Ancient Roman religionIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter (or Diespiter) Optimus Maximus ("Father God the Best and Greatest"); 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 sister/wife Juno. In Latin mythology Jupiter is the father of the god Mars with Juno. Therefore, Jupiter is the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. He is also the father of Persephone, and disputedly the father of Mercury. Jupiter was venerated in ancient Roman religion, and is still venerated in Roman Neopaganism. He is the son of Saturn, with brothers Neptune and Pluto. [1][2][3]
Older forms of the deity's name in Rome were Djeus-pater (“day/sky-father”), then Diéspiter. Djeus is the etymological equivalent of Greece's Zeus and of the Teutonics' Ziu, gen. Ziewes. The Indo-European deity is thus the god from which the Greek Zeus and the Vedic Dyaus Pita are derived.
The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter, and was the original namesake of Latin forms of the weekday now known in English as Thursday[6] but originally called Iovis Dies in Latin, giving rise to jeudi in French, jueves in Spanish, joi in Romanian, giovedì in Italian, dijous in Catalan, Xoves in Galego, Joibe in Furlan.
