Janus was the great god of the Sabines, and his most ancient temple appears to have been on Mount Janiculum[277].  The altar of Fontus, son of Janus, and the tomb of Numa, a Sabine king, were both supposed to be there.  Ovid also[278] makes Janus say that the Janiculum was his citadel.  Ampere remarks as a curious coincidence, that this god, represented with a key in his hand, as the heavenly gate-keeper, should have his home on the hill close to the Vatican, where is the tomb of Peter, who also bears a key with the same significance.  The same writer regards the Sabines as inhabiting the hills of Rome before the Pelasgi came and gave this name of Roma (meaning “strength”) to their small fortress on one side of the Palatine.

In every important city of Etruria there were temples to the three gods, JUPITER, JUNO, and MINERVA.  In like manner, the magnificent temple of the Capitol at Rome consisted of three parts,—­a nave, sacred to Jupiter; and two wings or aisles, one dedicated to Juno and the other to Minerva.  This temple was nearly square, being two hundred and fifteen feet long and two hundred feet wide; and the wealth accumulated in it was immense.  The walls and roof were of marble, covered with gold and silver.

JUPITER, the chief god of Rome, according to most philologists, derives his name (like the Greek [Greek:  Zeos]) from the far-away Sanskrit word “Div” or “Diu,” indicating the splendor of heaven or of day.  Ju-piter is from “Djaus-Pitar,” which is the Sanskrit for Father of Heaven, or else from “Diu-pitar,” Father of Light.  He is, at all events, the equivalent of the Olympian Zeus.  He carries the lightning, and, under many appellations, is the supreme god of the skies.  Many temples were erected to him in Rome, under various designations.  He was called Pluvius, Fulgurator, Tonans, Fulminator, Imbricitor, Serenator,—­from the substantives designating rain, lightning, thunder, and the serene sky.  Anything struck with lightning became sacred, and was consecrated to Jupiter.  As the supreme being he was called Optimus Maximus, also Imperator, Victor, Invictus, Stator, Praedator, Triumphator, and Urbis Custos.  And temples or shrines were erected to him under all these names, as the head of the armies, and commander-in-chief of the legions; as Conqueror, as Invincible, as the Turner of Flight, as the God of Booty, and as the Guardian of the City.  There is said to have been in Rome three hundred Jupiters, which must mean that Jupiter was worshipped under three hundred different attributes.  Another name of this god was Elicius, from the belief that a method existed of eliciting or drawing down the lightning; which belief probably arose from an accidental anticipation of Dr. Franklin’s famous experiment.  There were no such myths told about Jupiter as concerning the Greek Zeus.  The Latin deity was a much more solemn person, his whole time occupied with the care of the city and state.  But traces of his origin as a ruler of the atmosphere remained rooted in language; and the Romans, in the time of Augustus, spoke familiarly of “a cold Jupiter,” for a cold sky, and of a “bad Jupiter,” for stormy weather.