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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jochen1, post: 3738177, member: 103829&quot;]Dear Friends of ancient mythology!</p><p><br /></p><p>I think that here is some important information about Juno.</p><p><b> </b></p><p><b>1st coin:</b></p><p>Roman Republic, L. Procilius, gens Procilia</p><p>AR - Denarius, 3.77g, 17.79mm, 45°</p><p>Rome, 80 BC</p><p>Obv.: Laureate head of Juppiter r.</p><p>behind S.C</p><p>Rev.: Statue of Juno Sospita, advancing r., holding shield and spear, snake before</p><p>behind L.PROCILI / F</p><p>Ref.: Crawford 379/1; Sydenham 771; Procilia 1</p><p>VF</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1002570[/ATTACH]</p><p>Here you can see clearly the beak-shoe-like bending of her shoes!</p><p><br /></p><p><b>2nd coin:</b></p><p>Roman Republic, L. Roscius Fabatus, gens Roscia</p><p>AR - Denarius serratus, 18.10mm, 3.8g</p><p>Rome, 59 BC*</p><p>Obv.: Bust of Juno Sospita wearing goat&#039;s skin cap, r., behind modius</p><p>beneath L.ROSCI</p><p>bankers mark in r. field</p><p>Rev.: Virgin in long clothes stg. r., feeding snake, which erects before her in several</p><p>coils, behind cista</p><p>in ex. FABATI</p><p>Ref.: Crawford 412/1 (symbols 23); Sydenham 915; Roscia 3; Albert 1329</p><p>scarce, toned VF, appealing silver</p><p>Pedigree:</p><p>ex Harlan J. Berk</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1002571[/ATTACH]</p><p>* Dated 64 B.C. by Crawford and hence also by <i>Roman Silver Coins</i> , Volume I. The revised date is based on the outstanding analysis of the Messagne Hoard by Alan Walker and Charles Hersh, ANS Museum Notes No. 29, New York, 1984, pp. 103-134</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Some notes on Iuno:</b></p><p>The name of Iuno has no connections to the name of Juppiter, because the initial sound is always &quot;i&quot; (and not &#039;di&#039; as on Juppiter, &#039;diou-pater&#039;), and particularly because the following &quot;u&quot; is not created by the diphthong &quot;ou&quot;. Then there is the name of the gens Iunia which never is written with a diphthong. Probably Paul Wissowa is right who puts Iuno to <i>iuvenis</i>, <i>iuvenca</i> and such words and interprets it as &#039;young woman&#039;, &#039;nubile wife&#039;. That shows that Iuno originally had no close mythological connection to Juppiter like Hera to Zeus. Today it is suggested that each woman from ancient time on has had her own Iuno like the men who have had their own genius. In literature it is found not until Tibull, but the fratres Arvales sacrificed to Iuno Deae Diae, the Juno of the goddesss Dia, at the Picularia.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Iuno Sospita:</b></p><p>To understand the meaning of the figure in historic times the Italic influence is essential, especially the Etruscan conception which goes back basically to the Greek Hera. The cult of Iuno was wide spread over Italy. Lanuvium was the city of Iuno Seispes Mater Regina; by the people this was etymological turned from Seispes - whose meaning is unclear until today - to Sospes or Sospita, meaning helper or savior.</p><p><br /></p><p>Propertius reports as cult rite for the Iuno of Lanuvium in which a virgin had to feed a snake (perhaps a temple snake, then the cave which is mentioned is only a &#039;novellistic painting of our literally sources&#039;). This was suggested as chastity proof and as omen for the fertility of the land in the next year, two very heterogenous elements (the chastity proof perhaps secondary?). In 338 BC the cult was adopted as official cult of the state but was left in Lanuvium. The <i>Sacerdos Lanuvini</i>, a priesthood formed by knights, were known from imperial times. The consules too were sacrificing to the goddess. In 194 BC she got a temple in Rome too by C. Cornelius Cethegus at the <i>forum holitorium</i>, without ceasing the cult in Lanuvium. This temple was renewed by Julius Caesar after Juno Sospita has appeared in a dream to Metella Caecilia with the message she wants to leave Rome if her temple was neglected furthermore. Denarii of Julius Caesar are known where the reverse shows Sospita driving a biga.</p><p><br /></p><p>The sanctuary of Sospita in Lanuvium has been highly praised in the war against the Insubrians (Livius). Her official holiday was February 1st. The depictions show the goddess armed with spear and a violin-shaped shield looking like the shield of the Salii priests, wearing (Etruscan) beak-shoes which were bended upwards at the toe-cap and a goat-skin which was helmeted-like pulled over her head. The scholar Latte suggests the snake and the cult statue to be signs of an etruscificated type of the Athena Polias. It was not allowed to sacrifice goats to Juno. Ovid assumes because they were hated by Juno. But it could be that Juno had a special relation to goats because as pasture goddess Juno Caprotina she was responsible for goats too. But basically I couldn&#039;t find any convincing theory.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Notes:</b></p><p><b>Shield of the Salii</b>: Holy shield which is said to be fallen from the sky in the time of Numa Pompilius. The nymph Egeria betrayed the secret of the shield, the <i>ancile</i>, to Numa: It was the pledge of the Roman dominance. Hereupon Numa Pompilius charged the best artists to make eleven copies of the shield, so that it was impossible to find out the original. The priesthood of the Salii, priests of Mars, was authorized to keep the twelve shields. Now the violin-shaped shield of Sospita doesn&#039;t seem to be identical with the <i>ancile</i> of the Salii. As we can see on coins of Augustus (RIC 136, 137) and of Antoninus Pius (RIC 736) the <i>ancilia</i> were made from two round shields with a small oval shield laying above them connected alltogether with numerous bolts. Because of that a connection between Sospita and the Salii could be denied.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Athena Polias:</b> The life-size statue of Athena Polias made from olive-tree wood stood in the Erychtheion on the Akropolis in Athens. This originally was the temple of Athena Polias, the city-goddess of Athens. It was said that this statue was fallen from the sky. Her cult was the oldest and the most important in Athens.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have attached a pic from the temple of Juno Sospita at the Foro Olitorio in Rome, which today is the church of San Nicola,</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1002572[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>and a pic of the statue of Juno Sospita from the Musei Vaticani, probably a marble cult statue from the 2nd century AD.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1002573[/ATTACH]</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Sources:</b></p><p>(1) Der kleine Pauly</p><p>(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon</p><p>(3) Michael Krumme, Römische Sagen in der antiken Münzprägung</p><p><br /></p><p>Best regards[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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