Juno

**Juno** (Latin: Iuno) is the Roman goddess of marriage and fertility and the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and Ops and sister/wife of Jupiter and the mother of Mars, Vulcan, and Bellona. She also looked after the women of Rome. Her Greek equivalent was Hera and her Etruscan counterpart was Uni. As the patron goddess of Rome and the Roman Empire, Juno was known as ***Regina*** ("queen" in Latin) and, together with Jupiter and Minerva, was worshipped in the Capitoline Triad in Rome.

Juno's warlike aspect among the Romans is apparent in her attire; she often appears sitting with a peacock, armed, and wearing a goatskin cloak. The traditional depiction of this warlike aspect was assimilated from the Greek goddess Athena, whose goatskin was called the 'aegis'.

## Associations with other deities

**Jupiter:** The divine couple received its matrimonial implications from Greece, thence bestowing on Juno the role of tutelary goddess of marriage.

**Janus:** The relationship of the female sovereign deity with the god of beginnings and passages is mainly reflected in their association with the first days of every month, which belong to both, and in the festival of the Tigillum Sororium on October 1.

**Hercules:** Even though the origins of Hercules are undoubtedly Greek, his figure underwent an early assimilation into Italic local religions and might even preserve traces of an association to Indo-Iranian deity Trita Apya that in Greece have not survived. Among other roles that Juno and Hercules share, there is the protection of the newborn.

**Genius:** The view that Juno was the feminine counterpart to Genius, i.e. that as men possess a tutelary entity named genius, woman have their own one named juno, has been maintained by many scholars.

## Roles and epithets

* ***Juno Caprotina***
* ***Juno Cinxia*** ("she who looses the bride's girdle")
* ***Juno Covella:*** as her function of a helper in the labors of the moon
* ***Juno Curitis*** ("spear holder")
* ***Juno Februalis/Februata/Februa:*** associates her with the fertility of February and in her function as maintaining the placenta during pregnancy
* ***Juno Fluonia/Fluviona:*** associates her with rites of purification and in her function as she who retains the blood inside the body during pregnancy
* ***Juno Lucina:***represents the cyclical renewal of time in the waning and waxing of the moon and protection of delivery and birth
* ***Juno Mater*** ("mother")
* ***Juno Moneta***
* ***Juno Populona*** ("she who increases the number of the people")
* ***Juno Pronuba*** ("she who looses the bride's girdle")
* ***Juno Regina*** ("queen")
* ***Juno Sospita:*** as the defender and protectress of the Romans
* ***Juno Tutula***
* ***Kalendaris Juno*** ("Juno of the Kalends")

## Literature

Juno's most prominent appearance in Roman literature is as the primary antagonistic force in Virgil's *Aeneid*, where she is depicted as a cruel and savage goddess intent upon supporting first Dido and then Turnus and the Rutulians against Aeneas' attempt to found a new Troy in Italy. There has been some speculation, such as by Maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator on the *Aeneid*, that she is perhaps a conflation of Hera with the Carthaginian storm goddess Tanit in some aspects of her portrayal there.

Juno is also mention in *The Tempest* in Act IV, Scene I; she appears in a supernatural masque, portrayed by spirits conjured by Prospero. She relates to Prospero as they are both leaders in their realm and have spirit-like messengers who are very loyal. William Shakespeare repeatedly mentions Juno throughout the play *Antony and Cleopatra*, often in forms of exclamation by the characters.

Juno is a major character in the *Heroes of Olympus* series by Rick Riordan. Her goal in the series is to bring the Greek and Roman demigods back together against the Gigantes. She had earlier been a supporting character in the *Percy Jackson & the Olympians* series under the name Hera.

Additionally, Juno plays a role in Ovid's *Metamorphoses*. One story in particular describes why the peacock is sacred to her.