Jupiter

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 54788
Date: 2008-03-07

Here's what Wikipedia has to say (1st section)
Note that Jupiter held the same role as Zeus --i.e.
Jupiter had been assimilated to Zeus. Note the Greek
title Soter. This is, of course, after the Romans had
assimilated much of Greek culture.

In Roman mythology, Jupiter (Iuppiter in Latin) held
the same role as Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was
called Juppiter Optimus Maximus Soter (Jupiter Best,
Greatest, Saviour); as the patron deity of the Roman
state, he ruled over laws and social order. He was the
chief god of the Capitoline Triad, with Juno and
Minerva. In Latin mythology Jupiter is the father of
Mars. Therefore, Jupiter is the grandfather of Romulus
and Remus, the founders of Rome.
Iuppiter, originating in a vocative compound derived
from archaic Latin Iovis and pater (Latin for father),
was also used as the nominative case. Jove[1] is a
less common English formation based on Iov-, the stem
of oblique cases of the Latin name. Additionally,
linguistic studies identify his name as deriving from
the Indo-European compound *dyēus- pəter-
("O Father God"), the Indo-European deity from whom
also derive the Germanic *Tiwaz (from whose name comes
the word Tuesday), the Greek Zeus, and the Vedic
equivalent, Dyaus Pita.



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