The epulones ( Latin for "feasters"; sing. epulo ) was a religious organization of Ancient Rome . They arranged feasts and public banquets at festivals and games ( ludi ). They constituted one of the four great religious corporations ( quattuor amplissima collegia ) of ancient Roman priests.
114-427: The college was founded in 196 BC due to a law passed by Gaius Licinius Lucullus . The need for such a college arose as the increasingly elaborate festivals required experts to oversee their organization. They were tasked with attending and managing banquets known as epulum which were dedicated to the gods. One major epulum was the epulum jovis which was dedicated to Jupiter . Previously these banquets were managed by
228-486: A "kingly" drink with the power to inebriate and exhilarate, analogous to the Vedic Soma . Three Roman festivals were connected with viniculture and wine. The rustic Vinalia altera on 19 August asked for good weather for ripening the grapes before harvest. When the grapes were ripe, a sheep was sacrificed to Jupiter and the flamen Dialis cut the first of the grape harvest. The Meditrinalia on 11 October marked
342-447: 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. 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
456-634: A chariot with a team of four white horses ( quadriga ) —an honour reserved for Jupiter himself. When Marcus Manlius , whose defense of the Capitol against the invading Gauls had earned him the name Capitolinus , was accused of regal pretensions, he was executed as a traitor by being cast from the Tarpeian Rock . His house on the Capitoline Hill was razed, and it was decreed that no patrician should ever be allowed to live there. Capitoline Jupiter represented
570-512: A child. Faced by a period of bad weather endangering the harvest during one early spring, King Numa resorted to the scheme of asking the advice of the god by evoking his presence. 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
684-439: A clap of thunder (Jupiter's distinctive instrument), she was prohibited from carrying on with her normal routine until she placated the god. Some privileges of the flamen of Jupiter may reflect the regal nature of Jupiter: he had the use of the curule chair , and was the only priest ( sacerdos ) who was preceded by a lictor and had a seat in the senate . Other regulations concern his ritual purity and his separation from
798-469: 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 . Plutarch gives
912-566: A continuity of royal power from the Regal period , and conferred power to the magistrates who paid their respects to him. During the Conflict of the Orders , Rome's plebeians demanded the right to hold political and religious office. During their first secessio (similar to a general strike ), they withdrew from the city and threatened to found their own. When they agreed to come back to Rome they vowed
1026-470: A giant outdoor room, a plaza enclosed and protected but open to the sky and accessible through five symmetrical openings. Axiality and symmetry govern all parts of the Campidoglio. The aspect of the piazza that makes this most immediately apparent is the central statue, with the paving pattern directing the visitors' eyes to its base. Michelangelo also gave the medieval Palazzo del Senatore a central campanile,
1140-622: A phoney race which must be won by the king in order to allow him to drink a cup of madhu , i. e. soma . The feasting lasted for at least four days, possibly six according to Niebuhr , one day for each of the six Latin and Alban decuriae . According to different records 47 or 53 boroughs took part in the festival (the listed names too differ in Pliny Naturalis historia III 69 and Dionysius of Halicarnassus AR V 61). The Latiar became an important feature of Roman political life as they were feriae conceptivae , i. e. their date varied each year:
1254-475: A renovated façade, and a grand divided external staircase. He designed a new façade for the colonnaded Palazzo dei Conservatori and projected an identical structure, the Palazzo Nuovo, for the opposite side of the piazza. On the narrow side of the trapezoidal plan, he extended the central axis with a magnificent stair to link the hilltop with the city below. In the middle, and not to Michelangelo's liking, stood
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#17328522100261368-585: A slave of his creditor. The plebs argued the debts had become unsustainable because of the expenses of the wars wanted by the patricians. As the senate did not accede to the proposal of a total debt remission advanced by dictator and augur Manius Valerius Maximus the plebs retired on the Mount Sacer, a hill located three Roman miles to the North-northeast of Rome, past the Nomentan bridge on river Anio . The place
1482-626: 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 . Throughout his reign, King Tullus had a scornful attitude towards religion. His temperament was warlike, and he disregarded religious rites and piety. After conquering the Albans with the duel between the Horatii and Curiatii , Tullus destroyed Alba Longa and deported its inhabitants to Rome. As Livy tells
1596-693: A steep cliff overlooking the Roman Forum . This cliff was later named the Tarpeian Rock after the Vestal Virgin, and became a frequent execution site. The Sabines, who immigrated to Rome following the Rape of the Sabine Women , settled on the Capitoline. The Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), an 8th-century BC sacred precinct, occupied much of the eastern lower slopes of the Capitoline, at the head of what would later become
1710-400: A subtext of less-than-Christian import, but Benito Mussolini ordered the paving completed to Michelangelo's design in 1940. Michelangelo looked at the center to find a solution to the Capitoline disorder. The statue provided a center and a focus. The buildings defined the space, and it is this space, as much as the buildings, that is the impressive achievement of the Capitoline complex. It is
