caused much
uncertainty and debate among modern scholars. Some
emphasize one aspect or character of 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.

Juno. Silver statuette, 1st–2nd century.

G. Dumezil has on the other hand proposed the theory
of the irreducibility and interdependence of the three
aspects (sovereignty, war, fertility) that he interprets
as an original, irreducible structure as hypothesised in
his theory of the trifunctional ideology of the
Indoeuropean. While Dumezil’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 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 the three.

As concrete instances Dumezil makes that of Vedic
goddess
Sarasvatī
and Avestic
Anāhīta
. Sarasvati as
river goddess is first a goddess of the third function,
of vitality and fertility associated to the deities of
the third function as the
Aśvin
and of
propagation as
Sinīvalī
. She is the
mother and on her rely all vital forces. But at the
same time she belongs to the first function as a
religious sovereign: she is pure, she is the means of
purifications and helps the conceiving and realisation
of pious thoughts. Lastly she is also a warrior: allied
with the
Maruts
she annihilates
the enemies and, sole among female goddesses, bears the
epithet of the warrior god
Indra
,
vṛtraghnỉ
, destroyer
of oppositions. She is the common spouse of all the
heroes of the
Mahābhārata
, sons and
heirs of the Vedic gods
Dharma
,
Vāyu
,
Indra
and of the Aśvin
twins. Though in hymns and rites her threefold nature is
never expressed conjointly (except in Ṛg Veda VI 61,
12:: triṣadásthā having three seats).

Only in her Avestic equivalent Anahita, the great
mythic river, does she bear the same three valences
explicitly: her
Yašt
states she is
invoked by warriors, by clerics and by deliverers. She
bestows on females an easy delivery and timely milking.
She bestowed on heroes the vigour by which they defeated
their demonic adversaries. She is the great purifier,
“she who puts the worshipper in the ritual, pure
condition” (yaož dā). Her complete name too is
threefold: The Wet (Arədvī), The Strong (Sūrā),
The Immaculate (Anāhitā).

Dumezil remarks these titles match perfectly those of
Latin Junos, especially the Juno Seispes Mater Regina of
Lanuvium, the only difference being in the religious
orientation of the first function. Compare also the
epithet Fluonia, Fluviona of Roman Juno, discussed by G.
Radke.However D. P. Harmon has remarked that the meaning
of Seispes cannot be seen as limited to the warrior
aspect, as it implies a more complex, comprehensive
function, i. e. of Saviour.

Among Germanic peoples the homologous goddess was
bivalent, as a rule the military function was subsumed
into the sovereign: goddess *Frīy(y)o- was at the same
time sovereign, wife of the great god, and Venus (thence
*Friy(y)a-dagaz “Freitag for Veneris dies). However the
internal tension of the character led to a duplication
in Scandinavian religion:
Frigg
resulted into a
merely sovereign goddess, the spouse of wizard god
Óðinn
, while from the
name of
Freyr
, typical god of
the third function, was extracted a second character,
Freyja
, confined as a
Vani
to the sphere of
pleasure and wealth.

Dumezil opines that the theologies of ancient Latium
could have preserved a composite image of the goddess
and this fact, notably her feature of being Regina,
would in turn have rendered possible her
interpretatio as Hera.

Associations with other deities

Juno
and Jupiter

Jupiter
and
Juno, by
Annibale Carracci
.

The divine couple received from Greece its
matrimonial implications, thence bestowing on Juno the
role of tutelary goddess of marriage (Iuno Pronuba).

The couple itself though cannot be reduced to a Greek
apport. The association of Juno and Jupiter is of the
most ancient Latin theology.
Praeneste
offers a
glimpse into original Latin mythology: the local goddess
Fortuna
is represented
as milking two infants, one male and one female, namely
Jove
(Jupiter) and
Juno. It seems fairly safe to assume that from the
earliest times they were identified by their own proper
names and since they got them they were never changed
through the course of history: they were called Jupiter
and Juno. These gods were the most ancient deities of
every Latin town. Praeneste preserved divine filiation
and infancy as the sovereign god and his paredra Juno
have a mother who is the primordial goddess Fortuna
Primigenia. Many terracotta statuettes have been
discovered which represent a woman with a child: one of
them represents exactly the scene described by Cicero of
a woman with two children of different sex who touch her
breast. Two of the votive inscriptions to Fortuna
associate her and Jupiter: ” Fortunae Iovi puero…” and
“Fortunae Iovis puero…”

However in 1882 R. Mowat published an inscription in
which Fortuna is called daughter of Jupiter,
raising new questions and opening new perspectives in
the theology of Latin gods. Dumezil has elaborated an
interpretative theory according to which this aporia
would be an intrinsic, fundamental feature of
Indoeuropean deities of the primordial and sovereign
level, as it finds a parallel in Vedic religion. The
contradiction would put Fortuna both at the origin of
time and into its ensuing diachronic process: it is the
comparison offered by Vedic deity
Aditi
, the Not-Bound
or Enemy of Bondage, that shows that there is no
question of choosing one of the two apparent options: as
the mother of the
Aditya
she has the same
type of relationship with one of his sons,
Dakṣa
, the minor
sovereign. who represents the Creative Energy,
being at the same time his mother and daughter, as is
true for the whole group of sovereign gods to which she
belongs. Moreover Aditi is thus one of the heirs (along
with
Savitr
) of the opening
god of the Indoiranians, as she is represented with her
head on her two sides, with the two faces looking
opposite directions. The mother of the sovereign gods
has thence two solidal but distinct modalities of
duplicity, i.e. of having two foreheads and a double
position in the genealogy. Angelo Brelich has
interpreted this theology as the basic opposition
between the primordial absence of order (chaos) and the
organisation of the cosmos.

Juno
and Janus

The relationship of the female sovereign deity with
the god of beginnings and passages is reflected mainly
in their association with the kalendae of every month,
which belong to both, and in the festival of the
Sororium Tigillum

(better known as Tigillum Sororium) of October 1.

Janus as gatekeeper of the gates connecting Heaven
and Earth and guardian of all passages is particularly
related to time and motion. He holds the first place in
ritual invocations and prayers, in order to ensure the
communication between the worshipper and the gods. He
enjoys the privilege of receiving the first sacrifice of
the new year, which is offered by the rex on the day of
the
Agonium
of January as
well as at the kalendae of each month: These rites show
he is considered the patron of the cosmic year. Ovid in
his
Fasti
has Janus say
that he is the original Chaos and also the first era of
the world, which got organised only afterwards. He
preserves a tutelary function on this universe as the
gatekeeper of Heaven. His nature, qualities and role are
reflected in the myth of him being the first to reign in
Latium, on the banks of the Tiber, and there receiving
god
Saturn
, in the age when
the Earth still could bear the gods. The theology of
Janus is also presented in the
carmen Saliare
.
According to
Johannes Lydus
the
Etruscans called him Heaven. His epithets are numerous
Iunonius is particularly relevant, as the god of
the kalendae who cooperates with and is the source of
the youthful vigour of Juno in the birth of the new
lunar month. His other epithet Consivius hints to
his role in the generative function.

The role of the two gods at the kalendae of every
month is that of presiding over the birth of the new
moon. Janus and Juno cooperate as the first looks after
the passage from the previous to the ensuing month while
the second helps it through the strength of her
vitality. The rites of the kalendae included the
invocations to Juno Covella, giving the number of days
to the nonae, a sacrifice to Janus by the rex
sacrorum and the pontifex minor at the curia Calabra
and one to Juno by the regina sacrorum in the Regia:
originally when the month was still lunar the
pontifex minor had the task of signalling the
appearance of the new moon. While the meaning of the
epithet Covella is unknown and debated, that of the
rituals is clear as the divine couple is supposed to
oversee, protect and help the moon during the
particularly dangerous time of her darkness and her
labours: the role of Juno Covella is hence the same
as that of Lucina for women during parturition. The
association of the two gods is reflected on the human
level at the difficult time of labours as is apparent in
the custom of putting a key, symbol of Janus, in the
hand of the woman with the aim of ensuring an easy
delivery, while she had to invoke Juno Lucina. At the
nonae Caprotinae similarly Juno had the function of
aiding and strengthening the moon as the nocturnal
light, at the time when her force was supposed to be at
its lowest, after the Summer solstice.

