Editing Jupiter (god) (section)

== Myths and legends ==
[[File:Zeus pompei.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Jupiter in a wall painting from [[Pompeii]], with eagle and globe, 62–79 AD|alt=Painting of a bearded, seated Jupiter, unclothed from the waist up and holding a staff]]
A dominant line of scholarship has held that Rome lacked a body of myths in its earliest period, or that this original mythology has been irrecoverably obscured by the influence of the [[Greek mythology|Greek narrative tradition]].<ref>[[Hendrik Wagenvoort]], "Characteristic Traits of Ancient Roman Religion", in ''Pietas: Selected Studies in Roman Religion'' (Brill, 1980), p. 241, ascribing the view that there was no early Roman mythology to [[Walter Friedrich Otto|W.F. Otto]] and his school.</ref> After the influence of Greek culture on Roman culture, Latin literature and iconography reinterpreted the myths of Zeus in depictions and narratives of Jupiter. In the legendary history of Rome, Jupiter is often connected to kings and kingship.

=== Birth ===
Jupiter is depicted as the twin of Juno in a statue at [[Praeneste]] that showed them nursed by [[Fortuna|Fortuna Primigenia]].<ref>Described by [[Cicero]], ''[[De divinatione]]'' 2.85, as cited by {{harvp|Littlewood|2010|p=212}}.</ref> An inscription that is also from Praeneste, however, says that Fortuna Primigenia was Jupiter's first-born child.<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 1.60, as cited by {{harvp|Littlewood|2010|p=212}}.</ref> Jacqueline Champeaux sees this contradiction as the result of successive different cultural and religious phases, in which a wave of influence coming from the Hellenic world made Fortuna the daughter of Jupiter.<ref>J. Champeaux ''Fortuna. Le culte de la Fortune à Rome et dans le monde romain. I Fortuna dans la religion archaïque'' 1982 Rome: Publications de l'Ecole Française de Rome; as reviewed by John Scheid in ''Revue de l' histoire des religions'' 1986 '''203''' 1: pp. 67–68 (Comptes rendus).</ref> The childhood of Zeus is an important theme in Greek religion, art and literature, but there are only rare (or dubious) depictions of Jupiter as a child.{{sfnp|Fowler|1899|pp=223–225}}

=== Numa Pompilius ===
Faced by a period of bad weather endangering the harvest during one early spring, King [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]] resorted to the scheme of asking the advice of the god by evoking his presence.{{sfnp|Dumézil|1977|pp=51–52 & 197}} He succeeded through the help of Picus and Faunus, whom he had imprisoned by making them drunk. The two gods (with a charm) evoked Jupiter, who was forced to come down to earth at the Aventine (hence named ''Iuppiter Elicius'', according to Ovid). After Numa skilfully avoided the requests of the god for human sacrifices, Jupiter agreed to his request to know how lightning bolts are averted, asking only for the substitutions Numa had mentioned: an onion bulb, hairs and a fish. Moreover, Jupiter promised that at the sunrise of the following day he would give to Numa and the Roman people pawns of the ''imperium''. The following day, after throwing three lightning bolts across a clear sky, Jupiter sent down from heaven a shield. Since this shield had no angles, Numa named it ''ancile''; because in it resided the fate of the ''imperium'', he had many copies made of it to disguise the real one. He asked the smith [[Mamurius Veturius]] to make the copies, and gave them to the [[Salii]]. As his only reward, Mamurius expressed the wish that his name be sung in the last of their ''carmina''.<ref>Ovid ''Fasti'' III, 284–392. Festus s.v. Mamuri Veturi p. 117 L as cited by {{harvp|Dumézil|1977|p=197}}</ref> Plutarch gives a slightly different version of the story, writing that the cause of the miraculous drop of the shield was a plague and not linking it with the Roman ''imperium''.<ref>Plutarch Numa 18.</ref>

=== Tullus Hostilius ===
Throughout his reign, [[Tullus Hostilius|King Tullus]] had a scornful attitude towards religion. His temperament was warlike, and he disregarded religious rites and piety. After conquering the [[Albani people|Albans]] with the duel between the [[Horatii and Curiatii]], Tullus destroyed [[Alba Longa]] and deported its inhabitants to Rome. As [[Livy]] tells the story, omens ''([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#prodigium|prodigia]])'' in the form of a rain of stones occurred on the [[Alban Mount]] because the deported Albans had disregarded their ancestral rites linked to the sanctuary of Jupiter. In addition to the omens, a voice was heard requesting that the Albans perform the rites. A plague followed and at last the king himself fell ill. As a consequence, the warlike character of Tullus broke down; he resorted to religion and petty, superstitious practices. At last, he found a book by Numa recording a secret rite on how to evoke ''Iuppiter Elicius''. The king attempted to perform it, but since he executed the rite improperly the god threw a lightning bolt which burned down the king's house and killed Tullus.<ref>{{harvp|Dumézil|1977|p=175}} citing Livy I 31.</ref>

=== Tarquin the Elder ===
When approaching Rome (where Tarquin was heading to try his luck in politics after unsuccessful attempts in his native [[Tarquinii]]), an eagle swooped down, removed his hat, flew screaming in circles, replaced the hat on his head and flew away. Tarquin's wife [[Tanaquil]] [[augury|interpreted]] this as a sign that he would become king based on the bird, the quadrant of the sky from which it came, the god who had sent it and the fact it touched his hat (an item of clothing placed on a man's most noble part, the head).<ref>R. Bloch ''Prodigi e divinazione nell' antica Roma'' Roma 1973. Citing Livy I 34, 8–10.</ref>

The Elder Tarquin is credited with introducing the Capitoline Triad to Rome, by building the so-called Capitolium Vetus. Macrobius writes this issued from his Samothracian mystery beliefs.<ref>Macrobius ''Saturnalia'' III 6.</ref>