Once Greece was invaded and plundered by the Romans, not only were the cities dominated, but they also appropriated Greek culture, making a kind of mimesis (or copy) of its deities, one of which was Zeus, who in Rome would henceforth be known as the God Jupiter.
Let's meet the god Jupiter
Definitely the Roman culture is from its beginnings, around the years 700 a. C., an example of expansion and courage for how warlike she was, especially around the years of the coming of Christ and even later when the religious ideas of practicing Christianity prevailed, before her fall in 400 AD. C., covering with its ideology the entire empire and consequently a large part of the world.
The Roman myths that were built and rebuilt over the centuries bring us to characters like the one who will take our attention on this occasion: the God Jupiter , the sovereign and supreme of thunder, lightning and storms, who is also attributed with the task of guiding men.
We know that through cultural exchange all the Roman gods have their origin in or are equivalent to a Greek god; Jupiter is Zeus who in Greek mythology is the son of Cronus, the god of time, and Rhea, the earth mother, who in the Roman world are Saturn and Ops.
Rome was founded in the heart of what is now Italy, surrounded by powerful monarchies. Its founding myths begin with a quarrel about the twins Remus and Romulus , who founded Rome after Romulus killed Remus . These early inhabitants believed that the spirits of their ancestors watched over them, and so they imbued these mysterious forces with mythical characteristics, eventually transforming them into their gods.
The first three gods recognized by the Romans were Mars, the god of war; Quirinus, a godlike personification in honor of Romulus; and the supreme god Jupiter . He would rise in this triad, eventually bearing the name Jupiter Optimus Maximus, until he reached a point where he was the three principal gods of Rome. His wife was Juno, or Hera in Greece, queen of the gods, and his daughter was Minerva, goddess of wisdom.
The god Jupiter was the personification of light, he was the one who gave victory and a great protector during defeat, he was called Jupiter the Emperor, Jupiter the Supreme General, the Undefeated, the Triumphant, among other bombastic adjectives that underlined his magnificent character.
In times of war it protected the Roman people and in times of peace it fostered prosperity. Its iconography is recognized as the image of an old man who wears a toga and has a long white beard; he is seated on the supreme throne and has a scepter on which is an eagle perched on top.
Anyone could be struck by Jupiter 's lightning bolt , which is why he was so respected, followed, and feared by the people of his land. But despite this power, the god would never hurl a lightning bolt without first giving the person a good warning before the final blow, thus giving them a chance to correct their course. Furthermore, he would not do so without the consent of the other gods.
The legacy of Greek and Roman civilizations holds a wealth of information important to the world; no less, let us remember that Greece was home to the first three philosophers who come to mind when we think of Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
The emergence of prominent figures like these, who in Rome also had their followers, as is the case with Plotinus , makes it extremely interesting and important for us to look at the thought of antiquity to see what ideas fueled the fire of thought and creation at this time, and one of them is undoubtedly religion.
Origins of the word Jupiter
Linguistic studies reveal that the word Jupiter comes from the Proto-Indo-European composition dyēus- pəter- which has several meanings, but mainly God the father who rules the sky, the day and also the one who shines or is very bright, due to his association with thunder or the sun itself.
From this same dyēus- pəter- come in Sanskrit and Germanic (both ancient languages that gave rise to Hindi and German) their words to describe their supreme gods such as Dyaus or Dyaus Pita of the Vedas and Tiwaz respectively for each case, even in Greek it is from this linguistic and grammatical root that the name and word Zeus comes.
Since so many cultures, including the Vedic and Nordic, agree on the idea that the sky god is the supreme god, it is not surprising to think that this was precisely the most popular original idea in proto-Indo-European culture.
This also highlights that the god Jupiter was not simply taken from the Greek pantheon, as was the case with other gods. In other words, the indigenous peoples of what is now Europe had a great sensitivity and awareness of what they observed in the sky and how the movements of the sun and the weather influenced their lives, which eventually became reflected in their languages once they established themselves as civilizations.
