beware the Ides of January

Today (13th January) is the day of the Ides of January in the Roman calendar. The ‘ides’ are the mid-point of the month and the day of the full moon. However, the ides were sacred to the god Jupiter (Jove) and not to Luna or any other moon goddess. Jupiter was the primary god in the Roman pantheon of gods, the father of the gods, the king of heaven, the protector of Rome. He was the light-bringer, armed with thunder and lightning, associated with the full moon because then there was light both night and day. He had various names and functions, including that of ‘Jupiter Capitolinus’, who presided over the Roman games. On the ides of every month, a white animal (in January, a ram) was sacrificed by a priest in the temple of Jupiter (the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus or Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus) on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. The temple was dedicated on the Ides of April and Jupiter’s main festival was on the Ides of September. The Ides of October featured a two-horse chariot race on the Campus Martius in Rome.

Finds from Colchester associated with Jupiter include a nicolo intaglio in a silver ring which shows a seated Jupiter with a Cretan goat (held by C&I Museums); a bronze plaque with a dedication to Jupiter from the vicinity of the site of the four Roman temples at St Helena School; and a bronze figurine of Jupiter holding a thunderbolt, from St Mary’s Lodge, which was found in 1844 (held by C&I Museums).

The image is a drawing of the figurine of Jupiter from St Mary’s Lodge (from Archaeologia, xxxi, pp 446-7).

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