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Myths about the Roman Goddess Juno
As queen of heaven, Juno was conspicuous for her state. Her
usual attendants were Terror, Boldness -
Castor and Pollux,
accompanied by fourteen nymphs; but her most inseparable
adherent was Iris, who was always ready to be employed in
her most important affairs: she acted as messenger to Juno,
like Mercury to Jupiter. When Juno appeared as the majesty
of heaven, with her sceptre and diadem beset with lilies and
roses, her chariot was drawn by peacocks, birds sacred to
her; for which reason, in her temple at Euboea, the emperor
Adrian made her a most magnificent offering of a golden
crown, a purple mantle, with an embroidery of silver,
describing the marriage of Hercules and Hebe, and a large
peacock, whose body was of gold, and his train of most
valuable jewels. There never was a wife more jealous than
Juno; and few who have had so much reason: on which account
we find from Homer that the most absolute exertions of
Jupiter were barely sufficient to preserve his authority.
There was none except Apollo whose worship was more solemn
or extensive. The history of the prodigies she had wrought,
and of the vengeance she had taken upon persons who had vied
with, or slighted her, had so inspired the people with awe,
that, when supposed to be angry, no means were omitted to
mitigate her anger; and had Paris adjudged to her the prize
of Beauty, the fate of Troy might have been suspended. In
resentment of this judgment, and to wreak her vengeance on
Paris, the house of Priam, and the Trojan race, she appears
in the Iliad to be fully employed. Minerva is commissioned
by her to hinder the Greeks from retreating; she quarrels
with Jupiter; she goes to battle; cajoles Jupiter with the
cestus of Venus; carries the orders of Jupiter to Apollo and
Iris; consults the gods on the conflict between aeneas and
Achilles; sends Vulcan to oppose Xanthus; overcomes Diana
etc.
She is generally pictured like a matron, with a grave and
majestic air, sometimes with a sceptre in her hand, and a
veil on her head: she is represented also with a spear in
her hand, and sometimes with a patera, as if she were about
to sacrifice: on some medals she has a peacock at her feet,
and sometimes holds the Palladium. Homer represents her in a
chariot adorned with gems, having wheels of ebony, nails of
silver, and horses with reins of gold, though more
commonly her chariot is drawn by peacocks, her favourite
birds.
The
most obvious and striking character of Juno, and that which
we are apt to imbibe the most early of any, from the
writings of Homer and Virgil, is that of an imperious and
haughty wife. In both of these poets we find her much
oftener scolding at Jupiter than caressing him, and in the
tenth aeneid in particular, even in the council of the gods,
we have a remarkable instance of this.
If, in searching out the meaning of this fable, we regard
the account of Varro, we shall find, that by Juno was
signified the earth; by Jupiter, the heavens; but if we
believe the Stoics, by Juno is meant the air and its
properties, and by Jupiter the ether: hence Homer supposes
she was nourished by Oceanus and Tethys: that is, by the
sea; and agreeable to this mythology, the poet makes her
shout aloud in the army of the Greeks, the air being the
cause of the sound.
Myths about the Roman Goddess Juno
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