Another name by which the god Jupiter is known , and much more so nowadays, is the god Jove (or Lovi), so if you find a bibliography that talks about the god Lovi or Jove, remember that it is referring to Jupiter himself.
Showtimes:
The god Jupiter is responsible for guiding and maintaining balance among humankind. He is the ruler of the sky and also oversees that his fellow gods—brothers, children, and other deities—are performing their duties well in each specific area of interaction with humans. Furthermore, one of his tasks is to manage storms, lightning, and thunder on Earth.
At a political level he also had great responsibilities both in the pantheon of the gods and in the very heart of human life since he was used as a reference for many political purposes, he came to be called Jupiter Optimus Maximus which translates to the best, the savior, the great one and therefore, he was part of the way of thinking and making speeches of the leaders.
It is even said that there were Roman emperors who claimed to dream what they had to do, and in those dreams the god Jupiter appeared to tell them. Furthermore, his direct relationship with justice was undeniable, taking special care to ensure that oaths and treaties were fulfilled.
Even if a Roman wanted to take an oath, he would put it in the name of the god Jupiter or Jove, thus imbuing it with credibility and confidence that he would do what he had said because it was in honor of the supreme being, otherwise he could be punished.
Besides internal justice, he was also credited as a great defender of Rome's borders and international relations. Depending on his second and third names, we could find: Jupiter Terminalus, who was responsible for defending the nation's geography; or Jupiter Victor, who granted victory in war and even helped transport the spoils from conquered territories. Whenever an army ship returned victorious from the battlefield, it was required to pass by the temple or capitol of Jupiter.
As we can see, the discipline and respect for this god was immense. The military would often stop to thank their supreme god, Jupiter , before any other; politicians even dreamed of him and looked to him as a guide in their most difficult decisions; and ordinary people swore in his name. He was truly a constant presence in Roman life: a savior god, a supreme god, the god Jupiter.
Jupiter in roman religion
Roman culture shares many aspects with other cultures, such as the fact that they went from having many gods to having only one, that is, the Indo-Europeans, having that fascination for a religion that explained everything from why the sun rose in the morning, until its sunset and the passage that it left to the moon.
These were cults or societies where the gods protected all their members and there was a particular god or goddess for each aspect of life, such as fertility, love, the sea, war and the sky whose representative was the supreme, among other gods.
Already in the unfolding of the life of the empire it happened, as we have seen happen in other civilizations already formed, that the religious system was so united to the political that it could be said that it even conditioned it, because the Roman politicians made their decisions considering what they interpreted or it came to them from what the gods said. This happened both in politics with a “capital p”, that is, the one that applies to all the people, as well as in very personal spheres.
But this scheme of dependence on the answers of the gods would last until Theodosius , in the year 380 AD, imposed Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire, at that moment several changes occurred since the vision of religion ceased to be communal and became individual.
No specific text is known to them; their rituals and prayers were more experiential, through which they appeased or evaded the wrath of the gods. The closest thing to a religious text might have been the Pax dei Dei, also known as the Pax Romana, a treaty according to which they fulfilled the commitment and code of living in peace within the empire.
The Roman vision regarding the religion of the peoples they were conquering, let us remember that they were an expansionist empire, was to tolerate the representations of others, but not to adopt more than a few figures (a special case is Greece) to continue being faithful to his polygenic pantheon. However, as soon as they saw a new religious seed in their domain that could weaken them, they were very hard on it.
This is the case of the persecution of Jews and Christians undertaken by Nero, who was so violent that he even killed his own mother. The proto-Christians and the Jews had to carry out their rituals very hidden in barracks or holes so that neither the emperor nor his forces would annihilate them, the curious thing is that the more they grew as a cult, the more danger it represented for them but they continued to grow until they became Christianity in the religion of Rome.
That's how it was; the Romans were very protective of their polytheistic religious ideals for most of the empire's existence, until an emperor changed the rules of the game. Although this wasn't just because he saw that his people were leaning towards following Jesus , but also because it represented a good political move, this led to a change of course in which the god Jupiter ceased to be worshipped en masse, and the Christian paradigm took its place.
temple in rome
Although it is true that the empire was transformed and eventually disappeared, it is also true that the Romans were great builders, architects and engineers who, from temples to coliseums and even aqueducts and baths, never ceased to amaze in their time. There are even Roman pipes still in operation. How can you not admire them?
