Juno
JUNO. The name Iuno is a derivative of iun- and the ending -on-. It is very likely a shortened form of iuven-, as found in iunix ("heifer") and the comparative iunior ("younger"). The derivative Iunius (mensis), or "month of June," was linked by the ancients sometimes to iunior (Varro, De lingua Latina 6.33) and sometimes to Iūno (Servius, Ad Georgica 1.43). Uni, the name of an Etruscan goddess, is borrowed from the Latin Iuno, just as Ani, the name of an Etruscan god, comes from Ianus.
The goddess personifies creative youth. She oversees birth, both on a human and on a heavenly level. Upon beginning labor, women call upon Juno Lucina ("she who brings into light"), who is honored at the Matronalia of 1 March (cf. Plautus, Aulularia 692; Terence, Adelphoe 487). Juno Covella is the patroness, along with Janus, of each month's calends in order to further the labor of the young moon from the calends until the nones.
Several other ancient cults of Juno fall on the first of the month: February 1 (Juno Sospita); June 1 (Juno Moneta); September 1 (Juno Regina of the Aventine); October 1 (Juno Sororia). Exceptions to this rule are the cults of Juno that lost their autonomy. Thus Juno Caprotina is honored on July 7, the nones, in a ceremony "intended to strengthen the light of night" (Dumézil, 1975) and connected with the cult rendered to Jupiter in the Poplifugia of July 5. Similarly, Juno Regina of the Capitol is venerated, along with Jupiter, on September 13, the ides, in the left chapel of the Capitoline temple, the anniversary of which falls on that date (Livy, 7.3.5).
In Roman history Juno intervened in several instances. In 396 BCE the dictator M. Furius Camillus obtained the consent of Uni, the Etruscan homologue of Juno and the protectress of the hostile town of Veii, to be transferred from her besieged town to the Aventine in Rome. Thus a second Juno Regina, this one of foreign origin, was established in the capital (Livy, 5.21.3, 22.4–6). In 390 BCE the Capitol was saved from the Gauls by the honking of geese, birds sacred to Juno (Livy, 5.47.3–4). Was this an intervention of Juno Moneta ("the warner"; see Cicero, De divinatione 1.101)? In 344 BCE a temple was dedicated to her by the dictator L. Furius Camillus, the son of the aforementioned Marcus (Livy, 7.28.4). The establishment of a mint near this sanctuary to Moneta (Ad Monetae; Livy, 6.20.13) gave to the word moneta the meaning of "money."
Syncretism had little effect upon Juno. In the lectisternium of 217 BCE she was simply paired with Jupiter after the example of the Greek couple Zeus and Hera.
Bibliography
Dumézil, Georges. La religion romaine archaïque. 2d ed. Paris, 1974. See page 299 on the etymology and pages 303–310 on the Italic Junoes. This work has been translated from the first edition by Philip Krapp as Archaic Roman Religion, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1970).
Dumézil, Georges. Fêtes romaines d'été et d'automne. Paris, 1975. See pages 271–283 on Juno Caprotina, written in partnership with Paul Drossart.
Schilling, Robert. Rites, cultes, dieux de Rome. Paris, 1979. See pages 233–239 on Juno Covella and pages 239–244 on Juno Sororia.
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich, 1912. See pages 181–191 for a general treatment.
New Sources
Champeaux, Jacqueline. "Religion romaine et religion latin: les cultes de Jupiter et Junon à Préneste." Revue des études Latines 60 (1982): 71–104.
Dury-Moyaers, Geneviève. "Aperçu critique relatif au culte de Junon." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 2.17.1, pp. 142–202. Berlin and New York, 1981.
Dury-Moyaers, Geneviève. "Réflexions à propos de l'iconographie de Iuno Sospita." In Beiträge zur altitalischen Geistesgeschichte. Festschrift Gerhard Radke, pp. 83–101. Münster, 1986.
Fabian, Klaus Dietrich. Aspekte einer Entwicklungsgeschichte der römisch-lateinischen Göttin Juno. Berlin, 1978.
Fabian, Klaus Dietrich. "Ex numine dea? Überlegungen zum numinosen Ursprung der römischen Göttin Iuno." In Beiträge zur altitalischen Geistesgeschichte. Festschrift Gerhard Radke, pp. 102–115. Münster, 1986.
Häussler, Reinhard. Hera und Juno. Wiesbaden, 1995.
Pailler, Jean-Marie, "Quaestiunculae Dumezilianae. 1. Origines de Rome, trivalence féminine, hagiographie." Pallas 48 (1998): 203–224.
This is the complete article, containing 666 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
