Juno Conservatrix is an aspect of Juno, meaning ‘She Who Preserves’, ‘She Who Defends’, or ‘Protectress’. She is especially known from coins of Julia Mamaea, the 3rd century CE mother of the emperor Severus Alexander, the last emperor of that royal mess called the Severan Dynasty.

On those coins Juno Conservatrix is shown standing, pouring offerings from a patera in one hand; Her other holds the hasta pura, a bladeless spear often shown with Deities that was sometime given to humans as an award for valor. At Juno’s feet is a peacock, a bird sacred to Her (and to Greek Hera before Her), perhaps because it is so splendid and colorful it is fit for royalty.

Julia Mamaea was given the title Augusta (‘Majestic’, ’Sacred’, ‘Worthy of Honor’) as the mother of the Emperor and his favorite advisor; but despite being declared honorable she was no stranger to the palace intrigues of the 3rd century.

Ironically enough, Julia Mamaea was a Christian; though that meant Christians were not prosecuted while her son was Emperor, it didn’t stop the Roman propaganda machine declaring she had the protection of Juno. Such protection didn’t hold for long, though, as she was eventually murdered with her son by the army, who had declared Maximinus Thrax as emperor (because he paid better).

Juno Conservatrix is also found on coins of the empress Marcia Otacilia Severa; Her husband was the emperor known as Philip the Arab, who only held on to his position for five years before being killed in battle. They were both said to be Christians, or at any rate the persecution of Christians was halted during his reign; but again, that didn’t stop Rome from claiming she was under Juno Conservatrix’s protection. She did live to see retirement (and subsequent obscurity), unlike her husband and young son, who was murdered in her arms at ten or eleven years old.

Juno Conservatrix is found on one more empress’s coin, that of Publia Licinia Julia Cornelia Salonina, empress to Gallienus. Unfortunately the 3rd century CE was a bad time to be empress, and she may have been executed with other members of her family after her husband was murdered. We don’t know if she was Christian, though in his time her husband made it official that Christianity was to be tolerated.

Juno Conservatrix shares Her epithet with Fortuna, Who was especially honored by soldiers, particularly those in far flung barbarian lands such as Britain; and Juno Conservatrix looks to have been honored during similarly unstable or stressful times, which, for the imperial families, was very much the 3rd century CE. But then Juno Conciliatrix was specifically a Goddess of preservation and protection; perhaps they feared that was the best they could hope for during that time.