{{Short description|Roman festival}} [[File:Arte romana, cameo in sardonice con due mebri della famiglia imperiale come giove ammone e giunone (o iside), 37-50 dc.JPG|thumb|Sardonyx cameo (ca. 37–50) depicting two members of the imperial family as Jupiter Ammon and Juno-Isis<ref>Cameo, British Museum, reg. no. [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1899-0722-1 1899,0722.1].</ref>]]
The '''''Iunonalia''''' or '''Junonalia''' was a Roman festival in honor of Juno, held on March 7 (the Nones). Among extant Roman calendars, it appears only in the Calendar of Filocalus (354 AD),<ref>Michele Renee Salzman, ''On Roman Time: The Codex Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity'' (University of California Press, 1990), pp. 125, 161.</ref> and was added to the festival calendar after the mid-1st century AD.<ref>Joseph Patrich, ''Studies in the Archaeology and History of Caesarea Maritima'' (Brill, 2011), p. 84.</ref>
The Junonalia is attested also in a fragmentary poem ''De Iunonalibus'', attributed to Claudian.<ref>Salzman, ''On Roman Time,'' p. 161.</ref> In it, Juno is addressed as mistress of the celestial pole, and the spouse and sister of the king of heaven. Her function as a goddess of marital bonds is also noted. Although the text is conjectural at this point, she may be asked to grant a return.<ref>''Carmen'' 750, in Alexander Riese, ''Anthologia Latina. Carmina in codicibus scripta'' (Teubner, 1906), p. 233.</ref>
The Junonalia may have concluded a three-day festival begun March 5 with the Isidis Navigium, the "Sailing of Isis."<ref>Patrich, ''Studies in the Archaeology and History of Caesarea Maritima'', pp. 84–85.</ref> In the ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, Isis is addressed as Queen of Heaven, and by the 2nd century a number of goddesses, including Juno, shared the epithet ''Caelestis''.<ref>Stephen Benko, ''The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology'' (Brill, 2004), pp. 112–114.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Roman religion (festival)}}
Category:Ancient Roman festivals Category:March observances Category:Festivals of Hera Category:Religious festivals in Italy Category:Juno (mythology)
{{ancientRome-festival-stub}}