His wife, the Flaminica Dialis, had her own duties, and presided over the sacrifice of a ram to Jupiter on each of the nundinae, the "market" days of a calendar cycle, comparable to a week. Jupiter was served by the patrician Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the flamines, a college of fifteen priests in the official public cult of Rome, each of whom was devoted to a particular deity.
Plebeians eventually became eligible for all the magistracies and most priesthoods, but the high priest of Jupiter ( Flamen Dialis) remained the preserve of patricians. When they agreed to come back to Rome they vowed the hill where they had retreated to Jupiter as symbol and guarantor of the unity of the Roman res publica. During their first secessio (similar to a general strike), they withdrew from the city and threatened to found their own. ĭuring the Conflict of the Orders, Rome's plebeians demanded the right to hold political and religious office. Capitoline Jupiter represented a continuity of royal power from the Regal period, and conferred power to the magistrates who paid their respects to him. His house on the Capitoline Hill was razed, and it was decreed that no patrician should ever be allowed to live there. When Marcus Manlius, whose defense of the Capitol against the invading Gauls had earned him the name Capitolinus, was accused of regal pretensions, he was executed as a traitor by being cast from the Tarpeian Rock. In the 5th century BC, the triumphator Camillus was sent into exile after he drove a chariot with a team of four white horses ( quadriga)-an honour reserved for Jupiter himself. Those suspected of harbouring monarchical ambitions were punished, regardless of their service to the state. Nostalgia for the kingship (affectatio regni) was considered treasonous. Originally, Rome was ruled by kings after the monarchy was abolished and the Republic established, religious prerogatives were transferred to the patres, the patrician ruling class.
Jupiter's association with kingship and sovereignty was reinterpreted as Rome's form of government changed. Some scholars have viewed the triumphator as embodying (or impersonating) Jupiter in the triumphal procession. A similar sacrificial offering was made by triumphal generals, who surrendered the tokens of their victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue in the Capitol. To thank him for his help, and to secure his continued support, they sacrificed a white ox (bos mas) with gilded horns. The consuls swore their oath of office in Jupiter's name, and honoured him on the annual feriae of the Capitol in September. His image in the Republican and Imperial Capitol bore regalia associated with Rome's ancient kings and the highest consular and Imperial honours. Jupiter was "the fount of the auspices upon which the relationship of the city with the gods rested." He personified the divine authority of Rome's highest offices, internal organization, and external relations. The Romans believed that Jupiter granted them supremacy because they had honoured him more than any other people had.