Pagan Festival Shout Out: Capitoline Triad

The Capitoline Triad refers to the  three supreme deities worshipped at this time by ancient Romans, consisting of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva and drawing on Etruscan mythology. Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were honored in temples known as Capitolia, which were built on hills and other prominent areas in many cities in Italy and the provinces, particularly during the Augustan and Julio-Claudian periods.

These three were worshipped in the great joint temple on the Capitoline Hill of Rome, usually called the temple of the Capitoline Triad or the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Bestest and Greatest Jupiter"), as His was the central of the three cellae (temple chambers). This temple had very ancient origins—tradition ascribes it to Tarquinius Priscus, an early King of Rome said to have ruled in the late 6th century BCE and considered more legendary than historic. Juno had Her cella to the left, Minerva to the right; and in this temple were also two smaller shrines to the God Terminus and Goddess Iuventas, who had been a part of a sanctuary to multiple Gods formerly on the site and who refused to move! Each of the Triad had Her/His own hearth-altar, and though it is not known for sure what the cult-statues of Juno and Minerva looked like, they were probably of the same style and early date as Jupiter's, which was of Etruscan workmanship and made in terracotta.