1824-517: Is caput ) when foundation trenches were being dug for the Temple of Jupiter at Tarquin's order. Recent excavations on the Capitoline uncovered an early cemetery under the Temple of Jupiter. There are several important temples built on Capitoline hill: the temple of Juno Moneta, the temple of Virtus, and the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus
1938-458: Is a reinvention of older ideas. The portico contains entablatures and a flat, coffered ceiling . The entablatures rest on columns set at the front of each bay, while matching half-columns stand against the back wall. Each pilaster forms a compound unit with the pier and column on either side of it. Colossal pilasters set on large bases join the portico and the upper story. All of the windows are capped with segmental pediments. A balustrade fringing
2052-551: Is also from Praeneste, however, says that Fortuna Primigenia was Jupiter's first-born child. 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. 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
2166-542: Is poured into the focus , or sacred fire. The patera was the special emblem of the epulones . The paten used today by Roman Catholic priests, omits the raised center. This Ancient Rome –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jupiter (mythology) Jupiter ( Latin : Iūpiter or Iuppiter , from Proto-Italic * djous "day, sky" + * patēr "father", thus " sky father " Greek: Δίας or Ζεύς ), also known as Jove ( gen . Iovis [ˈjɔwɪs] ),
2280-420: Is standing on the exposed segment of a gigantic egg all but buried at the centre of the city at the centre of the world, as Michelangelo's historian Charles de Tolnay pointed out. An interlaced twelve-pointed star makes a subtle reference to the constellations, revolving around this space called Caput mundi , Latin for "head of the world." This paving design was never executed by the popes, who may have detected
2394-541: Is the god of the sky and thunder , and king of the gods in ancient Roman religion and mythology . Jupiter was the chief deity of Roman state religion throughout the Republican and Imperial eras, until Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire . In Roman mythology, he negotiates with Numa Pompilius , the second king of Rome , to establish principles of Roman religion such as offering, or sacrifice. Jupiter
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#17328522100262508-578: Is the most important of the temples. It was built in 509 BC and was nearly as large as the Parthenon . The hill and the temple of Jupiter became the symbols of Rome, the capital of the world. The Temple of Saturn was built at the foot of Capitoline Hill in the western end of the Forum Romanum. When the Senones Gauls (settled in central-east Italy) raided Rome in 390 BC, after the battle of River Allia ,
2622-702: Is the origin of the expression "by Jove!"—archaic, but still in use. The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter ; the adjective " jovial " originally described those born under the planet of Jupiter (reputed to be jolly, optimistic, and buoyant in temperament ). Capitoline Hill 41°53′36″N 12°28′59″E / 41.89333°N 12.48306°E / 41.89333; 12.48306 The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( / ˈ k æ p ɪ t ə l aɪ n , k ə ˈ p ɪ t -/ KAP -it-ə-lyne, kə- PIT - ; Italian : Campidoglio [kampiˈdɔʎʎo] ; Latin : Mons Capitolinus [ˈmõːs kapɪtoːˈliːnʊs] ), between
2736-399: Is usually regarded as his Etruscan counterpart. The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had. Jupiter was "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested." He personified the divine authority of Rome's highest offices, internal organization, and external relations. His image in
2850-500: Is usually thought to have originated as a sky god. His identifying implement is the thunderbolt and his primary sacred animal is the eagle, which held precedence over other birds in the taking of auspices and became one of the most common symbols of the Roman army (see Aquila ). The two emblems were often combined to represent the god in the form of an eagle holding in its claws a thunderbolt, frequently seen on Greek and Roman coins. As
2964-409: Is windy and was usually the site of rites of divination performed by haruspices. The senate in the end sent a delegation composed of ten members with full powers of making a deal with the plebs, of which were part Menenius Agrippa and Manius Valerius. It was Valerius, according to the inscription found at Arezzo in 1688 and written on the order of Augustus as well as other literary sources, that brought
3078-710: The pompa circensis resembled a triumphal procession. Wissowa and Mommsen argue that they were a detached part of the triumph on the above grounds (a conclusion which Dumézil rejects). The Ludi Plebei took place in November in the Circus Flaminius . Mommsen argued that the epulum of the Ludi Plebei was the model of the Ludi Romani, but Wissowa finds the evidence for this assumption insufficient. The Ludi Plebei were probably established in 534 BC. Their association with
3192-480: The pontiffs . There were four great religious corporations ( quattuor amplissima collegia ) of ancient Roman priests; the two most important were the College of Pontiffs and the college of augurs ; the fourth was the quindecimviri sacris faciundis . The third college was the epulones ; their duties to arrange the feasts and public banquets for festivals and games ( ludi ) had originally been carried out by
3306-698: The Capitoline Museums ) that surround a piazza , an urban plan designed by Michelangelo . The word Capitolium still lives in the English word capitol , and Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. is widely assumed to be named after the Capitoline Hill. At this hill, the Sabines , creeping to the Citadel , were let in by the Roman maiden Tarpeia . For this treachery, Tarpeia was the first to be punished by being flung from
