Junonalia

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),^[2] and was added to the festival calendar after the mid-1st century AD.^[3]

Sardonyx cameo (ca. 37–50) depicting two members of the imperial family as Jupiter Ammon and Juno-Isis^[1]

The Junonalia is attested also in a fragmentary poem De Iunonalibus, attributed to Claudian.^[4] 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.^[5]

The Junonalia may have concluded a three-day festival begun March 5 with the Isidis Navigium, the "Sailing of Isis."^[6] 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.^[7]