The Flickr Capitolinetriad Image Generatr

Closeup of the colossal head and torso of Jupiter Capitolinus - one of the Capitoline Triad, with Juno and Minerva - is made of white marble. However, as it was an acrolith, the bulk of the body, save the limbs, would have been made from wood (painted and/or covered in bronze or fabric clothing). The god would have been seated on a throne holding a scepter and a thunderbolt, conforming to the image of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the cult statue of the temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.

Roman, from the Capitolium (temple of the Capitoline Triad) in Cumae, Italy. 1st century CE.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

Remains of three colossal acrolithic statues of the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. They were worshipped at the main temple of Cumae, based on the model established on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, with a triple cella, one for each god.

The statue of Jupiter would have been seated on a throne holding a scepter and a thunderbolt, conforming to that of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the cult statue of the temple on the Capoline Hill. The head of Minerva wore a tight-fitting helmet from which her hair emerged underneath, as seen here (without the long-lost bronze helmet - possibly mixed with other metals like gold, silver, or copper). The iconography of this Minerva draws on the statue of Athena made by the Athenian sculptor Eubulides (2nd century BCE).

As these were acroliths, only the head and the limbs were made of marble; the remaining parts of the body were made of painted wood, or were covered in clothing.

Cumae, Capitolium, 1st century CE.

Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli

From the House of the Golden Cupids (Casa degli Amorini Dorati) in Pompeii, three bronze enthroned statuettes representing the Capitoline triad: Minerva, Jupiter, and Juno. According to excavation notes, these bronzes - along with a bronze of Mercury and two lares - were found intact on the lararium (household shrine) in the north portico (not to be confused with the domestic shrine with Egyptian imagery).

Roman religion was essentially a religion of the pater familias, the male head of the household, and farmers: it was therefore closely linked to the life cycles of the land and specific family cults. The fulcrum of these domestic cults was the house itself which was felt to be protected by immanent forces: the Penates, the tutelary deities of food provisions, the Lares, the protectors of the household, the family and stability and the Manes, the souls of deceased ancestors. There were also the official deities of the public cult such as Jupiter, Juno and Minerva and many others.

The male members of the household had their own special protector (genius), often depicted as a snake or a man clad in a toga, an allusion to the continuity of the family line. Religion marked every event in family life, from birth to matrimony. Each day prayers were said to the family's tutelary deities, rituals were performed around the fire or on the household altar of the Lares (lararium) which was decorated with wreaths or garlands of flowers on feast days.

1st century CE. Pompeii, House of the Golden Cupids (Casa degli Amorini Dorati, VI 16, 7)

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (invs. 133325, 133323, and 133324)

An awe-inspiring day among the ruins of Rome's ancient port city

An awe-inspiring day among the ruins of Rome's ancient port city

A travertine marker, or cippus, that depicts, from left, Minerva, Jupiter, and Juno, the sacred triad of the Capitoline Hill, worshipped in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. The details of the figures are only roughed out; travertine is not generally used for figurative sculpture due to its porosity.
Dated to the beginning of the third century A.D./CE (Severan Period).
Provenance is unknown.
National Museum ("Terme" Museum, Rome; inv. 534)
RBU2011.8767

Detail of a travertine marker, or cippus, that depicts, from left, Minerva, Jupiter, and Juno, the sacred triad of the Capitoline Hill, worshipped in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Minerva holds her right arm to her helmet; Jupiter appears to wear a slight smile, possibily a deliberate archaic feature but one that serves as well to indicate a benign nature.Dated to the beginning of the third century A.D./CE (Severan Period).Provenance is unknown.National Museum ("Terme" Museum, Rome; inv. 534)RBU2011.8768

At the center of this panel from the attic level of the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum, Italy, is the Capitoline Triad of Jupiter (extending a thunderbolt in his right hand), Minerva (directly behind him) and his wife Juno (viewer's right). The scene is framed by Hercules (left, with his club) and Mercury (right). Jupiter appears to be handing off his bolt to Trajan (not visible) who is depicted in the panel to the right of the central inscription. RBU2007.3709.

The Capitoline Triad (from left: Minerva (with aegis), Jupiter holding a thunderbolt), and Juno), an altar from the Rheinisches LandesMuseum Bonn, inv. U.10.

The most important state cult in Rome, that of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and the sacred "triad" of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, was honored in the provinces. This small statue group was exhibited in the archaeological museum of Trier in 2006.

Sculpted relief depicting a pediment with the sacred Capitoline triad: Jupiter (center), Juno (left, with the veil of a married woman), and Minerva (right; note her round shield next to her throne). These three deities were worshipped together in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome. Museo Nazionale, Rome (collections of the Universita' di Roma). Second century.

Sculpted relief depicting a pediment with the sacred Capitoline triad: Jupiter (center), Juno (left), and Minerva (right). Castor and Pollux at the edges (Dioscuri). now in the Museo Nazionale (Terme Museum), Rome (from the collections of the Universita' di Roma). Second century.