3420-613: The Forum and the Campus Martius , is one of the Seven Hills of Rome . The hill was earlier known as Mons Saturnius , dedicated to the god Saturn . The word Capitolium first meant the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus later built here, and afterwards it was used for the whole hill (and even other temples of Jupiter on other hills), thus Mons Capitolinus (the adjective noun of Capitolium ). In an etymological myth, ancient sources connect
3534-496: The Palazzo dei Conservatori , Palazzo Senatorio, and Palazzo Nuovo. Michelangelo designed a new façade for the dilapidated Palazzo dei Conservatori and he designed the Palazzo Nuovo to be a mirror complement, thereby providing balance and coherence to the ragged ensemble of existing structures. The construction of these two buildings were carried out after his death under the supervision of Tommaso dei Cavalieri . The sole arched motif in
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3648-532: The Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Rome's ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours . The consuls swore their oath of office in Jupiter's name, and honoured him on the annual feriae of the Capitol in September. To thank him for his help, and to secure his continued support, they sacrificed a white ox (bos mas) with gilded horns. A similar sacrificial offering
3762-626: The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus were destroyed in order to construct the palace. Until the cessation of World War I, the palazzo served as the German Embassy to Rome. Following the war, it was claimed by the Comune di Roma , which demolished a large section of the palazzo's east wing to create the Caffarelli Terrace. The Palazzo dei Conservatori ("Palazzo of the Conservators") was built in
3876-580: The Via Nova , below the Porta Mugonia , ancient entrance to the Palatine. Legend attributed its founding to Romulus. There may have been an earlier shrine ( fanum ) , since the Jupiter cult is attested epigraphically. Ovid places the temple's dedication on 27 June, but it is unclear whether this was the original date, or the rededication after the restoration by Augustus. A second temple of Iuppiter Stator
3990-418: The cordonata , gradually ascending the hill to reach the high piazza, so that the Campidoglio resolutely turned its back on the Roman Forum that it had once commanded. It was built to be wide enough for horse riders to ascend the hill without dismounting. The railings are topped by the statues of two Egyptian lions in black basalt at their base and the marble renditions of Castor and Pollux at their top. On
4104-517: The Capitoline Hill was the one section of the city to evade capture by the barbarians, due to its being fortified by the Roman defenders. According to legend Marcus Manlius Capitolinus was alerted to the Gallic attack by the sacred Roman geese of Juno . When Julius Caesar suffered an accident during his triumph , clearly indicating the wrath of Jupiter for his actions in the Civil Wars , he approached
4218-464: The Farnese Pope Paul III , who wanted a symbol of the new Rome to impress Charles V , who was expected in 1538. This offered him the opportunity to build a monumental civic plaza for a major city as well as to reestablish the grandeur of Rome. Michelangelo's first designs for the piazza and remodeling of the surrounding palazzi date from 1536. His plan was formidably extensive. He accentuated
4332-541: The Ides, a white lamb ( ovis idulis ) was led along Rome's Sacred Way to the Capitoline Citadel and sacrificed to him. Jupiter's two epula Iovis festivals fell on the Ides, as did his temple foundation rites as Optimus Maximus , Victor , Invictus and (possibly) Stator . The nundinae recurred every ninth day, dividing the calendar into a market cycle analogous to a week. Market days gave rural people ( pagi )
4446-496: The Latins. The original cult was reinstated unchanged as is testified by some archaic features of the ritual: the exclusion of wine from the sacrifice the offers of milk and cheese and the ritual use of rocking among the games. Rocking is one of the most ancient rites mimicking ascent to Heaven and is very widespread. At the Latiar the rocking took place on a tree and the winner was of course
4560-482: The Middle Ages for the local magistrates (named " Conservatori of Rome ") on top of a sixth-century BC temple dedicated to Jupiter "Maximus Capitolinus". Michelangelo's renovation of it incorporated the first use of a giant order that spanned two storeys, here with a range of Corinthian pilasters and subsidiary Ionic columns flanking the ground-floor loggia openings and the second-floor windows. Michelangelo's new portico
4674-610: The Old Latin nominative case * Ious . Jove is a less common English formation based on Iov- , the stem of oblique cases of the Latin name. Linguistic studies identify the form * Iou-pater as deriving from the Proto-Italic vocable * Djous Patēr , and ultimately the Indo-European vocative compound * Dyēu-pəter (meaning "O Father Sky-god"; nominative: * Dyēus -pətēr ). Older forms of
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4788-455: The Pope and nobles led to a senator taking up his official residence on the Capitoline Hill. The senator's new palazzo turned its back on the ancient forum, beginning the change in orientation on the hill that Michelangelo would later accentuate. A small piazza was laid out in front of the senator's palazzo, intended for communal purposes. In the middle of the 14th century, the guilds' court of justice
4902-511: The Renaissance, the former center was an untidy conglomeration of dilapidated buildings and the site of executions of criminals. The church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli is adjacent to the square, located near where the ancient arx , or citadel, atop the hill it once stood. At its base are the remains of a Roman insula , with more than four storeys visible from the street. In the Middle Ages,