The Tigillum Sororium was a rite (sacrum) of the gens
Horatia
and later of
the State. In it Janus Curiatius was associated
to Juno Sororia: they had their altars on
opposite sides of the alley behind the Tigillum
Sororium. Physically this consisted of a beam spanning
the space over two posts. It was kept in good condition
down to the time of Livy at public expenses. According
to tradition it was a rite of purification that served
at the expiation of
Publius Horatius
who
had murdered his own sister when he saw her mourning the
death of her betrothed Curiatius. Dumézil has shown in
his Les Horaces et les Curiaces that this story
is in fact the historical transcription of rites of
reintegration into civil life of the young warriors, in
the myth symbolised by the hero, freed from their
furor (wrath), indispensable at war but dangerous in
social life. What is known of the rites of October 1
shows at Rome the legend has been used as an
aetiological myth for the yearly purification ceremonies
which allowed the desacralisation of soldiers at
the end of the warring season, i.e. their cleansing from
the religious pollution contracted at war. The story
finds parallels in Irish and Indian mythologies. These
rites took place in October, month that at Rome saw the
celebration of the end of the yearly military activity.
Janus would then the patron of the feria as god
of transitions, Juno for her affinities to Janus,
especially on the day of the kalendae. It is also
possible though that she took part as the tutelary
goddess of young people, the iuniores,
etymologically identical to her. Modern scholars are
divided on the interpretation of J. Curiatius and J.
Sororia. Renard citing Capdeville opines that the wisest
choice is to adhere to tradition and consider the legend
itself as the source of the epithts.

M. Renard advanced the view that Janus and not
Juppiter was the original paredra or consort of Juno, on
the grounds of their many common features, functions and
appearance in myth or rites as is shown by their cross
coupled epithets Janus Curiatius and Juno Sororia: Janus
shares the epithet of Juno Curitis and Juno the epithet
Janus Geminus, as sororius means paired, double.
Renard’s theory has been rejected by G. Capdeville as
not being in accord with the level of sovereign gods in
Dumezil’s trifunctional structure. The theology of Janus
would show features typically belonging to the order of
the gods of the beginning. In Capdeville’s view it is
only natural that a god of beginnings and a sovereign
mother deity have common features, as all births can be
seen as beginnings, Juno is invoked by deliverers, who
by custom hold a key, symbol of Janus.

Juno and Hercules

Even though the origins of
Hercules
are
undoubetdly Greek his figure underwent an early
assimilation into Italic local religions and might even
preserve traces of an association to Indoiranian deity
Trita Apya that in Greece have not survived. Among other
roles that Juno and Hercules share there is the
protection of the newborn. Jean Bayet, author of Les
origines de l’Arcadisme romain, has argued that such
a function must be a later development as it looks to
have supersided that of the two original Latin gods
Picumnus
and
Pilumnus
.

The two gods are mentioned together in a dedicatory
inscription found in the ruins of the temple of Hercules
at Lanuvium, whose cult was ancient and second in
importance only to that of Juno Sospita. In the cults of
this temple just like in those at the
Ara maxima
in Rome
women were not allowed. The exclusion of one sex is a
characteristic practice in the cults of deities of
fertility. Even though no text links the cults of the
Ara maxima with Juno Sospita, her temple, founded in 193
BC, was located in the
Forum Holitorium
near
the
Porta Carmentalis
, one
of the sites of the legend of Hercules in Rome. The
feria of the goddess coincides with a Natalis
Herculis, birthday of Hercules, which was celebrated
with ludi circenses, games in the circus. In
Bayet’s view Juno and Hercules did superside Pilumnus
and Picumnus in the role of tutelary deities of the
newborn not only because of their own features of
goddess of the deliverers and of apotropaic tutelary god
of infants but also because of their common quality of
gods of fertility. This was the case in Rome and at
Tusculum
where a cult
of Juno Lucina and Hercules was known. At Lanuvium and
perhaps Rome though their most ancient association rests
on their common fertility and military characters. The
Latin Junos certainly possessed a marked warlike
character (at Lanuvium, Falerii, Tibur, Rome). Such
character might suggest a comparison with the Greek
armed
Heras
one finds in the
South of Italy at
Cape Lacinion
and at
the mouth of river
Sele
, military
goddesses close to the Heras of
Elis
and
Argos
known as
Argivae. In the cult this Hera received at Cape
Lacinion she was associated with Heracles, supposed the
founder of the sanctuary. Contacts with Central Italy
and similarity would have favoured a certain
assimilation between Latin warlike Junos and Argive
Heras and the association with Heracles of Latin Junos.
Some scholars, mostly Italians, recognize in the Junos
of Falerii, Tibur and Lavinium the Greek Hera, rejecting
the theory of an indigenous original cult of a military
Juno. Renard thinks Dumezil’s opposition to such a view
is to be upheld: Bayet’s words though did not deny the
existence of local warlike Junos, but only imply that at
a certain time they received the influence of the Heras
of Lacinion and Sele, fact that earned them the epithet
of Argive and a Greek connotation. However Bayet
recognized the quality of mother and of fertility deity
as being primitive among the three purported by the
epithets of the Juno of Lanuvium (Seispes, Mater,
Regina).

Magna Graecia and Lanuvium mixed their influence in
the formation of the Roman Hercules and perhaps there
was a Sabine element too as is testified by Varro,
supported by the find of the sanctuary of Hercules
Curinus at Sulmona and by the existence of a Juno
Curitis in Latium.

The mythical theme of the suckling of the adult
Heracles
by
Hera
, though being of
Greek origin, is considered by scholars as having
received its full acknowledgement and development in
Etruria: Heracles has become a bearded adult on the
mirrors of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Most scholars
view the fact as an initiation, i.e. the accession of
Heracles to the condition of immortal. Even though the
two versions coexisted in Greece and that of Heracles
infant is attested earlier Renard suggests a process
more in line with the evolution of the myth: the
suckling of the adult Heracles should be regarded as
more ancient and reflecting its original true meaning.

Juno
and Genius

The view that Juno was the feminine counterpart to
Genius
, i.e. that as
men possess a tutelary entity or double named
genius, so women have their own one named juno,
has been maintained by many scholars, lastly Kurt Latte.
In the past it has also been argued that goddess Juno
herself would be the issue of a process of abstraction
from the individual junos of every woman.
According to
Georg Wissowa
and K.
Latte Genius (from the root gen-, whence gigno
bear or be born, archaic also geno) would design
the specific virile generative potency, as opposed to
feminine nature, reflected in conception and delivery,
under the tutelage of Juno Lucina. Such an
interpretation has been critically reviewed by
Walter F. Otto

While there are some correspondences between the
ideas about genius and juno, especially in the
imperial age, the relevant documentation is rather late
(Tibullus
mentions it first). Dumezil also remarks from these
passages one could infer every woman has a Venus too. As
evidence of the antiquity of the concept of a juno
of women, homologous to the genius of men, is the
Arval
sacrifice of two
sheep to the Juno
Deae Diae
(“the juno of
goddesses named Dea Dia”), in contrast to their
sacrifice of two cows sacrificed to Juno (singular).
However both G. Wissowa and K. Latte allow that this
ritual could have been adapted to fit theology of the
Augustan restoration. While the concept of a Juno of
goddesses is not attested in the inscriptions of 58 BC
from Furfo, that of a Genius of gods is, and even of a
Genius of a goddess,
Victoria
. On this point
it looks remarkable that also in
Martianus Capella
‘s
division of Heaven a Juno Hospitae Genius is
mentioned in region IX, and not a Juno: the sex
of this Genius is feminine. See section below for
details.

Romans believed the genius of somebody was an entity
that embodied his essential character, personality, and
also originally his vital, generative force and
raison d’ être. However the genius had no direct
relationship with sex, at least in classical time
conceptions, even though the nuptial bed was named
lectus genialis in honour of the Genius and brides
on the day of marriage invoked the genius of their
grooms. This seems to hint to a significance of the
Genius as the propagative spirit of the gens,
of whom every human individual is an incarnation:
Censorinus
states:
“Genius is the god under whose tutelage everyone is born
and lives on”, and that “many ancient authors, among
whom
Granius Flaccus
in his
De Indigitamentis, maintain that he is one and
the same with the
Lar
“, meaning the Lar
Familiaris. Festus calls him “a god endowed with the
power of doing everything”, then citing an Aufustius:
“Genius is the son of the gods and the parent of men,
from whom men receive life. Thence is he named my
genius, because he begot me”. Festus’s quotation goes on
saying: “Other think he is the special god of every
place”, a notion that reflect a different idea. In
classic age literature and iconography he is often
represented as a snake, that may appear in the conjugal
bed, this conception being perhaps the issue of a Greek
influence. It was easy for the Roman concept of Genius
to expand annexing other similar religious figures as
the Lares and the Greek δαίμων αγαθός.

