Jupiter
Jupiter EuropeOr Jove. The Latin version of the Indo-European sky god. Together with Juno and Minerva, he formed the trinity of gods worshipped in the temple situated on the Capitoline Hill of Rome. The cult of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, ‘best and greatest’, was instituted under the Etruscan kings, their own highest god being called Tinia.
Originally a sky god connected with the elements and the agricultural cycle, Jupiter developed into a special protector of the Roman people. Added to Tonans, ‘thunderer’, and Fulgur, ‘wielder of lightning’, were such titles as Imperator, ‘supreme commander’, Invictus, ‘invincible’, Triumphator, ‘triumphant’, and Praedator, ‘booty snatcher’. With the development of urbanization and the increasing importance of the city, it was only natural that the tutelary deity, like Marduk in Babylon, should have risen to greater pre-eminence, while his associate Mars shed agricultural associations for a...
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