5016-542: The Roman Forum. The summit was the site of a temple for the Capitoline Triad , started by Rome's fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus ( r. 616–579 BC), and completed by the seventh and last king, Tarquinius Superbus (535–496 BC). It was considered one of the largest and the most beautiful temples in the city (although little now remains). The city legend starts with the recovery of a human skull (the word for head in Latin
5130-549: The Roman State as Romans saw in Jupiter the only source of state authority. The fetials were a college of 20 men devoted to the religious administration of international affairs of state. Their task was to preserve and apply the fetial law (ius fetiale) , a complex set of procedures aimed at ensuring the protection of the gods in Rome's relations with foreign states. Iuppiter Lapis is the god under whose protection they act, and whom
5244-519: The Roman senate to inquire was also greeted by a rain of stones and heard a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the mount requesting the Albans perform the religious service to the god according to the rites of their country. In consequence of this event the Romans instituted a festival of nine days ( nundinae ). Nonetheless a plague ensued: in the end Tullus Hostilius himself was affected and lastly killed by
5358-641: The Sacer Mons: this act besides recalling the first secession was meant to seek the protection of the supreme god. The secession ended with the resignation of the decemviri and an amnesty for the rebellious soldiers who had deserted from their camp near Mount Algidus while warring against the Volscians, abandoning the commanders. The amnesty was granted by the senate and guaranteed by the pontifex maximus Quintus Furius (in Livy's version) (or Marcus Papirius) who also supervised
5472-483: The Senator Abbondio Rezzonico in the 18th century. Its double ramp of stairs was designed by Michelangelo. This double stairway to the palazzo replaced the old flight of steps and two-storied loggia, which had stood on the right side of the palazzo. The staircase cannot be seen solely in terms of the building to which it belongs but must be set in the context of the piazza as a whole. The steps, beginning at
5586-557: The ancient forum located just to the south. Built during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Palazzo Senatorio ("Senatorial palace") stands atop the Tabularium, which had once housed the archives of ancient Rome. Peperino blocks from the Tabularium were re-used in the left side of the palazzo and a corner of the bell tower. It now houses the Roman city hall, after having been converted into a residence by Giovanni Battista Piranesi for
5700-459: The annual Ludi Romani and were held in the Circus Maximus after a procession from the Capitol. The games were attributed to Tarquinius Priscus, and linked to the cult of Jupiter on the Capitol. Romans themselves acknowledged analogies with the triumph , which Dumézil thinks can be explained by their common Etruscan origin; the magistrate in charge of the games dressed as the triumphator and
5814-458: The architectural model for his provincial temples. When Hadrian built Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem , a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was erected in the place of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem . There were two temples in Rome dedicated to Iuppiter Stator ; the first one was built and dedicated in 294 BC by Marcus Atilius Regulus after the third Samnite War. It was located on
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#17328522100265928-456: The center axis of the palazzo. The Palazzo dei Conservatori was also to be restored, and a new building, the so-called Palazzo Nuovo, built at the same angle on the north side of the piazza to offset the Conservatori, creating a trapezoidal piazza. A wall and balustrade were to be built at the front of the square, giving it a firm delineation on the side facing the city. Finally, a flight of steps
6042-412: The center of each wing, move gently upward until they reach the inner corner, level off and recede to the main surface of the façade. They then continue an unbroken stateliness toward each other, converging on the central doorway of the second story. This interruption of the diagonal line and the brief inward change of direction both absorbs the central axis and links the two sides. The fountain in front of
6156-414: The chief fetial (pater patratus) invokes in the rite concluding a treaty. If a declaration of war ensues, the fetial calls upon Jupiter and Quirinus , the heavenly, earthly and chthonic gods as witnesses of any potential violation of the ius . He can then declare war within 33 days. The action of the fetials falls under Jupiter's jurisdiction as the divine defender of good faith. Several emblems of
6270-399: The college to ten, but after his death it was reduced back to seven. The college continued to exist into the fourth century, although it faded away due to the rise of Christianity . The patera was the sacred bowl used by the epulones . It was shallow with a raised center so that when held in the palm, the thumb could be placed on the raised centre without profaning the libation , as it
6384-448: The consuls and the highest magistrates were required to attend shortly after the beginning of the administration, originally on the Ides of March: the Feriae usually took place in early April. They could not start campaigning before its end and if any part of the games had been neglected or performed unritually the Latiar had to be wholly repeated. The inscriptions from the imperial age record
6498-464: The cult of Jupiter is attested by Cicero. The feriae of 23 December were devoted to a major ceremony in honour of Acca Larentia (or Larentina ), in which some of the highest religious authorities participated (probably including the Flamen Quirinalis and the pontiffs ). The Fasti Praenestini marks the day as feriae Iovis , as does Macrobius. It is unclear whether the rite of parentatio
