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Capitoline Triad

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Divinities

   Jupiter, the supreme Roman god of the sky, was the only deity
   represented in both Capitoline Triads.
   Jupiter, the supreme Roman god of the sky, was the only deity
   represented in both Capitoline Triads.

   The Capitoline Triad was a group of three supreme deities in Roman
   religion who were worshipped in an elaborate temple on Rome's
   Capitoline Hill, the Capitolium. Two distinct Capitoline Triads were
   worshipped at various times in Rome's history, both originating in
   ancient traditions predating the Roman Republic, but the more recent,
   consisting of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva and drawing heavily from
   Etruscan mythology, is the one most commonly referred to as the
   "Capitoline Triad". The earlier, more traditional Indo-European-derived
   triad, now known as the Archaic Triad, consisted of Jupiter, Mars and
   Quirinus. Both groups of deities were central to Roman worship during
   their respective apices of popularity.

Archaic Triad

   The original three deities thus worshipped, now more commonly referred
   to as the Archaic Triad, were Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus. Jupiter was
   the supreme ruler of the heavens and god of thunder, Mars the god of
   agriculture and guardian of crops, and later a war deity, and Quirinus
   the enigmatic god of the Roman populus ("people").

   This grouping has been interpreted as a symbolic representation of
   early Roman society, wherein Jupiter, standing in for the ritual and
   augural authority of the Flamen Dialis (high priest of Jupiter) and the
   chief priestly colleges, represents the priestly class, Mars, with his
   warrior and agricultural functions, represents the power of the king
   and young nobles to bring prosperity and victory through sympathetic
   magic with rituals like the October Horse and the Lupercalia, and
   Quirinus, with his source as the deified form of Rome's founder Romulus
   and his derivation from co-viri ("men together") representing the
   combined military and economic strength of the Roman people.

   According to Georges Dumézil's controversial trifunctional hypothesis,
   this division symbolizes the overarching societal classes of "priest"
   (Jupiter), "warrior" (Mars) and "farmer" or "civilian" (Quirinus).
   Though both Mars and Quirinus each had militaristic and agricultural
   aspects, leading later scholars to frequently equate the two despite
   their clear distinction in ancient Roman writings, Dumézil argued that
   Mars represented the Roman gentry in their service as soldiers, while
   Quirinus represented them in their civilian activities. Although such a
   distinction is implied in a few Roman passages, such as when Julius
   Caesar scornfully calls his soldiers quirites (" citizens") rather than
   milites ("soldiers"), the word quirites had by this time been
   dissociated with the god Quiritus, and it is likely that Quiritus
   initially had an even more militaristic aspect than Mars, but that over
   time Mars, partially through synthesis with the Greek god Ares, became
   more warlike, while Quiritus became more domestic in connotation.
   Resolving these inconsistencies and complications is difficult chiefly
   because of the ambiguous and obscure nature of Quirinus' cult and
   worship; while Mars and Jupiter remained the most popular of all Roman
   gods, Quirinus was a more archaic and opaque deity, diminishing in
   importance over time.

Later Triad

   The three deities who are most commonly referred to as the "Capitoline
   Triad" are a group that supplanted the original Archaic Triad. This
   group, mirroring the Etruscan divine triad, consisted of Jupiter, the
   king of the gods, Juno (in her aspect as Iuno Regina, "Queen Juno"),
   his wife and sister, and Jupiter's daughter by the titaness Metis,
   Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.

   Unlike the earlier Archaic Triad, which was fairly typical of a trio of
   supreme divine beings, this grouping of a male god and two goddesses
   was highly unusual in ancient Indo-European religions. It is almost
   certainly derived from the Etruscan trio of Tinia, the supreme deity,
   Uni, his wife, and Menrva, their daughter and the goddess of wisdom.

Capitolium

   The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus was dedicated to
   Jupiter and the other two members of the Capitoline Triad, Juno and
   Minerva.
   The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus was dedicated to
   Jupiter and the other two members of the Capitoline Triad, Juno and
   Minerva.

   Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were honored in temples known as Capitolia,
   which were built on hills and other prominent areas in many cities in
   Italy and the provinces, particularly during the Augustan and
   Julio-Claudian periods. Most had a triple cella. The earliest known
   example of a Capitolium outside of Italy was at Emporion in Spain.

   Although the word Capitolium (pl. Capitolia) could be used to refer to
   any temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad, it referred especially to
   the temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome known as aedes Iovis Optimi
   Maximi Capitolini ("the temple of the Best, Greatest, Capitoline
   Jupiter"). The temple was built under the reign of Lucius Tarquinius
   Superbus, the last King of Rome prior to the establishment of the Roman
   Republic. Although the temple was shared by Jupiter, Juno and Minerva,
   each deity had a separate cella, with Juno Regina on the left, Minerva
   on the right, and Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the middle. It included a
   podium and a tetrastyle (four column) pronaos (porch).

   Another shrine ( sacellum) dedicated to Jupiter, Juno Regina and
   Minerva was the Capitolium Vetus on the Quirinal Hill. It was thought
   to be older than the more famous temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on
   the Capitoline Hill, and was still a landmark in Martial's time, in the
   late 1st century.
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