Due divinità di Falerii Veteres: Giunone Curite e Minerva Capta

This paper presents an in-depth investigation of the characteristics of two important goddesses in Falerii Veteres, namely Giunone Curite and Minerva Capta. This study focuses on the relationship of both goddesses with the Roman ritual of evocatio, a ritual performed by invading forces to deprive the besieged enemy towns of their tutelary deities. It was often assumed that these two Faliscan goddesses were subjected to this rite. Giunone Curite was the goddess of Falerii; the grandiosity of her temple was described by Ovid and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, among others. Giunone Curite was probably invoked following a riot in 241 BC. In Rome, her cult was celebrated in the Campo Marzio. The question of Minerva Capta raises a thorny issue : was it possible to take gods prisoner? The first meaning of her epithet (the Captives) suggests that the Goddess had been seized. However, it is more likely that she was already known in Rome, because of religious influences there of Doric origins.