The genius was believed to be associated with the
forehead of each man, while goddess Juno, not the
juno of every woman, was supposed to have under her
jurisdiction the eyebrows of women or to be the tutelary
goddess of the eyebrows of everybody, irrespective of
one’s sex.

Heries
Junonis

Among the female entities that in the pontifical
invocations accompanied the naming of gods, Juno was
associated to Heries, which she shared with
Mars
(Heres Martea).

Festivals

All festivals of Juno were held on the kalendae of a
month except two (or, perhaps, three): The Nonae
Caprotinae on the
nonae
of July, the
festival of Juno Capitolina on September 13,
because the date of these two was determined by
preeminence of Jupiter. Perhaps a second festival of
Juno Moneta was held on October 10, possibly the
date of the dedication of her temple. This fact reflects
the strict association of the goddess with the beginning
of each lunar month.

Every year, on the first of March, women held a
festival in honor of Juno Lucina called the
Matronalia
.
Lucina
was an epithet
for Juno as “she who brings children into light.” On
this day, lambs and cattle were sacrificed in her honor
in the temple of her sacred grove on the
Cispius
.

The second festival was devoted to Juno Moneta
on June 1.

Following was the festival of the Nonae Caprotinae
(“The Nones of the Wild Fig”) held on July 7.

The festival of Juno Regina fell on September
1, followed on the 13 of the same month by that of
Juno Regina Capitolina.

October 1 was the date of the Tigillum Sororium
in which the goddess was honoured as Juno Sororia.

Last of her yearly festivals came that of Juno
Sospita on February 1. It was an appropriate date
for her celebration since the month of February was
considered a perilous time of passage, the cosmic year
coming then to an end and the limits between the world
of the living and the underworld being no longer safely
defined. Hence the community invoked the protection (tutela)
of the warlike Juno Sospita, “The Saviour“.

Juno is the patroness of marriage, and many people
believe that the most favorable time to marry is June,
the month named after the goddess.

Etrurian Uni, Hera, Astarte and Iuno

The Etruscans were a people who entertained strict
(if often conflicting) contacts with the other peoples
of the Mediterranean: the Greeks, the Phoenicians and
the Carthaginians.

Testimony of intense cultural exchanges with the
Greeks have been found in 1969 at the sanctuary of the
port of Gravisca near
Tarquinia
. Renard
thinks the cult of Hera in great emporia such as
Croton
, Posidonia,
Pyrgi might be a counter to Aphrodite’s, linked to
sacred prostitution in ports, as the sovereign of
legitimate of marriage and family and of their
sacrality. Hera’s presence had already been attested at
Caere
in the sanctuary
of Manganello. In the 18th century a dedication to Iuno
Historia was discovered at Castrum Novum (Santa
Marinella). The cult of Iuno and Hera is generally
attested in Etruria.

The relationship between Uni and the Phoenician
goddess
Astarte
has been
brought to light by the discovery of the
Pyrgi Tablets
in 1964.
At
Pyrgi
, one of the ports
of Caere, excavations had since 1956 revealed the
existence of a sacred area, intensely active from the
last quarter of the 4th century, yielding two documents
of a cult of
Uni
. Scholars had long
believed Etruscan goddess Uni was strongly influenced by
the Argive Heras and had her Punic counterpart in
Carthaginian goddess
Tanit
, identified by
the Romans as Juno Caelestis. Nonetheless
Augustin
had already
stated that Iuno was named Astarte in the Punic
language, notion that the discovery of the Pyrgi
lamellae has proved correct. It is debated whether such
an identification was linked to a transient political
stage corresponding with Tefarie Velianas’s
Carthagenian-backed tyranny on Caere as the sanctuary
does not show any other trait proper to Phoenician ones.
The mention of the goddess of the sanctuary as being
named locally Eileitheia and Leucothea by different
Greek authors narrating its destruction by the
Syracusean fleet in 384 BC, made the picture even more
complex. R. Bloch has proposed a two stage
interpretation: the first thonym Eilethya corresponds to
Juno Lucina, the second Leuchothea to Mater Matuta.
However, the local theonym is Uni and one would
legitimately expect it to be translated as Hera. A
fragmentary bronze lamella discovered on the same site
and mentioning both theonym Uni and Thesan (i. e. Latin
Juno and Aurora-Mater Matuta) would then allow the
inference of the integration of the two deities at
Pyrgi: the local Uni-Thesan matronal and auroral, would
have become the Iuno Lucina and the Mater Matuta of
Rome. The Greek assimilation would reflect this process
as not direct but subsequent to a process of
distinction. Renard rejects this hypothesis since he
sees in Uni and Thesan two distinct deities, though
associated in cult. However the entire picture should
have been familiar in Italian and Roman religious lore
as is shown by the complexity and ambivalence of the
relationship of Juno with the Rome and Romans in
Virgil’s Aeneid, who has Latin, Greek and Punic traits,
result of a plurisaecular process of amalgamation. Also
remarkable in this sense is the Fanum Iunonis of
Malta (of the Hellenistic period) which has yielded
dedicatory inscriptions to Astarte and Tanit.

Juno in Martianus Capella’s division of Heaven

Martianus Capella’s collocation of gods into sixteen
different regions of Heaven is supposed to be based on
and to reflect Etruscan religious lore, at least in
part. It is thence comparable with the theonyms found in
the sixteen cases of the outer rim of the
Piacenza Liver
. Juno is
to be found in region II, along with Quirinus Mars, Lars
militaris, Fons, Lymphae and the dii Novensiles. This
position is reflected on the
Piacenza Liver
by the
situation of Uni in case IV, owing to a threefold
location of
Tinia
in the first
three cases that determines an equivalent shift.

An entity named Juno Hospitae Genius is to be found
alone in region IX. Since
Grotius
(1599) many
editors have proposed the correction of Hospitae into
Sospitae. S. Weinstock has proposed to identify this
entity with one of the spouses of
Neptune
, as the epithet
recurs below (I 81) used in this sense.

In region XIV is located Juno Caelestis along with
Saturn
. This deity is
the Punic Astarte_Tanit, usually associated with Saturn
in Africa. Iuno Caelestis is thence in turn assimilated
to
Ops
and Greek
Rhea
. Uni is here the
Punic goddess, in accord with the identification of
Pyrgi. Her paredra was the Phoenician god
Ba’al
, interpreted as
Saturn. Capdeville admits of being unable to explain the
collocation of Juno Caelestis among the underworld gods,
which looks to be determined mainly by her condition of
spouse of Saturn.

Statue at Samos

In the
Dutch
city of
Maastricht
, which was
founded as Trajectum ad Mosam about 2000 years
ago, the remains of the foundations of a substantial
temple for Juno and Jupiter are to be found in the
cellars of Hotel Derlon. Over part of the Roman remains
the first Christian church of the Netherlands was built
in the 4th century AD.

The story behind these remains begins with Juno and
Jupiter being born as twins of
Saturn
and
Opis
. Juno was sent to
Samos
when she was a
very young child. She was carefully raised there until
puberty
, when she then
married her brother. A statue was made representing
Juno, the bride, as a young girl on her wedding day. It
was carved out of
Parian marble
and
placed in front of her temple at Samos for many
centuries. Ultimately this statue of Juno was brought to
Rome and placed in the sanctuary of
Jupiter Optimus Maximus

on the
Capitoline Hill
. For a
long time the Romans honored her with many ceremonies
under the name Queen Juno. The remains were moved then
sometime between the 1st century and the 4th century to
the Netherlands.

In
literature

Perhaps Juno’s most prominent appearance in
Roman literature
is as
the primary antagonistic force in
Virgil
‘s
Aeneid
, where she
is depicted as a cruel and savage goddess intent upon
supporting first
Dido
and then
Turnus
and the
Rutulians
against
Aeneas
‘ attempt to
found a new
Troy
in Italy. There
has been some speculation—such as by
Maurus Servius Honoratus
,
an ancient commentator on the Aeneid—that she is
perhaps a conflation of
Hera
with the
Carthaginian

storm-goddess
Tanit
in some aspects
of her portrayal here.

Juno is also mentioned in
The Tempest
in Act
IV, Scene I; she appears in a supernatural masque,
portrayed by spirits conjured by Prospero. She relates
to Prospero as they are both leaders in their realm and
have spirit like messengers who are very loyal (Juno has
Iris, Prospero has Ariel).
William Shakespeare

repeatedly mentions Juno throughout the play
Antony and Cleopatra
,
often in forms of exclamation by the characters.

