Jupiter, called the father of gods and men, was the founder of kingly power, the patron of rulers, and the establisher of law, order, and justice.  All good and evil sprang alike from him.  To every mortal he assigned his earthly share of sorrow and prosperity.  He was armed with thunder and lightning; the shaking of his shield produced the storm.  he was the god of weather, especially rain.  A great eagle crouched before him waiting to be his messenger.  The oak, monarch of trees, was sacred to him; and some believed that by listening to the whispering of its leaves, one might guess the mind of Jove.

    Beside him sat his wide and consort Juno.  When she spoke her mind, Jupiter listened to her with respect, and she knew all his secrets.  yet she was inferior to him in power and had to obey him.  She was the goddess of marriage, and her appearance was that of a beautiful and majestic woman of middle age, with a wide forehead, large and attractive eyes, and a grave expression commanding reverence.  Her head was adorned with a crown, and a veil hung behind her head.  The peacock, in its gorgeous array, and the cuckoo, herald of the springtime, were sacred to her.  Her constant attendant was Iris, goddess of the rainbow.  Juno was not very amiable, and was jealous of Jupiter, whose favorites she sometimes persecuted.

    Vesta, the sister of Jove, was the goddess of home fire and the hearth; she was the guardian of family life.  She was wooed by several of the gods, but jupiter decreed that she must forever remain unmarried.  Her sacred fire burned on every hearthstone; and inasmuch as a town or village was actually an extended family, there was in every ancient Roman and Greek community a public hearth, blazing with the holy flames of Vesta and tended by her priestesses, the Vestal Virgins.  When emigrants set forth to found a new settlement, they took with them part of the fire from this hearth and used it to kindle the hearth in their new homes.