#and Servius notes that “highest of the gods” is a title given to Jupiter
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Speaking of coins, I think it's neat that we have a trinity of Apollos with uncommon characteristics:
Apollo Karneios with ram horns and ram ears, Apollo Soranus with a star diadem and a pick-axe and Apollo Vejovis with winged head, a trident and a dagger. (The last two are the results of his syncretism with Roman deities)
What's more fun about the coins of Apollo-Vejovis is that some of them put a thunderbolt under his bust or straight up show him holding it:
And I can't help but think of this being equivalent to a girl wearing her mom's makeup for the photo day
#apollo#look Apollo has already used thunderbolt in a couple of classical texts#I don't think Zeus would mind if his son borrowed it for a few minutes for a photoshoot#Okay jokes aside Vejovis is such an obscure deity (just like Soranus)#The explanation given by Gellius is that Jupiter/Jove is ultimately derived from “iuvare” which means “to help”#so Vejovis was the antithesis of Jove...doing the opposite of help#he was believed to bring harm with his arrows#So was also prayed upon to avert evils#hence his syncretism with Apollo#I also feel like they also just syncretised Jupiter with Apollo to some extent here#because soon after stating his identification with Apollo#Gellius has mentioned that a she-goat was sacrificed to Vejovius (yknow as a nod to Amalthea nursing Zeus/Jupiter#this also happens with Apollo Soranus actually#Soranus is conflated with Apollo and called the highest of the gods#and Servius notes that “highest of the gods” is a title given to Jupiter#so yeah it was a not a complete or even a direct syncretism but there was a line that connected them#and i find the implications very interesting#mine
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