Ivnones: An approach to their personality and geography of cult

Simón, Francisco Marco (2017) Ivnones: An approach to their personality and geography of cult. Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 57 (2-3). pp. 215-236. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

The epigraphic expression of plural female divinities, represented sometimes in triads, is a feature of Romano-Celtic realms. This is the case of the Matres and Matronae, as well as the Fortunae, with epithets expressing the local identity of the divine personality – or of their cult group – in an increasingly globalized world such as the Roman Empire. In this context, my aim is to focus on the Iunones. We have about 70 inscriptions dedicated to these deities, sometimes appearing with the epitet Augustae, others as Matronae, Montanae, Domesticae, Suleviae, associated with other deities such as IOM, Hercules, Genius Loci or the Augustorum Numina, or assimilated to the Gabiae. The sacred geography of the Iunones includes Italy (with a higher density in Venetia and Histria, but with manifestations in Transpadana, Umbria, Aemilia, Latium and Campania), but they are also testamented in diverse provinces of Celtic tradition, such as Germania Inferior, Noricum, Belgium, Aquitania, Lugdunensis or Narbonensis. The analysis of individual or collective dedicants, the activities commemorated in the altars, and the processes that make visible – at a regional or local level – these goddesses in theonyms related to the Roman Iuno, are the aims of this paper.

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