This is the case of the following and timely example: although the god Jupiter is no longer venerated en masse, nor by gathering for cults or making sacrifices, his temple still exists and is located on the Capitoline Hill . It was completed around 509 BC and is shared with his wife, the queen goddess of the gods Juno , and his daughter Minerva.
Today, in the Temple of Jupiter, we can find a colossal sculpture of the savior god, dating from that era, and the nine Sibylline Books , which contain the oracles of the nation, consulted only in times of war and crisis. This temple was the largest in Rome at the time and was the final destination for the processions of generals who won wars with the help of Jupiter Invictus, one of the names by which he was known.
The god Jupiter Invictus , Victor , Imperator , and Triumphator are all secondary names added to the god to further exalt him, and they are also traces of the love and gratitude that can be seen in the temple. The processions we have been discussing were called Triumphs as far as Rome , and they consisted of the army, upon arriving in the empire, first going to the temple to give thanks for the victory and the spoils, and to leave offerings.
The structure of this procession was as follows: at the front the general, dressed in a purple robe, a scepter in his right hand and riding in a bronze chariot pulled by white horses; followed by citizens, prisoners of war chained or tied up, who were essentially slaves, and his army all en masse behind this leader who, upon arriving at the temple, would make a sacrifice, which could be that of one of the prisoners, leave half of his loot to Jupiter and thank him for the assistance in the war.
But just as we find this god Jupiter associated with military and war issues, this does not mean that he was only a violent god, in environments also of debate, but more refined such as the assembly or the Senate, the decisions were not made before to have his blessing and that is why he was also recognized as the punishing god of wrongdoing.
Although he was also very present during the Roman peace or Pax Romana, because it was to this god that the main games held in Rome, the Ludi Romani of September, their version of the Olympics, were celebrated. They were observed, played, directed, and held in honor of the savior god, the magnificent one, the god Jupiter Victor.
The descent of the god of thunder
But it wasn't all smooth sailing. Before the establishment of Christianity, the god Jupiter also faced setbacks in which his ideals were challenged by various detractors, obstacles, and obstacles. Just as history includes emperors who exalted him to the point of becoming his personal priests, as in the case of Julius Caesar , it also includes others who suppressed his worship, a clear example being Elagabalus.
Elagabalus was a Syrian god worshipped by the emperor of the same name, who sought to establish his cult in Rome, even going so far as to build a temple for him and bring a stone from Syria that represented him. Elagabalus started a whole movement around this symbol, which eventually disappeared with the arrival of Alexander Severus as the new emperor. Severus, heeding the call of the Roman people, restored the worship of Jupiter and returned the stone to its rightful place, Syria.
As a brief aside, and since we've been discussing other nations, you might also be interested in reading about Indian mythology, so we invite you to learn about the gods of Buddhism.
Among others, perhaps as extravagant as the emperor Caligula, who claimed to be a living god, representing an increasing tendency among emperors to proclaim themselves gods or believe that they descended from gods like the god Jupiter , as in the case of Galba.
However, there were cases like Emperor Augustus , who did not want to be recognized as a god, but emperor worship seemed to be growing in popularity, and he ultimately rejected it. Although other emperors throughout history seem to have embraced the idea of a personality cult.
When the emperor was considered a god, devotion to the gods, and especially to Jupiter, was relegated to a secondary position. In this context, another cult that challenged the worship of Jupiter was that of Sol Invictus, a leader of soldiers. But Jupiter was saved from this predicament by the emperor Diocletian.
Other accusations or allegations are even far removed from the time of the Roman Empire and are the case well into the Middle Ages, when philosophers and pastors of Christianity such as Saint Augustine wrote about the god Jupiter, not only to allege that he had not been able to defend the Roman people but that he had also been an adulterer and therefore a bad example to follow.
