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Prayers to Juno

12 prayers

Juno is addressed in two capacities that rarely meet in one text: Juno Regina, the state goddess of the Capitoline triad, called out of Veii in the ritual of evocatio; and Juno Lucina, whom women invoked at childbirth and to whom they brought the offerings of the Matronalia.

What is asked
Fontes · Sources
  • Anonymous · CIL, Acta ludorum saecularium2
  • Livy · Ab Urbe Condita2
  • Apuleius · Metamorphoses1
  • Cato · De Agricultura1
  • Plautus · Amphitryon1
  • Seneca · Hercules on Oeta1
  • Silius Italicus · Punica1
  • Tibullus · Elegiae1
  • Valerius Flaccus · Argonautica1
  • Virgil · Aeneid1
In the sources
Iuno · Juno
The name as each source prints it.
Orationes · The texts
  1. 001

    The oath of Aeneas and Latinus

    Virgil · Aeneid · 12.176-82; 197-211

    May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty Father, and you his consort (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you, O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call. By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how things happen, nothing shall divert my will, not even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus.

    RomanOathInvocation
  2. 002

    Prayer to Juno

    Apuleius · Metamorphoses · 6.4

    O spouse and sister of Mighty Jupiter, whether You are worshipped and adored in the public rites of the temples of Samos, or whether You are called upon singularly by women in their tearful moment of giving birth, Your glory is nourished. Famous among the Argives whose walls You defend, You who all the east venerates as Life-giving Zygia, who all the west names Lucina, may You be an advocate for me against my utter downfall, Juno Sospita, and endure until the end in all my weary labors, exhausted as I am, deliver me from imminent peril and free me from my fears, for I know You are accustomed to come of Your own accord to the assistance of such women who are pregnant and in danger.

    RomanPetitionInvocation
  3. 003

    Prayer to Juno

    Anonymous · CIL, Acta ludorum saecularium · VI 32323, Iuno Regina

    Juno Regina, as it is prescribed for you in those books, let sacrifice be made to You with a fine cow. I beg and pray that You may increase the sovereign power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites, in war and peace; as You have always watched over us among the Latins. Forever may You grant safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  4. 004

    Prayer to Juno

    Anonymous · CIL, Acta ludorum saecularium · VI 32323, CX matres familias

    Juno Regina, if there is any better fortune that may attend the Roman people, the Quirites, we one hundred and ten mistresses of households of the Roman people, the Quirites, married women on bended knee, pray that You bring it about, we beg and beseech that You increase the power and majesty of the Roman people, the Quirites in war and peace; and that the Latins may always be obedient; and that You may grant eternal safety, victory and health to the Roman people, the Quirites.

    RomanPetition
  5. 005

    Prayer to Juno

    Silius Italicus · Punica · 7.78-85

    Be present O Queen of the Heavenly Gods, we Your chaste daughters pray and bring forth this venerable gift, we, all the Roman women of noble name, have woven this mantle with our own hands, embroidered it for You with threads of gold. This veil You shall wear for now, Juno, until we mothers grow less tearful for our sons. But if You will grant that we may repel these African storm clouds from our land, we shall set upon You a flashing crown of diverse gems set in gold.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  6. 006

    Prayer to Ceres

    Cato · De Agricultura · 134

    Ceres Mater, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willing be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household. Ceres Mater, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honored by this portion of wine I pour.

    RomanPetitionDedication
  7. 007

    Prayer to Apollo and Juno

    Livy · Ab Urbe Condita · 5.21.2-3

    Pythian Apollo, inspired by You and Your guiding influence I go forth to destroy the city of Veii. A tenth part of its spoils I devote to You. Likewise for You, Juno Regina, who in Veii now dwells, I pray, that after our victory You will follow us to our City, that soon will become Your City as well, where a holy precinct worthy of Your dignity will be built to receive You.

    RomanPetitionDedicationOath
  8. 008

    Prayer to Jupiter

    Livy · Ab Urbe Condita · 6.16.1

    Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina, Minerva, and all you other gods and goddesses who dwell upon the Capitolium and the Arx, is this how you allow your defender, the protector of your shrines, to be treated, to be vexed and harassed by his enemies in this manner? Shall this right arm which drove the Gauls headlong from your shrines now be bound and chained?

    RomanPetitionOath
  9. 009

    Alcmena's oath

    Plautus · Amphitryon · 831-834

    By the Highest Gods ruling in the heavens, by Juno, too, She whom most of all I fear and venerate, I swear that no mortal man has ever come near enough to touch me or in any way impugn upon my chastity or has given me cause for shame.

    RomanOath
  10. 010

    Prayer to Juno

    Seneca · Hercules on Oeta · 256-262

    Wherever You may be in the ethereal regions, O wife of Jupiter Tonans, send a wild beast against Alcides as may satisfy my need. If a serpent moves through the marsh with a fruitful head, more vast than all others born in this region, if a feral beast lives that is so immense, so dire, so horrible that Hercules Himself would avert His eye, let this beast come forth from some vast cave.

    RomanPetition
  11. 011

    Prayer to Juno

    Valerius Flaccus · Argonautica · 1.80-90

    Almighty Queen of Heaven, remember when Jupiter made the skies grow wild with black clouds and sheets of rain; remember when Thundering Jupiter commanded Your return to the marriage bed, and how You, frightened with sudden capture and at being left destitute following Your rape, sought only how to flee; remember how it was I who carried You upon my shoulders across the storm swollen Enipeus. Grant, Juno, that I may arrive safely to Scythia where the Phasis flows.

    RomanPetition
  12. 012

    Prayer to Diana and Juno

    Tibullus · Elegiae · 3.12.1-8

    Accept, O natal Juno, this offering of incense. Cheerfully, O Lucina, she has come to adorn Your shrine of matrons. Come, most chaste Queen of Heaven, appear in royal robes and nod Your assent to the wine that is poured and the cakes piled high to await You. With You bring every herb for ending pain, and soothing songs to sing; across the ocean from distant shores bear such herbs as will cure our most severe ills, or whatever else we most fear. Rack this girl no more with pain, or cruelly delay her birthing.

    RomanPetitionInvocationDedication
Invoked alongside
Jupiter3Apollo2Diana2Janus2Ceres1Dis Pater1Earth1Mars1Minerva1Sol1the Manes1
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