Juno

Juno Regina

Juno is queen of the Roman gods and the protector of married women, but she is also a civic goddess. As Juno Regina she sat on the Capitol with Jupiter and Minerva. As Juno Moneta she kept a temple on the Arx whose name still sits inside the word "money," because the mint later worked nearby. As Juno Sospita she came from Lanuvium in goatskin and armed, a savior as much as a wife.

Marriage and the state

The Matronalia on March 1 honored her as guardian of Roman wives. Myth makes her sister and spouse of Jupiter, jealous in the Greek manner when poets want that color. Cult practice is cooler and more public: women, colonies, and the city's own well-being all fall inside her brief.

Not Hera in Latin

She shares myths with Hera, including the difficult marriage to the sky king. She also has Latin faces Hera never wore. Lucina at childbirth, Curitis with the spear, the warning geese of her temple during the Gallic sack: these are Roman stories attached to Juno, not footnotes to Olympus.