Juno is a major character in the
Heroes of Olympus

series by
Rick Riordan
. Her goal
in the series is to bring the Greek and Roman demigods
together against the
Gigantes
. She had
earlier been a supporting character in the
Percy Jackson & the Olympians

series, under the name
Hera
.

Annia

Galeria Faustina Minor (Minor Latin for

the younger), Faustina Minor or Faustina

the Younger

(February

16 between 125 and 130-175) was a daughter of

Roman Emperor

Antoninus Pius

and Roman Empress

Faustina the Elder

. She was a Roman Empress and wife

to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor

Marcus Aurelius

. Though Roman sources give a

generally negative view of her character, she was held

in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was

given divine honours after her death.

//

 Biography

Faustina, named after her mother, was

her parents’ fourth and youngest child and their second

daughter; she was also their only child to survive to

adulthood. She was born and raised in

Rome

.

Her great uncle, the Emperor

Hadrian

, had arranged with her father for Faustina

to marry

Lucius Verus

. On February 25, 138, she and Verus

were betrothed.

Verus’ father

was Hadrian’s first adopted son and

his intended heir. However when Verus’ father died,

Hadrian chose Faustina’s father to be his second adopted

son, and eventually, he became Hadrian’s successor.

Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his

daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustina’s betrothal

to her maternal cousin,

Marcus Aurelius

; Aurelius was also adopted by her

father. On May 13, 145, Faustina and Marcus Aurelius

were married. When her father died on March 7, 161, her

husband and Lucius Verus succeeded to her father’s

throne and became co-rulers. Faustina was given the

title of

and became Empress.

Unfortunately, not much has survived

from the Roman sources regarding Faustina’s life, but

what is available does not give a good report.

Cassius Dio

and the

accuse Faustina of ordering

deaths by poison and execution; she has also been

accused of instigating the revolt of

Avidius Cassius

against her husband. The Augustan

History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators,

and men of rank. However, Faustina and Aurelius seem to

have been very close and mutually devoted. Her husband

trusted her and defended her vigorously against

detractors.

Faustina accompanied her husband on

various military campaigns and enjoyed the love and

reverence of Roman soldiers. Aurelius gave her the title

of Mater Castrorum or Mother of the Camp.

Between 170-174, she was in the north, and in 175, she

accompanied Aurelius to the east. However, these

experiences took their toll on Faustina, who died in the

winter of 175, after an accident, at the military camp

in Halala (a city in the

Taurus Mountains

in

Cappadocia

).

Aurelius grieved much for his wife

and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She

was deified: her statue was placed in the Temple of

Venus in Rome and a temple was dedicated to her in her

honor. Halala’s name was changed to Faustinopolis

and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls

called Puellae Faustinianae or ‘Girls of

Faustina’.^[1]

The Baths of Faustina in

Miletus

are named after her.

In their thirty years of marriage,

Faustina bore Marcus Aurelius thirteen children:

1. Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina

   (147-after 165)

2. Gemellus Lucillae (died around

   150), twin brother of Lucilla

3. Annia Aurelia Galeria

   Lucilla

   (148/50-182), twin sister of Gemellus,

   married her father’s co-ruler

   Lucius Verus

4. Titus Aelius Antoninus (born

   after 150, died before 7 March 161)

5. Titus Aelius Aurelius (born after

   150, died before 7 March 161)

6. Hadrianus (152-157)

7. Domitia Faustina (born after 150,

   died before 7 March 161)

8. Fadilla

   (159-after 211)

9. Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor

   (160-after 211)

10. Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus

    (161-165), twin brother of Commodus

11. Commodus

    (161-192), twin brother of Titus

    Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor

12. Marcus Annius Verus Caesar

    (162-169)

13. Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170-died before 217)

The sestertius, or sesterce, (pl.
sestertii) was an
ancient Roman

coin
. During the
Roman Republic
it was a
small,
silver
coin issued only
on rare occasions. During the
Roman Empire
it was a
large
brass
coin.

Helmed Roma head right, IIS behind
Dioscuri
riding right,
ROMA in linear frame below. RSC4, C44/7, BMC13.

The name sestertius (originally
semis-tertius) means “2 ½”, the coin’s original
value in
asses
, and is a
combination of semis “half” and tertius
“third”, that is, “the third half” (0 ½ being the
first half and 1 ½ the second half) or “half
the third” (two units plus half the third unit,
or halfway between the second unit and the
third). Parallel constructions exist in
Danish
with
halvanden (1 ½), halvtredje (2 ½) and
halvfjerde (3 ½). The form sesterce, derived
from
French
, was once used
in preference to the Latin form, but is now considered
old-fashioned.

It is abbreviated as  (originally IIS).

 

Example of a detailed portrait of
Hadrian
117
to 138

History

The sestertius was introduced c. 211 BC as a small
silver
coin valued at
one-quarter of a
denarius
(and thus one
hundredth of an
aureus
). A silver
denarius was supposed to weigh about 4.5 grams, valued
at ten grams, with the silver sestertius valued at two
and one-half grams. In practice, the coins were usually
underweight.

When the denarius was retariffed to sixteen asses
(due to the gradual reduction in the size of bronze
denominations), the sestertius was accordingly revalued
to four asses, still equal to one quarter of a denarius.
It was produced sporadically, far less often than the
denarius, through 44 BC.

Hostilian

under
Trajan Decius

250 AD

In or about 23 BC, with the coinage reform of
Augustus
, the
denomination of sestertius was introduced as the large
brass denomination. Augustus tariffed the value of the
sestertius as 1/100
Aureus
. The sestertius
was produced as the largest
brass
denomination
until the late 3rd century AD. Most were struck in the
mint of
Rome
but from AD 64
during the reign of
Nero
(AD 54–68) and
Vespasian
(AD 69–79),
the mint of
Lyon
(Lugdunum),
supplemented production. Lyon sestertii can be
recognised by a small globe, or legend stop), beneath
the bust.^{[citation
needed]}

The brass sestertius typically weighs in the region
of 25 to 28 grammes, is around 32–34 mm in diameter and
about 4 mm thick. The distinction between
bronze
and brass was
important to the Romans. Their name for
brass
was
orichalcum
, a word
sometimes also spelled aurichalcum (echoing the
word for a gold coin, aureus), meaning ‘gold-copper’,
because of its shiny, gold-like appearance when the
coins were newly struck (see, for example
Pliny the Elder
in his
Natural History Book 34.4).

Orichalcum
was
considered, by weight, to be worth about double that of
bronze. This is why the half-sestertius, the
dupondius
, was around
the same size and weight as the bronze as, but was worth
two asses.

Sestertii continued to be struck until the late 3rd
century, although there was a marked deterioration in
the quality of the metal used and the striking even
though portraiture remained strong. Later emperors
increasingly relied on melting down older sestertii, a
process which led to the zinc component being gradually
lost as it burned off in the high temperatures needed to
melt copper (Zinc
melts at 419 °C,
Copper
at 1085 °C). The
shortfall was made up with bronze and even lead. Later
sestertii tend to be darker in appearance as a result
and are made from more crudely prepared blanks (see the
Hostilian
coin on this
page).

The gradual impact of
inflation
caused by
debasement
of the
silver currency meant that the purchasing power of the
sestertius and smaller denominations like the dupondius
and as was steadily reduced. In the 1st century AD,
everyday small change was dominated by the dupondius and
as, but in the 2nd century, as inflation bit, the
sestertius became the dominant small change. In the 3rd
century silver coinage contained less and less silver,
and more and more copper or bronze. By the 260s and 270s
the main unit was the double-denarius, the
antoninianus
, but by
then these small coins were almost all bronze. Although
these coins were theoretically worth eight sestertii,
the average sestertius was worth far more in plain terms
of the metal they contained.

Some of the last sestertii were struck by
Aurelian
(270–275 AD).
During the end of its issue, when sestertii were reduced
in size and quality, the
double sestertius
was
issued first by
Trajan Decius
(249–251
AD) and later in large quantity by the ruler of a
breakaway regime in the West called
Postumus
(259–268 AD),
who often used worn old sestertii to
overstrike
his image
and legends on. The double sestertius was distinguished
from the sestertius by the
radiate crown
worn by
the emperor, a device used to distinguish the dupondius
from the as and the antoninianus from the denarius.

Eventually, the inevitable happened. Many sestertii
were withdrawn by the state and by forgers, to melt down
to make the debased antoninianus, which made inflation
worse. In the coinage reforms of the 4th century, the
sestertius played no part and passed into history.

