Jupiter was the supreme god of the Romans and Latins, familiar in at least some form to all Italic peoples.
As the god of the sky, Jupiter commanded lightning, thunder, storms, and the weather at large. Like Zeus, his Greek counterpart, Jupiter wielded thunderbolts as weapons. He was also a god of rain and was thus worshipped in connection with agriculture as the god who caused crops to grow.
But Jupiter was more than just a weather god. He was seen by the Romans as the god of order in the broadest sense, embodying and upholding the world order. For instance, as the god of divination (the process by which omens were deciphered by officials known as augurs), Jupiter guaranteed that the events predicted by observable omens came to pass.
By extension, Jupiter was also the god of the political and social order and the highest authority of the state. No surprise, then, that Roman emperors likened themselves to Jupiter from the time of Augustus onwards.
From Avi Kapach, Jupiter (https://mythopedia.com/topics/jupiter)
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Descendant of:
MYTHOLOGY AND THE CLASSICAL WORLDTexts with this theme:
- Dithyrambe, D 47, D 801 (Friedrich von Schiller)
- Amphiaraos, D 166 (Theodor Körner)
- Klage der Ceres, D 323 (Friedrich von Schiller)
- Die vier Weltalter, D 391 (Friedrich von Schiller)
- Lebens-Melodien, D 395 (August Wilhelm Schlegel)
- Ganymed, D 544 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Uraniens Flucht, D 554 (Johann Baptist Mayrhofer)
- Nach einem Gewitter, D 561 (Johann Baptist Mayrhofer)
- Prometheus, D 674 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Die Bürgschaft, D 246 (Friedrich von Schiller)