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Vejovis or Vejove (Latin: Vēiovis or Vēdiovis; rare Vēive or Vēdius) was a Roman god of Etruscan origins (Etruscan: 𐌔𐌉𐌕𐌄𐌅, romanized: Vetis, or 𐌔𐌉𐌅𐌉𐌄𐌅, Veivis).
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| O: Diademed bust of Vejovis hurling thunderbolt | R: Minerva with javelin and shield riding quadriga |
| Silver denarius struck in Rome 84 BC
ref.: Licinia 16; sear5 #274; Cr354/1; Syd 732 | |
Vejovis was portrayed as a young man, holding a bunch of arrows (or lightning bolts), or a pilum, in his hand, and accompanied by a goat. Romans believed that Vejovis was one of the first gods to be born. He was a god of healing, and became associated with the Greek Asclepius.[1] He was mostly worshipped in Rome and Bovillae in Latium. On the Capitoline Hill and on the Tiber Island, temples were erected in his honour.[2]
Though he was associated with volcanic eruptions, his original role and function is obscured to us.[3] He is occasionally identified with Apollo and young Jupiter.[4][5]
Aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae, written around 177 CE,[6] speculated that Vejovis was an 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 Vejovis as the anti-Jove.
Temple
He had a temple between the two peaks of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where his statue carried a bundle of arrows and stood next to a statue of a she-goat.
Sacrifices
In spring, multiple goats were sacrificed to him to avert plagues. Gellius informs us that Vejovis received the sacrifice of a female goat, sacrificed ritu humano;[7] this obscure phrase could either mean "after the manner of a human sacrifice" or "in the manner of a burial."[8] These offerings were less about the animal sacrificed and more about the soul sacrificed.
Vejovis had three festivals in the Roman Calendar: on 1 January, 7 March, and 21 May.[9]
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