Veiovis
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In Etruscan and Roman mythology Veiovis, Veive or Vediovis, was an old Italian or Etruscan deity.
Aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae, speculated that Veiovis was the inverse or ill-omened counterpart of Jupiter; compare Summanus. Aulus Gellius observes that the particle ve- that prefixes the name of the god also appears in Latin words such as vesanus, "insane," and thus interprets the name Veiovis as the anti-Jove. Aulus Gellius also informs us that Veiovis received the sacrifice of a female goat, sacrificed ritu humano;[1] this obscure phrase could either mean "after the manner of a human sacrifice" or "in the manner of a burial."[2]
He has been identified with Apollo, with the infant Jupiter, and as the Anti-Jupiter (i.e. the Jupiter of the Lower World) as suggested by his name. In art, he was depicted as a youth holding a laurel wreath and some arrows, next to a goat. He had a temple between the two peaks of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where his statue had a beardless head and carried a bundle of arrows in his right hand. It stood next to a statue of a goat. He was probably a god of expiation and the protector of runaway criminals. Sacrifices were made to him annually on March 7.
[edit] References
- ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, book 5, section 12
- ^ Adkins and Adkins, Dictionary of Roman Religion (Facts On File, 1996) ISBN 0-8160-3005-7
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