armor

Aegis of Jupiter

By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.

Description

Jupiter's aegis in Latin verse

Virgil and Ovid give Jupiter the aegis and the thunder as they give Minerva the Gorgon-shield: Greek Zeus and Athena in Capitoline dress. Vulcan as smith is Hephaestus under a Latin name. There is no separate Roman forging-myth that contradicts Homer; it is interpretatio Romana. Cult of Jupiter Optimus Maximus used thunderbolt types on coin and temple. A unique stored "Aegis of Jupiter" as a museum relic in the Capitoline temple is poetic, not an inventory we have. The shield is the king's fear-sign in epic Latin.

Primary Sources

“Jupiter shakes the aegis and hurls the thunder that orders the storm.”
Virgil, Aeneid (Jupiter's storm-gear; with Homeric aegis transferred)(c. 19 BCE)

Powers & Abilities

InvulnerabilityFear InducementDivine AuthorityStorm Summoning