[Artículo] Iuno Regina in Aeneid 12: Evocatio and Reconciliation

MARÍA EMILIA CAIRO

Mythos. Revista di Storia delle Religioni

Università degli Studi di Palermo

Lugar: Palermo; Año: 2021 vol. 15

1972-2516

This paper aims to examine the dialogue between Juno and Jupiter in Aen. 12.791-842 in terms of a rite of evocatio. The reconciliation of Juno with her husband has been analyzed by D. Feeney in his classic 1984 article, in which it is argued that in this passage Virgil follows the Ennian tradition, according to which Juno is finally placated by Scipio?s sacrifices at the end of the Third Punic War. In this passage it is possible to see an allusion not only to the Punic wars, but also to the conflicts between Rome and other Italian cities during its expansion in the Republican period ? in particular, to the episode of the conquest of the Etruscan city of Veii. It is argued here that this episode of evocatio is especially remembered in Aeneid 12, considering that in the second half of the poem Juno is described mostly as an Italian deity, and that in this dialogue she asks Jupiter for the preeminence of the Italian characters in the configuration of the future Roman identity.