Sestertius of
Hadrian
,
dupondius of
Antoninus Pius
,
and as of
Marcus Aurelius

As a unit of account

The sestertius was also used as a standard unit of
account, represented on inscriptions with the monogram
HS. Large values were recorded in terms of sestertium
milia, thousands of sestertii, with the milia
often omitted and implied. The hyper-wealthy general and
politician of the late Roman Republic,
Crassus
(who fought in
the war to defeat
Spartacus
), was said by
Pliny the Elder to have had ‘estates worth 200 million
sesterces’.

A loaf of bread cost roughly half a sestertius, and a
sextarius
(~0.5 liter)
of
wine
anywhere from less
than half to more than 1 sestertius. One
modius
(6.67 kg) of
wheat
in 79 AD
Pompeii
cost 7
sestertii, of
rye
3 sestertii, a
bucket 2 sestertii, a tunic 15 sestertii, a donkey 500
sestertii.

Records from
Pompeii
show a
slave
being sold at
auction for 6,252 sestertii. A writing tablet from
Londinium
(Roman
London
), dated to c.
75–125 AD, records the sale of a
Gallic
slave girl
called Fortunata for 600 denarii, equal to 2,400
sestertii, to a man called Vegetus. It is difficult to
make any comparisons with modern coinage or prices, but
for most of the 1st century AD the ordinary
legionary
was paid 900
sestertii per annum, rising to 1,200 under
Domitian
(81-96 AD),
the equivalent of 3.3 sestertii per day. Half of this
was deducted for living costs, leaving the soldier (if
he was lucky enough actually to get paid) with about
1.65 sestertii per day.

Perhaps a more useful comparison is a modern salary:
in 2010 a private soldier in the US Army (grade E-2)
earned about $20,000 a year.

Numismatic value

 

A sestertius of
Nero
,
struck at
Rome
in 64
AD. The reverse depicts the emperor on
horseback with a companion. The legend reads
DECVRSIO, ‘a military exercise’. Diameter
35mm

Sestertii are highly valued by
numismatists
, since
their large size gave caelatores (engravers) a
large area in which to produce detailed portraits and
reverse types. The most celebrated are those produced
for
Nero
(54-68 AD) between
the years 64 and 68 AD, created by some of the most
accomplished coin engravers in history. The brutally
realistic portraits of this emperor, and the elegant
reverse designs, greatly impressed and influenced the
artists of the
Renaissance
. The series
issued by
Hadrian
(117-138 AD),
recording his travels around the Roman Empire,
brilliantly depicts the Empire at its height, and
included the first representation on a coin of the
figure of
Britannia
; it was
revived by
Charles II
, and was a
feature of
United Kingdom
coinage
until the
2008 redesign
.

Very high quality examples can sell for over a
million
dollars
at auction as
of 2008, but the coins were produced in such colossal
abundance that millions survive.

The Roman Empire (Latin:
Imperium Romanum)
was the post-Republican
period of the
ancient Roman civilization
,
characterised by an
autocratic
form of
government and large territorial holdings in Europe and
around the Mediterranean.

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent,
during the reign of
Trajan
in 117 AD

The 500-year-old
Roman Republic
, which
preceded it, had been weakened and
subverted
through
several
civil wars
. Several
events are commonly proposed to mark the transition from
Republic to Empire, including
Julius Caesar
‘s
appointment as perpetual
dictator
(44 BC), the
Battle of Actium
(2
September 31 BC), and the Roman Senate’s granting
to
Octavian
the
honorific

Augustus
(16
January 27 BC).

Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic,
but the Empire reached its greatest extent under Emperor
Trajan
: during his
reign (98 to 117 AD) the Roman Empire controlled
approximately 6.5 million km²
of land surface. Because of the Empire’s vast extent and
long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome had
a profound and lasting influence on the development of
language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and
forms of government in the territory it governed,
particularly Europe, and by means of European
expansionism throughout the modern world.

In the late 3rd century AD,
Diocletian
established
the practice of dividing authority between four
co-emperors (known as the
tetrarchy
) in order to
better secure the vast territory, putting an end to the
Crisis of the Third Century
.
During the following decades the Empire was often
divided along an East/West axis. After the death of
Theodosius I
in 395 it
was divided for the last time.

The
Western Roman Empire

collapsed
in 476 as
Romulus Augustus
was
forced to abdicate to the
Germanic
warlord
Odoacer
. The Eastern
Roman or
Byzantine Empire
ended
in 1453 with the death of
Constantine XI
and the
capture of Constantinople

to
Mehmed II
, leader of
the
Ottoman Turks
.

Government

Emperor

The powers of an emperor (his
imperium
) existed,
in theory at least, by virtue of his “tribunician
powers” (potestas tribunicia) and his
“proconsular powers” (imperium proconsulare). In
theory, the tribunician powers (which were similar to
those of the
Plebeian Tribunes
under
the old republic) made the Emperor’s person and office
sacrosanct, and gave the Emperor authority over Rome’s
civil government, including the power to preside over
and to control the Senate.

The proconsular powers (similar to those of military
governors, or
Proconsuls
, under the
old Republic) gave him authority over the Roman army. He
was also given powers that, under the Republic, had been
reserved for the
Senate
and the
assemblies
, including
the right to declare war, to ratify treaties, and to
negotiate with foreign leaders.

The emperor also had the authority to carry out a
range of duties that had been performed by the
censors
, including the
power to control Senate membership. In addition, the
emperor controlled the
religious institutions
,
since, as emperor, he was always
Pontifex Maximus

and a member of each of the four major priesthoods.
While these distinctions were clearly defined during the
early Empire, eventually they were lost, and the
emperor’s powers became less constitutional and more
monarchical.

Realistically, the main support of an emperor’s power
and authority was the military. Being paid by the
imperial treasury, the legionaries also swore an annual
military oath of loyalty towards him, called the
Sacramentum
.

The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of
uncertainty and crisis. In theory the Senate was
entitled to choose the new emperor, but most emperors
chose their own successors, usually a close family
member. The new emperor had to seek a swift
acknowledgement of his new status and authority in order
to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could
hope to survive, much less to reign, without the
allegiance and loyalty of the
Praetorian Guard
and of
the legions. To secure their loyalty, several emperors
paid the
donativum
, a
monetary reward.

Senate

While the
Roman assemblies

continued to meet after the founding of the Empire,
their powers were all transferred to the
Roman Senate
, and so
senatorial decrees (senatus consulta) acquired
the full force of law.

In theory, the Emperor and the Senate were two equal
branches of government, but the actual authority of the
Senate was negligible and it was largely a vehicle
through which the Emperor disguised his autocratic
powers under a cloak of republicanism. Although the
Senate still commanded much prestige and respect, it was
largely a glorified
rubber stamp

institution. Stripped of most of its powers, the Senate
was largely at the Emperor’s mercy.

Many emperors showed a certain degree of respect
towards this ancient institution, while others were
notorious for ridiculing it. During Senate meetings, the
Emperor sat between the two
consuls
,^[18]
and usually acted as the presiding officer. Higher
ranking senators spoke before lower ranking senators,
although the Emperor could speak at any time.^[18]
By the 3rd century, the Senate had been reduced to a
glorified municipal body.

Senators and equestrians

No emperor could rule the Empire without the
Senatorial order and the
Equestrian order
. Most
of the more important posts and offices of the
government were reserved for the members of these two
aristocratic orders. It was from among their ranks that
the provincial governors, legion commanders, and similar
officials were chosen.

These two classes were hereditary^{[citation
needed]} and mostly closed to
outsiders. Very successful and favoured individuals
could enter, but this was a rare occurrence. The career
of a young aristocrat was influenced by his family
connections and the favour of patrons. As important as
ability, knowledge, skill, or competence, patronage was
considered vital for a successful career and the highest
posts and offices required the Emperor’s favour and
trust.

Senatorial order

The son of a senator was expected to follow the
Cursus honorum
, a
career ladder
, and the
more prestigious positions were restricted to senators
only. A senator also had to be wealthy; one of the basic
requirements was the wealth of 12,000 gold
aurei
(about 100 kg of
gold), a figure which would later be raised with the
passing of centuries.

 Equestrian
order

Below the Senatorial order was the Equestrian order.
The requirements and posts reserved for this class,
while perhaps not so prestigious, were still very
important. Some of the more vital posts, like the
governorship of
Egypt
(Latin
Aegyptus), were even forbidden to the members of the
Senatorial order and available only to equestrians.

Military

Legions

During and after the civil war, Octavian reduced the
huge number of the
legions
(over 60) to a
much more manageable and affordable size (28). Several
legions, particularly those with doubtful loyalties,
were simply disbanded. Other legions were amalgamated, a
fact suggested by the title Gemina (Twin).

