![]() Juno Opigena is an aspect of the great Roman mother Goddess Juno, as a Goddess of childbirth and daughter of the Earth Goddess Ops. Her title means exactly that, "Daughter of Ops", though it can also be interpreted as "Child of Wealth", or "Daughter of Power". Ops is the personification of abundance, especially of the bounty of the earth or crops; She was equated with the Greek Rhea, Who was the mother of many of the Olympian Gods, including Hera, with Whom Juno was identified. The name Ops shares the same Latin root, opes, as our word "opulence", and is related to many other words in Latin and English such as opimus, "fertile" or "fat", inops, "weak", "meager" and copia, "richness", "abundance" (which is also the name of Copia, the Goddess of Abundance). As a daughter of a Mother Goddess, Juno Opigena oversaw childbirth and labor and protected women during this difficult time. And as a child of an abundance and fertility Goddess, She may have also been invoked to grant large families and prosperity to them. She is sometimes called an assistant to Lucina, a light and birth Goddess Who was also identified with Juno. |
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