With references to him in Oscan, Umbrian and the Latin languages, Jupiter was a god of great antiquity worshipped throughout Italy.
Jupiter was the chief Roman god and the central deity of the Capitoline Triad — and one of only three gods to have a separate priesthood. His will was believed to be exhibited through natural phenomenon, which was used to validate the political decisions of the Roman state.
The Roman God of the Sky
Jupiter was originally an ancient Italic nature god. The name “Jupiter” means “luminous sky”, a reference to the god’s role as a deity of the sky, storms and lightning. Cicero also refers to him as “helping father” because of his alternative title, Jove, which derives from the verb iuvare — “to help”.
Jupiter was also a god of rain. He is associated with two rituals practised in ancient Rome to alleviate drought. The first was the Nudipedalia. The second was associated with a stone called the Lapis Manalis, which was brought into the city through the Porta Capena and carried through the city to provoke rainfall.
As a sky god, Jupiter was believed to make his will known through portents revealed through natural phenomena. It was this attribute that made him so vital to the running of the Roman state.
Jupiter Optimus Maximus
As Jupiter Best and Greatest, Jupiter was the chief god of the Roman state. He played an essential part in the Roman calendar, presiding over the nundinae, the days of the popular assembly and the ides or the full moon, which were sacred to him.
Jupiter’s role demonstrates the close link between Roman religion and civic and political life. No political action could be carried out without his sanction, which was determined by the reading of natural weather phenomena and the flight of birds, known as the auspices. Roman triumphal processions always concluded at his temple. At this temple, the god oversaw and upheld all vows made by state officials at the beginning of their term of office when they swore on his sacred sceptrum or sceptre and the ancient flints he guarded in his capacity as god of treaties.
Jupiter’s Temples and Festivals in Rome
Jupiter’s main temple was situated on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Jupiter’s cella was the focal point of the Capitoline temple, with that of Minerva on his right and Juno on his left. It was at his temple that many of the civic rites of the Roman state took place, such as the vows of the consuls and later the emperors.
The temple was also the focal point of many festivals linked to Rome and Jupiter. For example, the anniversary of the Capitoline temple was celebrated on Jupiter’s day, the Epulum Jovis, held on the ides of September, during the Ludi Romani, a festival celebrated between the 4-19 September. Likewise, in November, the Ludi Plebei or Plebeian Games were marked by a feast held at the capitol.
Specific rituals dedicated to Jupiter were also marked on the Capitaline. At every full moon, the rites of the ides or the Sacra Idulia occurred. A procession traversed the Via Sacra culminated at the temple where a white lamb was sacrificed to the god.
On 15 October, the Ludi Feretrius was held in honour of Jupiter as the god of treaties.
The Flamen Dialis
Along with Mars and Quirinus, Jupiter was one of only three deities to have their own dedicated priesthood in Roman state religion, known collectively as the Flamen Maiores. Jupiter’s priest was known as the Flamen Dialis, who, with his wife, the Flaminica, was bound to his worship by strict rules and obligations. The Flamen and his wife had to be patricians, married in the strictest form and could not divorce. Their sole civic responsibility was service to the god, prohibiting the Flamen from holding political office away from Rome.
Resources
Price, Simon and Kearns, Emily (Eds) 2003. The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Cicero, (trans. Horace CP McGregor) The Nature of the Gods. Penguin Books
Dumezil, George (trans Philip Krapp) 1996. Archaic Roman Religion Vol I. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore and London.
