Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/368

* JUPITER. 338 JUPITER. Zeus, was to the southeast of the Acropolis, near the llissus. Passing from Greeci' [iroixT, we linil in Crete a very extensive worsliip of Zeus which shows many traits pointing to early connection with Asia Minor, esjiecially Caria, and the wor- ship of Rhea-Cyl)ele, the great mother of the gods. Here the*go<l was born of Khea. and here concealed from his jealous father Cronus in a cave (cither the Dictean or Idcan) where he was suckled by the gnat Amalthca, while the armed Curetcs (the regular attendants of Rlica) danced and clashed their shields to drown his infant cries. Here, too, not far from Cnosus, was shown the grave of Zeus. Much here recalls the worsliip of Dionysus, and obviously contains a chthonie ele- ment. In general, the god was honored on lofty mountains, as is to be expected from his nature as a god of the sky, and also of lightning, for it is around the mountain-tops that the storm- clouds gather. The stories of the birth of Zeus, which have been already mentioned, appear even in Hesiod, who also tells of the overthrow of Cronus, and the establishment of the new dyna^y b3' Zeus. who, after hard struggles with the Titans and Giants, secures his supremacy. Jn general. the myths nbout Zeus are concerned chiefly with his numerous love affairs, either with goddesses or with mortals. In some of these we diiubtless have reminiscences of the association in worship of dilTcrent goddesses with the supreme god. he- fore the unification of religious views had estab- lished Hera as his legitimate consort. A large number, however, are due to the desire to trace Ihe descent of the heroes and nol)le families to the great god. Aio7tM}s. Zens-descended, is a com- mon Homeric eiiithet of the Acha-an princes. In art Zeus was usually represented as bearded and of majestic presence, llie artistic type was largely determined by the gieat gold and ivory statue of Phidias in the temple at Olympia, of which we can form but a slight notion from the late coins of Elis, and the description of Pausa- nias. A fine example of the later type is the well- known Zeus Otricoli in the Vatican. Consult: Overbeck. Clriechische Kunlstin/fhnlnijir und Atlas (T^eipzig, 1871 sqq.t; Preller-Uobert, Oriechisrhf: Mylholoriie (Berlin. 1887) ; and other works cited under Greek Eemgiox. Roman. .Juiiiter. under various forms of the name, was worshiped throughout all Italy, and his position as god of the heavens is made even plainer by the epithet Lucetius, 'bringer of light.' in Ihe hymn of the Salii. This aspect of the god is obvious in the earlier forms of his worship at Rome. The Ides, or day of the full moon, were sacred to .Tiipiter, and in his honor was cele- brated the festival connected with the vintage, apparently because the wine was espwially de- pendent on the god of heaven for its increase. The chief sanctuary in Rome was on the summit of the Capitol, where the god was worshiped with Juno and Minerva, as .Jupiter Optimns Jfaximns, and near by was an earlier chapel, said to have been dedicated by Romulus to .Tupiter Feretrius, which contained only a piece of flint as a sacred symbol, probably of the thunderbolt, whence the pod was also called .Tupiter Lapis. The same de- velopment of the all-seeing and all-powerful god of the heavens to be the protector and guardian of human rights and suppliants which occurred in Greece can also tie traced to Rome, where .Jupiter was also the gnanlian of oaths, and the protector of international relations, wherefore the Fetiales are especially connected with his cult. Here also we find Jupiter a god of battles, whose thunder- bolts might be drawn down upon the enemy, and to whom the general who had slain the hostile leader dedicated the spolia, opiuiu. Jupiter also revealed the future by sign.s, and on one of the summits of his sacred hill, the t'a]iitol. the ai- gurs had their station. That .Jupiter was widely worshi]X'd in the country as giver ol fair wc'ithcr and sciiilcr of the rain and storm is natural, but in the Roman State his chief imporUmce lie^ in the political cult at the Capitol, which came to be the religious centre of Roman rule. Closely connected with this was the worship of Jupiter hatiaris on the Alban Jlountun, where was a very ancient sanctuary, ap|>arently once the re- ligious centre of the Latin League. Consult: the article "Jupiter" in Koseher. Lcxiron ikr iii'i<Tli- isclioi utid romiscltC'H MytliolofiU' (Leipzig. IHttO- '.17) : Wissowa, Relifiion und Kullus dcr IHimvr, in iliiller, linndbuch der Klnssischcn Altcitiims- irissciiftchdft, iv. (Munich. 1902) : Preller-.Jordan, A'o»i).vf/u Mjithologie (Berlin. 1881). JUPITER. The largest planet in our solar system, having a mass nearly three times as great as the combined masses of all the other planets. Its orbit is about five and two-tenths times as far from the sun as that of the earth, or at a mean distance of 483. .3 millions of miles, and its eccentricity is considerable, the jjlanet's greatest and least distances from the solar centre varying between 4G2 and 504 millions of miles. The planet's mean distance from the earth when in opposition is about SCO million miles, and it moves around the sun in eleven of our years and 314.84 days, so that the interval between its returns to opposition has a mean value of 309 days, and its orbit is inclined to the ecli])tic about 1° 18' 41". The mean diameter is about 8fi.i500 miles, with a polar com|uession of about one-seventeenth, thus exceeding the earth in vol- ume a little over 1279 times. One of the dis- tinguishing features of the planet is the belt or stratified changeable band crossing the disk in a parallel direction with the plane of the orbit. The heft varies greatly, being at times narrow, while sometimes almost the whole disk is covered. ^Months will sometimes pass with- out any remarkable change in the telescopic apjK'arance of .Jupiter's surface, and then sud- denly considerable alterations will take place in a few hours. In addition to these changeable bands, more )x>rmanent spots sometimes api)ear. The 'Great Red Spot,' first seen in 1878, is the ' most important of these. It is still visible. But the rotation period of the planet c.nnnot be fixed very accurately from observations of (he spots. because none of them retains its position with sufficient permanence. The rotation is known, however, to take place in aliout 9 hours .55 min- utes. There can be no doubt but that atmosphere currents on .Jupiter materially affect his api>ear- ance in our telescopes. The inclination of .Jupiter's equator to the plane of his orbit is 3° 5'. which would fix the changes of the seasons within narrow limits, were the planet existing under circumstances resembling those of the earth : but as the tem- perature of .Jupiter is above redness (bow far above is not known), the sun's rays, at his im- mense distance, can hardly be taken as an ele- ment of the surface heat. Jupiter has five satellites or moons, as follows: