A Roman general was exiled for driving four white horses, a privilege reserved for Jupiter
Jupiter's name literally means sky father, and for Rome he was far more than a thunder god. He embodied the authority of the state itself. So jealously was that power guarded that the celebrated general Camillus was sent into exile for riding in a chariot drawn by four white horses, an honour meant only for the god.
The Latin name combines old Italic words for day or sky and for father. Jupiter, also called Jove, began as a sky deity whose emblem was the thunderbolt and whose sacred bird was the eagle, which outranked all other birds when priests read omens and became a standard of the Roman army. Coins often combined the two symbols: an eagle clutching a thunderbolt. His tree was the oak, and Romans identified him with the Greek Zeus, making him brother to Neptune and Pluto.
Religion and politics were fused in his cult. As sky god he witnessed oaths, the bedrock of justice, and consuls swore their oath of office in his name. Each September they sacrificed a white ox with gilded horns on the Capitoline Hill, where he presided alongside Juno and Minerva. Victorious generals laid their trophies at the feet of his statue, and some scholars think the triumphant commander was effectively playing the god in the procession.
After Rome abolished its kings, any hint of wanting a crown counted as treason. Hence the fate of Camillus in the 5th century BC. Marcus Manlius, who had defended the Capitol against the Gauls, fared worse: accused of regal ambitions, he was thrown from the Tarpeian Rock, his house was demolished, and patricians were barred from ever living on that spot again.
Jupiter also served as a symbol of unity. When plebeians walked out of the city in their first secession, they later dedicated the hill where they had gathered to him as guarantor of the shared republic. Plebeians eventually won access to nearly every office, but Jupiter's high priest, the Flamen Dialis, stayed a patrician post. He and his wife had to marry through an exclusive rite involving an offering of spelt bread. Jupiter remained chief of the state religion until Christianity took over the empire.
Source: Jupiter (god)