In AD 9, Germanic tribes wiped out three full legions
in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
.
This disastrous event reduced the number of the legions
to 25. The total of the legions would later be increased
again and for the next 300 years always be a little
above or below 30.

Augustus also created the
Praetorian Guard
: nine
cohorts
ostensibly to
maintain the public peace which were garrisoned in
Italy. Better paid than the legionaries, the Praetorians
also served less time; instead of serving the standard
25 years of the legionaries, they retired after 16 years
of service.

Auxilia

While the
auxilia
(Latin:
auxilia = supports) are not as famous as the
legionaries, they were of major importance. Unlike the
legionaries, the auxilia were recruited from among the
non-citizens. Organized in smaller units of roughly
cohort strength, they were paid less than the
legionaries, and after 25 years of service were rewarded
with
Roman citizenship
, also
extended to their sons. According to
Tacitus
there were
roughly as many auxiliaries as there were legionaries.
Since at this time there were 25 legions of around 5,000
men each, the auxilia thus amounted to around 125,000
men, implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments.

Navy

The
Roman navy
(Latin:
Classis, lit. “fleet”) not only aided in the supply
and transport of the legions, but also helped in the
protection of the frontiers in the rivers
Rhine
and
Danube
. Another of its
duties was the protection of the very important maritime
trade routes against the threat of pirates. Therefore it
patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean, parts of the
North Atlantic
(coasts
of Hispania, Gaul, and Britannia), and had also a naval
presence in the
Black Sea
. Nevertheless
the army was considered the senior and more prestigious
branch.

 Provinces

The
Temple of Bacchus

in
Baalbec
,
Lebanon

Until the
Tetrarchy
(296 AD)
Roman provinces (lat. provincae) were
administrative and territorial units of the Roman Empire
outside of
Italy
. In the old days
of the Republic the governorships of the provinces were
traditionally awarded to members of the
Senatorial Order
.
Augustus’ reforms changed this policy.

Imperial provinces

Augustus created the
Imperial provinces
.
Most, but not all, of the Imperial provinces were
relatively recent conquests and located at the borders.
Thereby the overwhelming majority of legions, which were
stationed at the frontiers, were under direct Imperial
control. Very important was the
Imperial province of Egypt
,
the major
breadbasket
of the
Empire, whose
grain supply
was vital
to feed the masses in Rome. It was considered the
personal fiefdom of the Emperor, and Senators were
forbidden to even visit this province. The governor of
Egypt and the commanders of any legion stationed there
were not from the Senatorial Order, but were chosen by
the Emperor from among the members of the lower
Equestrian Order
.

Senatorial provinces

The old traditional policy continued largely
unchanged in the
Senatorial provinces
.
Due to their location, away from the borders, and to the
fact that they were under longer Roman sovereignty and
control, these provinces were largely peaceful and
stable. Only a single legion was based in a Senatorial
province:
Legio III Augusta
,
stationed in the Senatorial province of
Africa
(modern northern
Algeria).

The status of a province was subject to change; it
could change from Senatorial towards Imperial, or
vice-versa. This happened several times

^[26]
during
Augustus’ reign. Another trend was to create new
provinces, mostly by dividing older ones, or by
expanding the Empire.

 Religion

The
Pantheon
,
the present structure built during
Hadrian
‘s
reign, was dedicated to the worship of all
Roman deities.

As the Empire expanded, and came to include people
from a variety of cultures, the worship of an ever
increasing number of
deities
was tolerated
and accepted. The Imperial government, and the Romans in
general, tended to be very tolerant towards most
religions and cults, so long as they did not cause
trouble. This could easily be accepted by other faiths
as Roman liturgy and ceremonies were frequently tailored
to fit local culture and identity. Since the Romans
practiced polytheism they were also able to easily
assimilate the gods of the peoples the Empire conquered.

An individual could attend to both the Roman gods
representing his Roman identity and his own personal
faith, which was considered part of his personal
identity. There were periodic persecutions of various
religions at various points in time, most notably that
of Christians. As the historian
Edward Gibbon
noted,
however, most of the recorded histories of Christian
persecutions come to us through the Christian church,
which had an incentive to exaggerate the degree to which
the persecutions occurred. The non-Christian
contemporary sources only mention the persecutions
passingly and without assigning great importance to
them.

Imperial cult

The
Augustus of Prima
Porta
, showing
Augustus
in
military outfit holding a consular baton
(now broken off)

In an effort to enhance loyalty, the inhabitants of
the Empire were called to participate in the
Imperial cult
to revere
(usually deceased) emperors as
demigods
. Few emperors
claimed to be Gods while living, with the few exceptions
being emperors who were widely regarded at the time to
be insane (such as
Caligula
). Doing so in
the early Empire would have risked revealing the
shallowness of what the Emperor
Augustus
called the
“restored Republic” and would have had a decidedly
eastern quality to it. Since the tool was mostly one the
Emperor used to control his subjects, its usefulness
would have been greatest in the chaotic later Empire,
when the emperors were often Christians and unwilling to
participate in the practice.

Usually, an emperor was deified after his death by
his successor in an attempt by that successor to enhance
his own prestige. This practice can be misunderstood,
however, since “deification” was to the ancient world
what canonization is to the Christian world. Likewise,
the term “god” had a different context in the ancient
world. This could be seen during the years of the
Roman Republic
with
religio-political practices such as the disbanding of a
Senate session if it was believed the gods disapproved
of the session or wished a particular vote. Deification
was one of the many honors a dead emperor was entitled
to, as the Romans (more than modern societies) placed
great prestige on honors and national recognitions.

The importance of the Imperial cult slowly grew,
reaching its peak during the
Crisis of the Third Century
.
Especially in the eastern half of the Empire, imperial
cults grew very popular. As such it was one of the major
agents of
romanization
. The
central elements of the cult complex were next to a
temple; a
theatre
or
amphitheatre
for
gladiator displays and other games and a
public bath complex
.
Sometimes the imperial cult was added to the cults of an
existing temple or celebrated in a special hall in the
bath complex.

The seriousness of this belief is unclear. Some
Romans ridiculed the notion that a Roman emperor was to
be considered a living god, or would even make fun of
the deification of an emperor after his death.
Seneca the Younger

parodied the notion of apotheosis in his only known
satire
The Pumpkinification of Claudius
,
in which the clumsy and ill-spoken
Claudius
is transformed
not into a god, but a pumpkin or
gourd
. An element of
mockery was present even at Claudius’s funeral, and
Vespasian
‘s purported
last words were Væ, puto deus fio, “Oh dear! I
think I’m becoming a god!”.

Absorption of foreign cults

Since Roman religion did not have a core belief that
excluded other religions, several foreign gods and cults
became popular.

The worship of
Cybele
was the
earliest, introduced from around 200 BC.
Isis
and
Osiris
were introduced
from Egypt a century later.
Bacchus
and
Sol Invictus
were quite
important and
Mithras
became very
popular with the military. Several of these were
Mystery cults
. In the
1st century BC
Julius Caesar
granted
Jews the freedom to worship in Rome as a reward for
their help in Alexandria.

Controversial religions

Druids

Druids
were considered
as essentially non-Roman: a prescript of
Augustus
forbade Roman
citizens to practice “druidical” rites.
Pliny
reports that
under
Tiberius
the druids
were suppressed—along with diviners and physicians—by a
decree of the Senate, and
Claudius
forbade their
rites completely in AD 54.

 Judaism

While Judaism was largely accepted, as long as Jews
paid the
Jewish Tax
after 70 AD,
there was
anti-Judaism in the pre-Christian
Roman Empire
and there were several
Jewish-Roman wars
.

The Crisis under
Caligula
(37–41)
has been proposed as the “first open break between Rome
and the Jews”, even though problems were already evident
during the
Census of Quirinius
in
6 and under
Sejanus
(before 31).

Until the rebellion in Judea in AD 66, Jews were
generally protected. To get around Roman laws banning
secret societies and to allow their freedom of worship,
Julius Caesar declared Synagogues were colleges.
Tiberius forbade Judaism in Rome but they quickly
returned to their former protected status. Claudius
expelled Jews from the city; however, the passage of
Suetonius is ambiguous: “Because the Jews at Rome caused
continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus
he [Claudius] expelled them from the city.” Chrestus
has been identified as another form of Christus;
the disturbances may have been related to the
arrival of the first Christians
,
and that the Roman authorities, failing to distinguish
between the Jews and the early Christians, simply
decided to expel them all.

