Tursa Iovia, Boundary-Goddess of Jupiter
Umbrian · deity · Iguvine Umbrian religion; 3rd 1st c. BCE · Recorded classification
Tursa Iovia is the 'Jovian' aspect of the Umbrian boundary-goddess Tursa, attested in the oldest of the Iguvine Tablets (Tablets III and IV). She forms a paired deity with Tursa Çerfia: the two represent the goddess of fright and rout stationed at the city's augural boundaries, Tursa Çerfia invoked outside the sacred limit (pomerium) and Tursa Iovia within it. In this role she resembles the Roman boundary-god Terminus, marking and defending the augurally significant edges of Iguvium. Her epithet Iovia attaches this inner-boundary aspect to the sovereign sphere of Jupiter, just as Tursa Çerfia belongs to the circle of Çerfus Martius.
Domains
- boundary
- fear and rout
Powers
- to hold the inner sacred boundary of Iguvium and turn back what crosses it
Epithets
Relations
- twin sibling: Tursa Çerfia, Goddess of RoutDoublet of the same boundary goddess Tursa: Tursa Iovia is invoked within the pomerium and Tursa Çerfia outside it, the two forming a paired boundary-deity of the city's augural limits.Michael Weiss, Language and Ritual in Sabellic Italy (Brill, 2010), pp. 200-240. (secondary)
- subordinate to: Jupiter GraboviusHer epithet Iovia ('of Jupiter') assigns this aspect of the boundary-goddess to the sovereign sphere of Jupiter Grabovius.James W. Poultney, The Bronze Tables of Iguvium (1959), pp. 200-228. (secondary)
Sources
- Tursa Iovia (Umbrian Tursa Iovia) is the Jovian aspect of the Umbrian boundary-goddess Tursa at Iguvium, invoked within the sacred limit as the counterpart of Tursa Çerfia, recalling the Roman Terminus.: James W. Poultney, The Bronze Tables of Iguvium (American Philological Association / Oxford University Press, 1959). (secondary); Michael Weiss, Language and Ritual in Sabellic Italy: The Ritual Complex of the Third and Fourth Tabulae Iguvinae (Brill, 2010). (secondary)