6612-615: The deity's name in Rome were Dieus-pater ("day/sky-father"), then Diéspiter . The 19th-century philologist Georg Wissowa asserted these names are conceptually- and linguistically-connected to Diovis and Diovis Pater ; he compares the analogous formations Vedius - Veiove and fulgur Dium , as opposed to fulgur Summanum (nocturnal lightning bolt) and flamen Dialis (based on Dius , dies ). The Ancient later viewed them as entities separate from Jupiter. The terms are similar in etymology and semantics ( dies , "daylight" and Dius , "daytime sky"), but differ linguistically. Wissowa considers
6726-512: The end of the grape harvest; the new wine was pressed , tasted and mixed with old wine to control fermentation. In the Fasti Amiternini , this festival is assigned to Jupiter. Later Roman sources invented a goddess Meditrina , probably to explain the name of the festival. At the Vinalia urbana on 23 April, new wine was offered to Jupiter. Large quantities of it were poured into a ditch near
6840-546: The entire Campidoglio design is the segmental pediments over their windows, which give a slight spring to the completely angular vertical-horizontal balance of the design. The three palazzi are now home to the Capitoline Museums . Adjacent and now serving as an annex to the Palazzo dei Conservatori is Palazzo Caffarelli Clementino; here, short-term exhibitions are held. The palazzo was built between 1576 and 1583 by Gregory Canonico for Gian Pietro Caffarelli II. The remaining ruins of
6954-520: The epithet Dianus noteworthy. Dieus is the etymological equivalent of ancient Greece 's Zeus and of the Teutonics' Ziu (genitive Ziewes ). The Indo-European deity is the god from which the names and partially the theology of Jupiter, Zeus and the Indo-Aryan Vedic Dyaus Pita derive or have developed. The Roman practice of swearing by Jove to witness an oath in law courts
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#17328522100267068-578: The festival back to the time of the decemvirs . Wissowa remarks the inner linkage of the temple of the Mons Albanus with that of the Capitol apparent in the common association with the rite of the triumph : since 231 BC some triumphing commanders had triumphed there first with the same legal features as in Rome. The Ides (the midpoint of the month, with a full moon) was sacred to Jupiter, because on that day heavenly light shone day and night. Some (or all) Ides were Feriae Iovis , sacred to Jupiter. On
7182-414: The fetial office pertain to Jupiter. The silex was the stone used for the fetial sacrifice, housed in the Temple of Iuppiter Feretrius , as was their sceptre. Sacred herbs (sagmina) , sometimes identified as vervain , had to be taken from the nearby citadel (arx) for their ritual use. The role of Jupiter in the conflict of the orders is a reflection of the religiosity of the Romans. On one side,
7296-411: The fulness of life and absolute freedom that are features of Jupiter. The augures publici , augurs were a college of sacerdotes who were in charge of all inaugurations and of the performing of ceremonies known as auguria . Their creation was traditionally ascribed to Romulus . They were considered the only official interpreters of Jupiter's will, thence they were essential to the very existence of
7410-409: The giant pilasters, capped the composition, one of the most influential of Michelangelo's designs. The two massive ancient statues of Castor and Pollux that decorate the balustrades are not the same as those posed by Michelangelo, which now are in front of the Palazzo del Quirinale. Next to the older and much steeper stairs leading to the Aracoeli, Michelangelo devised a monumental wide-ramped stair,
7524-460: The god with a lightning bolt. The festival was reestablished on its primitive site by the last Roman king Tarquin the Proud under the leadership of Rome. The feriae Latinae , or Latiar as they were known originally, were the common festival ( panegyris ) of the so-called Priscan Latins and of the Albans. Their restoration aimed at grounding Roman hegemony in this ancestral religious tradition of
7638-613: The hat on his head and flew away. Tarquin's wife Tanaquil 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). 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. Sacrificial victims ( hostiae ) offered to Jupiter were
7752-477: The hill and Jupiter's temple on his knees as a way of averting the unlucky omen (nevertheless he was murdered six months later, and Brutus and his other assassins locked themselves inside the temple afterward). Vespasian's brother and nephew were also besieged in the temple during the Year of Four Emperors (69). During this incident the temple was destroyed by fire. The Tabularium , located underground beneath
7866-420: The hill where they had retreated to Jupiter as symbol and guarantor of the unity of the Roman res publica . Plebeians eventually became eligible for all the magistracies and most priesthoods, but the high priest of Jupiter ( Flamen Dialis ) remained the preserve of patricians. Jupiter was served by the patrician Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the flamines , a college of fifteen priests in
7980-408: The hill's sacred function was obscured by its other role as the center of the civic government of Rome, revived as a commune in the 12th century. The city's government was now to be firmly under papal control , but the Capitoline was the scene of movements of urban resistance, such as the dramatic scenes of Cola di Rienzo 's revived republic. In 1144, a revolt by the citizens against the authority of
8094-567: The imperial party had to scramble up the slope from the Forum to view the works in progress), but work continued faithfully to his designs and the Campidoglio was completed in the 17th century, except for the paving design, which was to be finished three centuries later. The bird's-eye view of the engraving by Étienne Dupérac shows Michelangelo 's solution to the problems of the space in the Piazza del Campidoglio. Even with their new facades centering them on
8208-481: The influence of the Greek narrative tradition . 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. Jupiter is depicted as the twin of Juno in a statue at Praeneste that showed them nursed by Fortuna Primigenia . An inscription that
8322-618: The last king ( Tarquinius Superbus ) and inaugurated in the early days of the Roman Republic (13 September 509 BC). It was topped with the statues of four horses drawing a quadriga , with Jupiter as charioteer. A large statue of Jupiter stood within; on festival days, its face was painted red. In (or near) this temple was the Iuppiter Lapis : the Jupiter Stone , on which oaths could be sworn. Jupiter's Capitoline Temple probably served as
8436-466: The military function; he was forbidden to ride a horse or see the army outside the sacred boundary of Rome ( pomerium ). Although he served the god who embodied the sanctity of the oath, it was not religiously permissible ( fas ) for the Dialis to swear an oath. He could not have contacts with anything dead or connected with death: corpses, funerals, funeral fires, raw meat. This set of restrictions reflects
8550-526: The monarchy, but the "king" of this festival may have been the priest known as the rex sacrorum who ritually enacted the waning and renewal of power associated with the New Year (1 March in the old Roman calendar). A temporary vacancy of power (construed as a yearly " interregnum ") occurred between the Regifugium on 24 February and the New Year on 1 March (when the lunar cycle was thought to coincide again with
8664-499: The myths and iconography of Zeus are adapted under the name Jupiter . In the Greek-influenced tradition, Jupiter was the brother of Neptune and Pluto , the Roman equivalents of Poseidon and Hades respectively. Each presided over one of the three realms of the universe: sky, the waters, and the underworld. The Italic Diespiter was also a sky god who manifested himself in the daylight, usually identified with Jupiter. Tinia
8778-618: The name to caput ("head", "summit") and the tale was that, when laying the foundations for the temple, the head of a man was found, some sources even saying it was the head of some Tolus or Olus . The Capitolium was regarded by the Romans as indestructible, and was adopted as a symbol of eternity. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian , and Capitolium Campidoglio . The Capitoline Hill contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palazzi (now housing
8892-447: The new palazzo at the rear, the space was a trapezoid , and the facades did not face each other squarely. Worse still, the whole site sloped (to the left in the engraving). Michelangelo's solution was radical. The three remodelled palazzi enclose a harmonious trapezoidal space, approached by the ramped staircase called the cordonata . The stepped ramp of the cordonata was intended, like a slow-moving escalator, to lift its visitors toward
9006-487: The nomination of the new tribunes of the plebs, then gathered on the Aventine Hill. The role played by the pontifex maximus in a situation of vacation of powers is a significant element underlining the religious basis and character of the tribunicia potestas . 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
9120-545: The official public cult of Rome, each of whom was devoted to a particular deity. His wife, the Flaminica Dialis, had her own duties, and presided over the sacrifice of a ram to Jupiter on each of the nundinae , the "market" days of a calendar cycle, comparable to a week. The couple were required to marry by the exclusive patrician ritual confarreatio , which included a sacrifice of spelt bread to Jupiter Farreus (from far , "wheat, grain"). The office of Flamen Dialis
9234-413: The one who had swung the highest. This rite was said to have been instituted by the Albans to commemorate the disappearance of king Latinus , in the battle against Mezentius king of Caere : the rite symbolised a search for him both on earth and in heaven. The rocking as well as the customary drinking of milk was also considered to commemorate and ritually reinstate infancy. The Romans in the last form of
9348-605: The opportunity to sell in town and to be informed of religious and political edicts, which were posted publicly for three days. According to tradition, these festival days were instituted by the king Servius Tullius . The high priestess of Jupiter ( Flaminica Dialis ) sanctified the days by sacrificing a ram to Jupiter. During the Republican era , more fixed holidays on the Roman calendar were devoted to Jupiter than to any other deity. Festivals of viniculture and wine were devoted to Jupiter, since grapes were particularly susceptible to adverse weather. Dumézil describes wine as
9462-417: The original equestrian statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Michelangelo provided an unassuming pedestal for it. The sculpture was held in regard because it was thought to depict Emperor Constantine , the first Christian Emperor. The bronze now in position is a modern copy; the original is in the Palazzo dei Conservatori nearby. He provided new fronts to the two official buildings of Rome's civic government,
9576-430: The ox (castrated bull), the lamb (on the Ides, the ovis idulis ) and the wether (a castrated goat or castrated ram) (on the Ides of January). The animals were required to be white. The question of the lamb's gender is unresolved; while a sacrificial lamb for a male deity was usually male, for the vintage-opening festival the flamen Dialis sacrificed a ewe lamb to Jupiter. This rule seems to have had many exceptions, as