Historians debate whether or not the Roman government
distinguished between
Christians and Jews

prior to Nerva’s modification of the
Fiscus Judaicus
in 96.
From then on, practising Jews paid the tax; Christians
did not.^[34]

 Christianity

The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer,
by
Jean-Léon Gérôme

(1883). Roman
Colosseum
.

Christianity
emerged in
Roman Judea
as a
Jewish religious sect

in the 1st century AD. The religion gradually spread out
of
Jerusalem
, initially
establishing major bases in first
Antioch
, then
Alexandria
, and over
time throughout the Empire as well as beyond.

Christianity shares numerous traits with other
mystery cults that existed in Rome at the time. Early
Christianity placed a strong emphasis on baptism, a
ritual which marked the convert as having been inducted
into the mysteries of the faith. The focus on a belief
in salvation and the afterlife was another major
similarity to other mystery cults. The crucial
difference between Christianity and other mystery cults
was the
monotheism
of
Christianity. Early Christians thus refused to
participate in civic cults because of these monotheistic
beliefs, leading to their persecution.

For the first two centuries of the
Christian era
, Imperial
authorities largely viewed Christianity simply as a
Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No emperor
issued general laws against the faith or its Church, and
persecutions, such as they were, were carried out under
the authority of local government officials. A surviving
letter from
Pliny the Younger
,
governor of Bythinia, to the Emperor
Trajan
describes his
persecution and executions of Christians; Trajan notably
responded that Pliny should not seek out Christians nor
heed anonymous denunciations, but only punish open
Christians who refused to recant.

Suetonius
mentions in
passing that during the reign of
Nero
“punishment was
inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a
new and mischievous
superstition
”
(superstitionis novae ac maleficae). He gives no
reason for the punishment.
Tacitus
reports that
after the
Great Fire of Rome
in
AD 64, some among the population held Nero responsible
and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the
Christians.

One of the earliest persecutions occurred in
Gaul
at
Lyon in 177
.
Persecution was often local and sporadic, and some
Christians welcomed
martyrdom as a testament of faith
.^[39]
The
Decian persecution

(246–251) was a serious threat to the Church, but while
it potentially undermined the religious hierarchy in
urban centers, ultimately it served to strengthen
Christian defiance.^[40]
Diocletian
undertook
what was to be the
most severe and last major
persecution of Christians
, lasting from 303
to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to
suppress, and in 313, the
Edict of Milan
made
tolerance the official policy.
Constantine I
(sole
ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor, and
in 380
Theodosius I

established Christianity as the official religion.

By the 5th century Christian hegemony had rapidly
changed the Empire’s identity even as the Western
provinces collapsed. Those who practiced the traditional
polytheistic religions were persecuted, as were
Christians regarded as heretics by the authorities in
power.

Languages

The language of Rome before its expansion was
Latin
, and this became
the empire’s official language. By the time of the
imperial period Latin had developed two
registers
: the “high”
written
Classical Latin
and the
“low” spoken
Vulgar Latin
. While
Classical Latin remained relatively stable, even through
the
Middle Ages
, Vulgar
Latin as with any spoken language was fluid and
evolving. Vulgar Latin became the
lingua franca
in the
western provinces, later evolving into the modern
Romance languages
:
Italian
,
French
,
Portuguese
,
Spanish
,
Romanian
, etc. Greek
and Classical Latin were the languages of literature,
scholarship, and education.

Although Latin remained the most widely spoken
language in the West, through to the
fall of Rome
and for
some centuries afterwards, in the East the
Greek language
was the
literary language and the lingua franca. The Romans
generally did not attempt to supplant local languages.
They generally left established customs in place and
only gradually introduced typical Roman cultural
elements including the Latin language.^[43]
Along with Greek, many other languages of different
tribes were used but almost without expression in
writing.

Greek was already widely spoken in many cities in the
east, and as such, the Romans were quite content to
retain it as an administrative language there rather
than impede bureaucratic efficiency. Hence, two official
secretaries served in the Roman Imperial court, one
charged with correspondence in Latin and the other with
correspondence in Greek for the East.^[44]
Thus in the Eastern Province, as with all provinces,
original languages were retained.

Moreover, the process of hellenisation widened its
scope during the Roman period, for the Romans
perpetuated
“Hellenistic”
culture,^{[47][48][nb
4]} but with all the trappings of
Roman
improvements.
This further spreading of “Hellenistic” culture (and
therefore language) was largely due to the extensive
infrastructure (in the form of entertainment, health,
and education amenities, and extensive transportation
networks, etc.) put in place by the Romans and their
tolerance of, and inclusion of, other cultures, a
characteristic which set them apart from the xenophobic
nature of the Greeks preceding them.

Since the Roman annexation of Greece in 146 BC, the
Greek language gradually obtained a unique place in the
Roman world, owing initially to the large number of
Greek slaves in Roman households. In Rome itself Greek
became the second language of the educated elite.It
became the common language in the early
Church
(as its major
centers in the early Christian period were in the East),
and the language of scholarship and the arts.

However, due to the presence of other widely spoken
languages in the densely populated east, such as
Coptic
,
Syriac
,
Armenian
,
Aramaic
and
Phoenician
(which was
also extensively spoken in North Africa), Greek never
took as strong a hold beyond Asia Minor (some urban
enclaves notwithstanding) as Latin eventually did in the
west. This is partly evident in the extent to which the
derivative languages are spoken today. Like Latin, the
language gained a
dual nature
with the
literary language, an
Attic Greek
variant,
existing alongside spoken language,
Koine Greek
, which
evolved into
Medieval
or Byzantine
Greek (Romaic).

By the 4th century AD, Greek no longer held such
dominance over Latin in the arts and sciences as it had
previously, resulting to a great extent from the growth
of the western provinces. This was true also of
Christian literature, reflected, for example, in the
publication in the early 5th century AD of the
Vulgate Bible
, the
first officially accepted Latin
Bible
. As the Western
Empire
declined
, the number of
people who spoke both Greek and Latin declined as well,
contributing greatly to the future
East
–West
/
Orthodox
–Catholic
cultural divide in Europe.

Important as both languages were, today the
descendants of Latin

are widely spoken in many parts of the world, while the
Greek dialects are limited mostly to Greece,
Cyprus
, and small
enclaves in
Turkey
and
Southern Italy
(where
the
Eastern Empire
retained
control for several more centuries). To some degree this
can be attributed to the fact that the western provinces
fell mainly to “Latinised”
Christian
tribes
whereas the eastern provinces fell to Muslim Arabs and
Turks for whom Greek held less cultural significance.

Culture

Life in the Roman Empire revolved around the city of
Rome, and its famed
seven hills
. The city
also had several
theatres
,
gymnasia
, and many
taverns
,
baths
and
brothels
. Throughout
the territory under Rome’s control, residential
architecture ranged from very modest houses to
country villas
, and in
the
capital city
of Rome,
to the residences on the elegant
Palatine Hill
, from
which the word “palace” is derived. The vast
majority of the population lived in the city centre,
packed into apartment blocks.

Most Roman towns and cities had a
forum
and temples, as
did the city of Rome itself.
Aqueducts
were built to
bring water to urban centres^[55]
and served as an avenue to import
wine
and
oil
from abroad.
Landlords generally resided in cities and their estates
were left in the care of farm managers. To stimulate a
higher labour productivity, many landlords freed a large
numbers of slaves. By the time of Augustus, cultured
Greek household slaves taught the Roman young (sometimes
even the girls). Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic
landscape gardening on the Palatine or in the
villas
.

Many aspects of Roman culture were taken from the
Etruscans
and the
Greeks
. In
architecture
and
sculpture
, the
difference between Greek models and Roman paintings are
apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture
were the
arch
and the
dome
.

Roman public baths

(Thermae)
in
Bath
,
England (Aquae
Sulis in the Roman province of
Britannia
).

The centre of the early social structure was the
family, which was not only marked by
blood relations
but
also by the legally constructed relation of patria
potestas. The
Pater familias
was the
absolute head of the family; he was the master over his
wife, his children, the wives of his sons, the nephews,
the slaves and the freedmen, disposing of them and of
their goods at will, even putting them to death.
Originally, only patrician aristocracy enjoyed the
privilege of forming familial clans, or gens, as
legal entities; later, in the wake of political
struggles and warfare, clients were also enlisted. Thus,
such plebian gentes were the first formed,
imitating their patrician counterparts.

Slavery
and slaves were
part of the social order; there were
slave markets
where
they could be bought and sold. Many slaves were freed by
the masters for services rendered; some slaves could
save money to buy their freedom. Generally
mutilation
and murder
of slaves was prohibited by legislation. It is estimated
that over 25% of the Roman population was enslaved
Professor
Gerhard Rempel
from the
Western New England College

claims that in the city of Rome alone, during the
Empire, there were about 400,000 slaves.

