The Temple of Juno Moneta (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Templum Iunonis Monetæ) was an ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

temple that stood on the Arx or the citadel on the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

overlooking the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

. Located at the center of the city of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, it was next to the place where Roman coins were first minted, and probably stored the metal and coins involved in this process, thereby initiating the ancient practice of associating mints with temples. In addition, it was the place where the books of the magistrates were deposited.

Etymology

Juno Moneta In Roman mythology, Moneta (Latin Monēta) was a title given to two separate goddesses: It was the name of the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek goddess Mnemosyne), and it was an epithet of Juno, called Juno Moneta (Latin Iūno Mon� ...

, the second name associating the Roman goddess Juno with the goddess Moneta who was worshiped at some locations outside Rome, was regarded as the protectress of the city's funds. Money was coined in her temple for over four centuries, before the mint was moved to a new location near the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphi ...

during the reign of the emperor

Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...

. Thus, moneta came to mean "

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

" (''mint'' itself being a corruption of ''moneta'') in Latin, which was used in written works of ancient Roman writers such as

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

, and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, and was the origin of the English words "monetary" and "money". Cicero suggests that the name Moneta was derived from the Latin verb ''monere'' (to warn) because during an earthquake, a voice from the temple had demanded the expiatory sacrifice of a pregnant sow. The same derivation is implied by the story of the sacred geese of Juno, who warned the Roman commander Marcus Manlius of the approach of the

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

during a night attack on the Capitoline in 390 BC. As the Roman historian

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

tells the story: Most modern scholars reject this etymology, however, because it is clear that Moneta was the name of a goddess who was worshiped in some places outside Rome, and when her worship was transferred to Rome, she was equated with Juno. Moneta is also a name used for

Mnemosyne In Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion, Mnemosyne (; , ) is the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses by her nephew Zeus. In the Greek tradition, Mnemosyne is one of the Titans, the twelve divine children of the earth-godde ...

, mother of the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

s, by

Livius Andronicus Lucius Livius Andronicus (; ; ) was a Greco-Roman dramatist and epic poet of the Old Latin period during the Roman Republic. He began as an educator in the service of a noble family, producing Latin translations of Greek works, including Homer ...

in his translation of the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

, and Hyginus' citation of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

and

Moneta In Roman mythology, Moneta (Latin Monēta) was a title given to two separate goddesses: It was the name of the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Mnemosyne), and it was an epithet of Juno (mythology), Juno, ca ...

as parents of the muses. The name Mnemosyne or Memory was connected to Juno Moneta who maintained in her temple an unimpeachable record of historical events.

History

According to Livy, in 345 BC, at the beginning of hostilities with the

Aurunci The Aurunci were an Italic tribe that lived in southern Italy from around the 1st millennium BC. They were eventually defeated by Rome and subsumed into the Roman Republic during the second half of the 4th century BC. Identity Aurunci is the n ...

, the dictator Lucius Furius Camillus decided to summon the aid of the gods by vowing to build a temple to Juno Moneta. When he returned victorious to Rome, the senate appointed two commissioners to construct the temple on the Arx, on the site of the house of Marcus Manlius, who had repelled the attack of the Gauls a generation earlier. The temple was dedicated one year after the vow.

in the ''Fasti'' records the same tradition: The temple stored the

Libri Lintei The , also known as the linen rolls, were a collection of books in ancient Rome written on linen, a technique attributed to the Etruscans. The Roman Linen Rolls have not survived to recent times. They are known primarily from references to them in ...

, the records of annually elected consuls, dating from 444 BC to 428 BC. From 273 BC, Roman silver mint and its workshops were attached to the temple. Moneta's guardianship of Roman coinage encouraged Roman moneyers to use this means as a true record for glorifying their families by commemorating heroic family legends. Aracoeli-fachada

If still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. According to legend, it was here that the Roman

sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...

foretold the coming of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

to the emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, who was granted a heavenly vision of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

standing on an altar holding the Christ child. Augustus supposedly built an altar on the spot – the altar of heaven or ''ara coeli'' – and the church of

Santa Maria in Aracoeli Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

rose around it. The original structure cannot possibly date back to the time of Augustus (Rome did not become officially Christian until the 4th century), but by the 6th century the existing church was already considered old. It was later rebuilt, with the present structure dating from the 13th century.

Location

Ancient sources agree that the temple was constructed on the Arx, the northern of the two peaks of the Capitoline hill (''summa ... in arce'', according to Ovid, ''Fasti'' 6.183), but no remains of the building have been certainly identified and its precise location has been described as "one of the great enigmas in the topography of ancient Rome".L. Richardson, Jr.
''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome''
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, p. 215, s.v. Iuno Moneta, Aedes. Some scholars believe that it stood on the site now occupied by the church of

, although ancient walls discovered in the cellars beneath the church appear to belong chiefly to shops and houses.A. Claridge
''Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide''
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 1998, pp. 263–264, 273. Others have argued that the temple was situated in the garden to the southeast of the church, where other walls of tufa and concrete are visible.G. Giannelli, "Il tempio di Giunone Moneta e la casa di Marco Manlio Capitolino", ''Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma'' 87, 1980-1981, pp. 7-36. .A. Ziolkowski, "Between Geese and the ''Auguraculum'': The Origin of the Cult of Juno on the Arx", ''Classical Philology'' 88, 1993, pp. 206-219. . Although Roman tradition placed the founding of the temple in the 4th century BC, two fragments of Archaic

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

decoration found in the garden suggest the existence of an earlier building dating to the late 6th or early 5th century, although whether it represents an earlier phase of the temple is unclear.

References

{{Rome landmarks 4th-century BC religious buildings and structures 4th-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic

Temples of Juno Destroyed temples Destroyed Roman temples

Etymology

History

Location

See also

References