Talk:Iuna Pythia/@comment-36836718-20190220130347/@comment-36277500-20190318203821

I don't know either. Juno was patron of marriage and wives, but also women at all. And according to Roman/Greek/Egyptian theology, she was more appropriate to be compared to Isis than Ceres. Jupiter and Juno (like Zeus and Hera) were celestial king and queen, such as Osiris and Isis. But it would be awkward in the book, priestess named Iuna in Iuno's temple. So author had chosen Ceres' temple instead... Or maybe just goddess of fruitfulness befitted better, than goddess-queen, to the picture of Great Mother.

To mess with it even more, early ancient Romans didn't identify their gods with Greek gods yet - it happened later. Early Roman gods didn't have solidified identity, and their statues had inscriptions like "whether are you a god or a goddess, a man or a woman, I worship you". Even after assimilating Greek myths, Romans weren't so meticulous about their gods' identities. So it wouldn't be hard for one goddess to step into other goddess' boots.

To make even more mess: Romans in 2th century BC adapted also Anatolian (Turkey) goddess Cybele - another Great Mother...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology

Also: I never spotted name Iuna in literature, but there existed Roman names like Iunius/Junius and Iunia/Junia, derived from Lucius Junius Brutus (one of Roman Republic's founders in 6th century BC, and ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus - Caesar's illegitimate son and killer).

https://www.behindthename.com/name/junius

https://www.behindthename.com/name/juno

Strange, huh?

If you are interested in Roman and ancient mythology, I advise you to read Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough - it's about religions and their origins.