9690-421: The past. An equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was to stand in the middle of the piazza set in a paved oval field. Michelangelo was required to provide a setting for the statue and to bring order to an irregular hilltop already encumbered by two crumbling medieval buildings set at an acute angle to one another. The Palazzo del Senatore was to be restored with a double outer stairway, and the campanile moved to
9804-449: The patricians were able to naturally claim the support of the supreme god as they held the auspices of the State. On the other side, the plebs (plebeians) argued that, as Jupiter was the source of justice, they had his favor because their cause was just. The first secession was caused by the excessive debt burden on the plebs. The legal institute of the nexum permitted a debtor to become
9918-399: The piazza and hilltop, occupies a building of the same name built in the 1st century BC to hold Roman records of state. The Tabularium looks out from the rear onto the Roman Forum . The main attraction of the Tabularium, besides the structure itself, is the Temple of Veiovis . During the lengthy period of ancient Rome, the Capitoline Hill was the geographical and ceremonial center. However, by
10032-456: The piazza's symmetry and cover up the tower of the Aracoeli , the Palazzo Nuovo was constructed in 1603, finished in 1654, and opened to the public in 1734. Its facade duplicates to that of Palazzo dei Conservatori. In other words, it is an identical copy made using Michelangelo's blueprint when he redesigned the Palazzo dei Conservatori a century earlier. A balustrade, punctuated by sculptures atop
10146-475: The plebs down from the Mount, after the secessionists had consecrated it to Jupiter Territor and built an altar ( ara ) on its summit. The fear of the wrath of Jupiter was an important element in the solution of the crisis. The consecration of the Mount probably referred to its summit only. The ritual requested the participation of both an augur (presumably Manius Valerius himself) and a pontifex. The second secession
10260-412: The pontiffs. The College of Epulones was established long after civil reforms had opened the magistracies and most priesthoods to plebeians , who were thus eligible from its beginning. Initially there were three epulones , but later their number was increased to seven by Sulla ; hence they were also known as the septemviri epulonum , "seven men of the sacrificial banquets". Julius Caesar expanded
10374-434: The portico of the Palazzo dei Conservatori sheltered offices of various guilds. Here disputes arising in the transaction of business were adjudicated, unless they were of sufficient importance to go before a communal tribunal, such as that of the conservatori. It was a natural place for such activity. Until the 1470s the main market of the city was held on and around the Campidoglio, while cattle continued to be taxed and sold in
10488-402: 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
10602-459: The reversal of the classical orientation of the Capitoline, in a symbolic gesture turning Rome's civic center to face away from the Roman Forum and instead in the direction of Papal Rome and the Christian church in the form of St. Peter's Basilica . This full half circle turn can also be seen as Michelangelo's desire to address the new, developing section of the city rather than the ancient ruins of
10716-509: The rite brought the sacrificial ox from Rome and every participant was bestowed a portion of the meat, rite known as carnem petere . Other games were held in every participant borough. In Rome a race of chariots ( quadrigae ) was held starting from the Capitol: the winner drank a liquor made with absynth. This competition has been compared to the Vedic rite of the vajapeya : in it seventeen chariots run
10830-430: The roof emphasizes the emphatic horizontality of the whole against which the vertical lines of the orders rise in majestic contrast. The verticality of the colossal order creates the feeling of a self-contained space while the horizontality of the entablatures and balustrades emphasize the longitudinal axis of the piazza. The palazzo's facade was updated by Michelangelo in the 1530s and again later numerous times. In Rome,
10944-612: The sacrifice of a ram on the Nundinae by the flaminica Dialis demonstrates. During one of the crises of the Punic Wars , Jupiter was offered every animal born that year. The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus stood on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Jupiter was worshiped there as an individual deity, and with Juno and Minerva as part of the Capitoline Triad . The building was supposedly begun by king Tarquinius Priscus , completed by
11058-415: The sky and deposit them on the threshold of municipal authority. The oval shape combined with the diamond pattern within it was a play on the previous Renaissance geometries of the circle and square. The travertine design set into the paving is perfectly level: Around its perimeter, low steps arise and die away into the paving as the slope requires. Its centre springs slightly, so that one senses that he/she
11172-540: The skygod, he was a divine witness to oaths, the sacred trust on which justice and good government depend. Many of his functions were focused on the Capitoline Hill , where the citadel was located. In the Capitoline Triad , he was the central guardian of the state with Juno and Minerva . His sacred tree was the oak. The Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus , and in Latin literature and Roman art ,
11286-483: The solar cycle), and the uncertainty and change during the two winter months were over. Some scholars emphasize the traditional political significance of the day. The Poplifugia ("Routing of Armies" ), a day sacred to Jupiter, may similarly mark the second half of the year; before the Julian calendar reform , the months were named numerically, Quintilis (the fifth month) to December (the tenth month). The Poplifugia