The city of Rome had a place called the
Campus Martius
(“Field
of Mars”), which was a sort of drill ground for Roman
soldiers. Later, the Campus became Rome’s track and
field playground. In the campus, the youth assembled to
play and exercise, which included jumping,
wrestling
,
boxing
and
racing
.
Riding
, throwing, and
swimming were also preferred physical activities.

In the countryside, pastimes also included fishing
and hunting.
Board games
played in
Rome included
Dice
(Tesserae or
Tali
), Roman Chess (Latrunculi),
Roman
Checkers
(Calculi),
Tic-tac-toe
(Terni
Lapilli), and
Ludus duodecim scriptorum

and Tabula, predecessors of backgammon. There were
several other activities to keep people engaged like
chariot races, musical and theatrical performances,

Clothing, dining, and the arts

Fresco of a Roman woman from
Pompeii
, c.
AD 50.

Roman clothing fashions changed little from the late
Republic to the end of the Western empire 600 years
later. The cloth and the dress distinguished one class
of people from the other class. The tunic worn by
plebeians
(common
people) like shepherds and slaves was made from coarse
and dark material, whereas the
tunic
worn by
patricians
was of linen
or white wool. A magistrate would wear the tunica
augusticlavi; senators wore a tunic with broad
stripes, called tunica laticlavi. Military tunics
were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. Boys, up
until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga
praetexta, which was a toga with a crimson or purple
border. The toga virilis, (or toga pura)
was worn by men over the age of 16 to signify their
citizenship in Rome.

The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals
and had embroidery of their skill on the battlefield.
The toga pulla was worn when in mourning. Even
footwear indicated a person’s social status: patricians
wore red and orange sandals, senators had brown
footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore
heavy boots. Men typically wore a
toga
, and women a
stola
. The woman’s
stola looked different from a toga, and was usually
brightly coloured. The Romans also invented
socks
for those
soldiers required to fight on the northern frontiers,
sometimes worn in sandals.

In the later empire after
Diocletian
‘s reforms,
clothing worn by soldiers and non-military government
bureaucrats became highly decorated, with woven or
embroidered strips, clavi, and circular roundels,
orbiculi, added to tunics and cloaks. These
decorative elements usually consisted of geometrical
patterns and stylised plant motifs, but could include
human or animal figures. The use of silk also increased
steadily and most courtiers of the later empire wore
elaborate silk robes. Heavy military-style belts were
worn by bureaucrats as well as soldiers, revealing the
general militarization of late Roman government.
Trousers—considered barbarous garments worn by Germans
and Persians—were only adopted partially near the end of
the empire in a sign for conservatives of cultural
decay. Early medieval kings and aristocrats dressed like
late Roman generals, not like the older toga-clad
senatorial tradition.

Roman fresco with banquet scene from the
Casa dei Casti Amanti (IX 12, 6-8) in
Pompeii.

Romans had simple food habits. Staple food was
simple, generally consumed at around 11 o’clock, and
consisted of bread, salad, cheese, fruits, nuts, and
cold meat left over from the dinner the night before.
The Roman poet,
Horace
mentions another
Roman favourite, the
olive
, in reference to
his own diet, which he describes as very simple: “As for
me, olives,
endives
, and smooth
mallows
provide
sustenance.” The family ate together, sitting on stools
around a table. Fingers were used to eat solid foods and
spoons were used for soups.

Wine was considered a staple drink, consumed at all
meals and occasions by all classes and was quite cheap.
Many types of drinks involving grapes and honey were
consumed as well. Drinking on an empty stomach was
regarded as boorish and a sure sign for
alcoholism
, whose
debilitating physical and psychological effects were
known to the Romans. An accurate accusation of being an
alcoholic was an effective way to discredit political
rivals.

Woman playing a
kithara
,
a wall mural from
Boscoreale
,
dated 40–30 BC

Roman literature was from its very inception
influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the
earliest works we possess are of historical epics
telling the early military history of Rome. As the
empire expanded, authors began to produce poetry,
comedy, history, and tragedy.
Virgil
represents the
pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His
Aeneid
tells the
story of flight of Aeneas from
Troy
and his settlement
of the city that would become Rome. The genre of satire
was common in Rome, and satires were written by, among
others,
Juvenal
and
Persius
. Many Roman
homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists.
Portrait sculpture during the period utilized youthful
and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture
of realism and idealism. Advancements were also made in
relief sculptures, often depicting Roman victories.

Music was a major part of everyday life. The word
itself derives from
Greek
μουσική (mousike),
“(art) of the
Muses
“. Many private
and public events were accompanied by music, ranging
from nightly dining to military parades and maneuvers.
In a discussion of any ancient music, however,
non-specialists and even many musicians have to be
reminded that much of what makes our modern music
familiar to us is the result of developments only within
the last 1,000 years; thus, our ideas of melody, scales,
harmony, and even the instruments we use would not be
familiar to Romans who made and listened to music many
centuries earlier.

Over time, Roman architecture was modified as their
urban requirements changed, and the
civil engineering
and
building
construction

technology
became
developed and refined. The
Roman concrete
has
remained a riddle, and even after more than 2,000 years
some Roman structures still stand magnificently.^[76]
The architectural style of the capital city was emulated
by other urban centres under Roman control and
influence.

Education

Following various military conquests in the
Greek East
, Romans
adapted a number of Greek educational precepts to their
own system. Home was often the learning centre, where
children were taught
Roman law
,
customs
, and physical
training to prepare the boys for eventual recruitment
into the
Roman army
. Conforming
to discipline was a point of great emphasis. Girls
generally received instruction^[78]
from their mothers in the art of
spinning
,
weaving
, and
sewing
.

Education nominally began at the age of six. During
the next six to seven years, both boys and girls were
taught the basics of
reading
,
writing
and
arithmetic
. From the
age of twelve, they would be learning
Latin
,
Greek
,
grammar
and
literature
, followed by
training for
public speaking
.
Oratory
was an art to
be practised and learnt, and good orators commanded
respect. To become an effective orator was one of the
objectives of
education
and
learning
. In some
cases, services of gifted slaves were utilized for
imparting education.

Economy

The invention and widespread application of
hydraulic mining
,
namely
hushing
and
ground-sluicing, aided by the ability of the Romans to
plan and execute mining operations on a large scale,
allowed various base and precious metals to be extracted
on a proto-industrial scale.

The annual total
iron
output is
estimated at 82,500 t,
assuming a productive capacity of c. 1.5 kg per capita.^[81]
Copper
was produced at
an annual rate of 15,000 t, and
lead
at 80,000 t,^[83]
both production levels not to be paralled until the
Industrial Revolution
;^[84]
Spain alone had a 40% share in world lead production.
The high lead output was a by-product of extensive
silver
mining which
reached an amount of 200 t per annum.^[86]
At its peak around the mid-2nd century AD, the Roman
silver stock is estimated at 10,000 t, five to ten times
larger than the combined silver mass of
medieval Europe
and the
Caliphate
around
800 AD. Any one of the Imperium’s most important
mining provinces produced as much silver as the
contemporary
Han empire
as a whole,
and more
gold
by an entire order
of magnitude.

The high amount of metal coinage in circulation meant
that more coined money was available for trading or
saving in the economy (monetization).

 Currency

The imperial government was, as all governments,
interested in the issue and control of the currency in
circulation. To mint coins was an important political
act: the image of the ruling emperor appeared on most
issues, and coins were a means of showing his image
throughout the empire. Also featured were predecessors,
empresses, other family members, and
heirs apparent
. By
issuing coins with the image of an heir his legitimacy
and future succession was proclaimed and reinforced.
Political messages and imperial propaganda such as
proclamations of victory and acknowledgements of loyalty
also appeared in certain issues.

Legally only the emperor and the Senate had the
authority to mint coins inside the empire. However the
authority of the Senate was mainly in name only. In
general, the imperial government issued gold and silver
coins while the Senate issued bronze coins marked by the
legend “SC”, short for Senatus Consulto
“by decree of the Senate”. However, bronze coinage could
be struck without this legend. Some Greek cities were
allowed to mint^[91]
bronze and certain silver coins, which today are known
as Greek Imperials (also Roman Colonials
or Roman Provincials). The imperial mints were
under the control of a chief financial minister, and the
provincial mints were under the control of the imperial
provincial procurators. The Senatorial mints were
governed by officials of the Senatorial treasury.