Now that history has passed and the mighty Jupiter is mostly part of a mythology that we read in books, along with other names like Venus, Mars, Saturn , and which are now associated with planets rather than gods.
However, we cannot forget that this was a figure, perhaps archetypal if we follow Jung , who filled a large population with vigor for thousands of years and who, in victory or defeat, served as an ideal and a utopia to make many warriors keep moving forward.
His legacy
Most of his traces in this world have remained in the dialect, this of course if we do not consider the impetus he represented for the Roman people in his time, phrases that were used colloquially in Roman senates and courts, as is the case of the phrase "by Jove " which was one of the names attributed to him.
And guess where the word "jovial" comes from? Well, it's simply an adaptation of the ancient Jove . And indeed, your life will surely change at least a little knowing that by describing a cheerful, fun-loving, and enthusiastic person as jovial, you're also partly saying they have something of Jupiter in them— something strong and something of a warrior. If only words had only one meaning, but no, we live in a polysemous world.
Another great example of the legacy left to us by the god Jupiter is that his name was used to name the fifth planet of the solar system, once history and astronomical studies advanced enough to discover that we are part of a planetary system. Jupiter , Venus , Mars , and Saturn are all planets that received names from Roman deities; even the Moon and the Sun were named during this period.
This is a phenomenon we still see today, and it seems to be somewhat common in the scientific community: naming natural discoveries using references from the Greco-Roman past. Jupiter bears that name also because it is the largest celestial body in the solar system.
And if that weren't enough, do you know where the word Thursday comes from? "Jeudi" in French and "Giovedi" in Italian. Well, from this influence, if you have a jovial Thursday, you should probably thank Jupiter, or perhaps ...?
your counterpart
We have already mentioned his counterpart Zeus in Greek mythology; both are gods of thunder and both descend from primordial forces that are even greater than themselves, but which do not guide the destiny of men, leaving it in the hands of their children, the gods. But, besides one belonging to Greek mythology and the other to Roman mythology, how do they differ?
One of the biggest differences we find between Zeus and Jupiter is the distance or closeness they had in relation to humans; Zeus constantly came down from Olympus and mingled among men in different disguises or by adopting new forms.
Jupiter, on the other hand , rarely left the sky; he ruled from the heights as the supreme one, listening to, caring for, watching over, and protecting the Earth and humans, but he did not interact with them except for matters of war or to approve or disapprove decisions that were interpreted by the most sensitive or by the sibyls.
Another significant difference revolves around the concept of destiny, which in the Greco-Roman world is a kind of decree that simply is, as we see in examples like the drama of Oedipus. For however illogical it may seem to us, even Zeus was subject to these fates, where destiny leads us, while Jupiter is superior even to this, and does not govern his life or the actions he takes with humans, whether for or against them.
In contrast, regarding similarities, both the Greek god Zeus and his Roman counterpart Jupiter had incestuous relationships with their sisters, to the point of being married and having children with them whom they loved to the point of being their fanatics; likewise, they were the most powerful in their mythology; they had the ability to adopt the form or image of whatever they wanted, whether it was an animal, a person, or another god; among other coincidences.
The father of god Jupiter
Referring to someone as the father of God is a bit confusing from a Western Christian perspective; we would say instead that he is the father of Jesus , and that this being, who is God, is in principle the creator from whom everything arises. But for the Romans it was not like that, because there was a kind of genealogical tree of gods where we find them all, including Saturn or Cronus in Greek myth.
In Roman mythology, it is said that Saturn, the god representing agriculture, and Ops, the goddess representing fertility (who, incidentally, in Greek myth was the mother of the god of time), had several children, among them the god of lightning, Jupiter. But before reaching him, Saturn had eaten his previous children because there was a prophecy that said one of them was going to dethrone him; that is why when the god of thunder was born, Ops hid him.
Saturn, on the other hand, swallowed a stone as if it were a newborn god and remained calm, believing that his work was done, but fate was different; Saturn 's children sheltered in his belly as if it were a living prison and could do nothing to get out; they were prisoners even though they had already grown up.
We have exceptional paintings throughout history depicting such impressive mythological scenes as these, such as Goya 's Saturn Devouring His Son.
