ROMAN MYTHOLOGY AND SAGA 629archaic figure-eight shape; since it was a talisman of Roman power, Numa had
eleven others made exactly like it, so that it would be hard to steal the genuine
ancile. The twelve ancilia were kept in the Regia (the office of the Pontifex Max-
imus, the official head of the hierarchy of the state religion)^2 and were used by
the priests of Mars, the Salii, in the sacred war dance they performed each spring.
As they danced, they sang an ancient hymn containing the words mamuri veturi,
whose meaning had long since been forgotten. According to tradition, the crafts-
man who made the eleven false ancilia was named Mamurius, who asked for
his name to be included in the hymn as a reward.
The many titles of Jupiter indicate his supreme importance in all matters of
the state's life in war and peace. As Jupiter Latiaris, he was the chief god of the
Latins, worshiped by the Romans in an annual ceremony upon the Mons Al-
banus (the modern Monte Cavo) twenty miles from Rome. As the god before
whom the most solemn oaths were sworn, he was closely associated with the
goddess Fides (Good Faith) and identified with the old Sabine god Dius Fidius.
Oaths sworn by Dius Fidius had to be sworn under the open sky (Jupiter's realm).
The Latin deity Semo Sancus (the name comes from the same root as sandre, the
Latin word for ratifying an oath) is also identified with Dius Fidius and Jupiter.
Another title of Jupiter is Indiges, by which he was worshiped near the river
Numicus. The word Indiges has never been explained. It evidently refers to a
state god, and the Di Indigetes were a well-known group of gods whose exact
role remains unknown. Livy believed that Aeneas was worshiped as Jupiter In-
diges after his death beside the river Numicus. Ovid tells the story (Metamor-
phoses 14. 598-608):f
[Venus] came to the shore at Laurentum, where the waters of the river Numi-
cus, concealed by reeds, wind into the nearby sea. She commanded the river to
wash away from Aeneas all that was mortal and to carry it away silently into
the sea. The horned river-god performed the commands of Venus and purified
all that was mortal of Aeneas and cleansed it with his waters. The best part of
Aeneas remained. His mother [Venus] anointed the purified body with divine
perfume; she touched his face with ambrosia and sweet nectar and made him a
god. Him the people of Quirinus [i.e., the Romans] hailed as "Indiges," and re-
ceived him with a temple and altars.JUNO
Juno, the second member of the Capitoline triad, was originally an independent
Italian deity who presided over every aspect of the life of women. She was es-
pecially associated with marriage and (as Juno Lucina) childbirth. The festival
of Juno Lucina, the Matronalia, was celebrated in March as a spring festival,
when all nature was being renewed. Juno was also worshiped as Juno Moneta
on the Arx (Citadel), the northern peak of the Capitoline Hill. Moneta means
"adviser" (from the same root as the Latin word monere), but the word survives