11400-544: The staircase features the river gods of the Tiber and the Nile as well as Dea Roma . The upper part of the facade was designed by Michelangelo with colossal corinthian pilasters harmonizing with the two other buildings. Its bell-tower was designed by Martino Longhi the Elder and built between 1578 and 1582. Its current facade was built by Giacomo della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi. To close off
11514-535: The story, omens ( 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
11628-461: The temple of Venus Erycina , which was located on the Capitol. The Regifugium ("King's Flight") on 24 February has often been discussed in connection with the Poplifugia on 5 July, a day holy to Jupiter. The Regifugium followed the festival of Iuppiter Terminus (Jupiter of Boundaries) on 23 February. Later Roman antiquarians misinterpreted the Regifugium as marking the expulsion of
11742-493: The third Samnite War in 295 BC. It was probably on the Quirinal, on which an inscription reading Diovei Victore has been found, but was eclipsed by the imperial period by the Temple of Jupiter Invictus on the Palatine, which was often referred to by the same name. Inscriptions from the imperial age have revealed the existence of an otherwise-unknown temple of Iuppiter Propugnator on the Palatine. The cult of Iuppiter Latiaris
11856-482: Was a "primitive military ritual" for which the adult male population assembled for purification rites, after which they ritually dispelled foreign invaders from Rome. There were two festivals called epulum Iovis ("Feast of Jove"). One was held on 13 September, the anniversary of the foundation of Jupiter's Capitoline temple. The other (and probably older) festival was part of the Plebeian Games (Ludi Plebei) , and
11970-453: Was abolished and the Republic established, religious prerogatives were transferred to the patres , the patrician ruling class . Nostalgia for the kingship (affectatio regni) was considered treasonous. Those suspected of harbouring monarchical ambitions were punished, regardless of their service to the state. In the 5th century BC, the triumphator Camillus was sent into exile after he drove
12084-420: Was built and dedicated by Quintus Caecilus Metellus Macedonicus after his triumph in 146 BC near the Circus Flaminius . It was connected to the restored temple of Iuno Regina with a portico ( porticus Metelli ). Augustus constructed the Temple of Jupiter Tonans near that of Jupiter Capitolinus between 26 and 22 BC. Iuppiter Victor had a temple dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during
12198-458: Was caused by the autocratic and arrogant behaviour of the decemviri , who had been charged by the Roman people with writing down the laws in use till then kept secret by the patrician magistrates and the sacerdotes . All magistracies and the tribunes of the plebs had resigned in advance. The task resulted in the XII Tables, which though concerned only private law. The plebs once again retreated to
12312-454: Was circumscribed by several unique ritual prohibitions, some of which shed light on the sovereign nature of the god himself. For instance, the flamen may remove his clothes or apex (his pointed hat) only when under a roof, in order to avoid showing himself naked to the sky—that is, "as if under the eyes of Jupiter" as god of the heavens. Every time the Flaminica saw a lightning bolt or heard
12426-463: Was constructed on the southern end of the piazza. This would later house the Conservatori in the 15th century. As a result, the piazza was already surrounded by buildings by the 16th century. The existing design of the Piazza del Campidoglio and the surrounding palazzi was created by Renaissance artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536–1546. At the height of his fame, he was commissioned by
12540-506: Was held on 13 November. In the 3rd century BC, the epulum Iovis became similar to a lectisternium . The most ancient Roman games followed after one day (considered a dies ater , or "black day", i. e. a day which was traditionally considered unfortunate even though it was not nefas , see also article Glossary of ancient Roman religion ) the two Epula Iovis of September and November. The games of September were named Ludi Magni ; originally they were not held every year, but later became
12654-504: Was itself the reason for the festival of Jupiter, or if this was another festival which happened to fall on the same day. Wissowa denies their association, since Jupiter and his flamen would not be involved with the underworld or the deities of death (or be present at a funeral rite held at a gravesite). The Latin name Iuppiter originated as a vocative compound of the Old Latin vocative * Iou and pater ("father") and came to replace
12768-407: Was made by triumphal generals , who surrendered the tokens of their victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue in the Capitol. Some scholars have viewed the triumphator as embodying (or impersonating) Jupiter in the triumphal procession. Jupiter's association with kingship and sovereignty was reinterpreted as Rome's form of government changed. Originally, Rome was ruled by kings ; after the monarchy
12882-515: Was the most ancient known cult of the god: it was practised since very remote times near the top of the Mons Albanus on which the god was venerated as the high protector of the Latin League under the hegemony of Alba Longa . After the destruction of Alba by king Tullus Hostilius the cult was forsaken. The god manifested his discontent through the prodigy of a rain of stones: the commission sent by
12996-615: Was to lead up to the enclosed piazza from below, further accentuating the central axis. The sequence, cordonata , piazza, and the central palazzo are the first urban introduction of the "cult of the axis" that was to occupy Italian garden plans and reach fruition in France. Executing the design was slow: Little was actually completed in Michelangelo's lifetime (the Cordonata Capitolina was not in place when Emperor Charles arrived, and
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