After eating the stone, Saturn began to show symptoms of a kind of indigestion that caused him to vomit up both the stone and his other children whom he had previously eaten. After this, and with the gratitude of his brothers, Jupiter became the god of the gods and ruled the throne of the world.
This succession of thrones occurred repeatedly throughout history because it was even Saturn who dethroned his father Caelus, Uranus in Greek myth, at the beginning of time. This oppressive father was overthrown from the rule of the world by his son, and then the same thing happened to him with his son, the god Jupiter.
Venus and Jupiter related gods
Why did Saint Augustine say that? And why point to Jupiter as an adulterer? Well, we know that his official wife was Juno, with whom he had Minerva, but the list of extramarital affairs is long, which we will recount below:
- With Maia had to Mercury, the god of commerce.
- Beside Dione begat Venus the goddess of love.
- With Ceres a Proserpine, the goddess of spring.
- Linked with Diana had a son and a daughter, the god of the sun Apolo y Diana the goddess of the moon
- with the deadly Selene had to Worm the god of wine It can be said that this was one of the few times that he interacted with humans, beyond the political or military.
These are just some of the extramarital relationships that the god Jupiter maintained; however, we can find many other connections with other goddesses and even humans that occurred in Roman mythology but did not stand out as much as those listed.
Jupiter children's
How can we convey all that energetic, jovial, and warlike history to children? Well, with versions for them we can find stories or films, perhaps like Hercules, that allow us to talk about Greek and Roman mythology with the little ones. However, with this objective in mind, we bring you below a reinterpretation of the myth of Jupiter, Juno, and Io.
Once, Jupiter was very bored up in the sky and couldn't think of anything to do. He considered visiting one of his brothers: Neptune, to whom he had given dominion over the sea, or Pluto, to whom he had granted the underworld. But the truth was, he didn't want to take the form of an octopus to swim to Neptune , and Pluto was far too gloomy a fellow to visit on a Sunday morning.
Jupiter , as we would say today, was "scratching his belly." In the midst of this period of peace , he couldn't find anything to do because there were no important decisions to make, since humans were resting and no other god had given him any information. He thought about seeking out Juno , but she was busy whispering advice for married women into their ears and therefore couldn't spend time with Jupiter.
One of the pastimes he came up with was that upon seeing a couple of humans walking through a field, he placed his voice between them, which the god did very well, with the phrase " Listen to me, you idiot! " Immediately the two saw each other and before a word could be exchanged they were already fighting, this amused the god greatly, who, laughing in the sky for having accomplished his objective, entertained himself for quite a while.
But not content with that, Jupiter continued observing the world and Rome from his throne until he found a beautiful water nymph named Io in a river. To make her rise to the heavens, he created a dense layer of clouds in which she could be while she was in the sky. But this change in the weather caught Juno 's attention, and she immediately set out to see what was happening.
When Juno arrived, she saw Jupiter standing beside a cute little cow, repeatedly saying he didn't know how it had gotten there. Juno wasn't fooled; she knew Jupiter had transformed the nymph into a cow. With a military strategy almost as sharp as her husband's, she asked if she could keep the "beautiful" cow. Jupiter couldn't refuse, and Juno placed the cow under guard.
Jupiter devised a strategy to save Io, and it's a good thing he didn't, because he could very well have chosen not to. His plan was to return Io to her river with the help of his son Apollo , but Apollo only partially succeeded, perhaps due to distraction, as he left the cow in the water source and not the nymph, that is, he did not restore her to her original form.
When Juno realized that the cow was missing, she sent a biting fly after her, and this fly chased Io all the way down the river to the mouth of the sea. The cow cried out " Moo Moo " and kept fleeing until she changed course and reached Egypt, where Juno appeared and transformed her back into a nymph. She told her to find a husband and disappeared, leaving poor Io alone in that sad place for a river nymph.
The last we know is that Io swam back to Rome, but there aren't many details about how she did it. If you enjoyed these stories, tales, and trails, we invite you to continue reading articles like the one about the messenger god Hermes.