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{{Short description|Epithet of Juno and Mnemosyne}}
{{other uses}}
{{see also|Mnemosyne|Juno (mythology)}}
[[File:Moneta on Sestertius of Antoninus Pius.jpg|thumb|400px|Sestertius of Antoninus Pius showing his portrait and Moneta holding scales and cornucopia]]

In [[Roman mythology]], '''Moneta''' ([[Latin]] '''Monēta''') was a title given to two separate goddesses: It was the name of the goddess of memory (identified with the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] goddess [[Mnemosyne]]), and it was an epithet of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], called '''Juno Moneta''' (Latin '''Iūno Monēta'''). The latter's name is the source of numerous words in [[English language|English]] and the [[Romance language]]s, including “[[wiktionary:money|money]]" and "[[wikt:mint|mint]]".

[[File:CSA-T14-$50-1861–62.jpg|thumb|Moneta depicted with treasure chests on the front of an 1861 Confederate States of America [[Confederate States dollar|$50 banknote]].]]

The cult of the goddess Moneta was established largely under the influence of [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek religion]], which featured the cult of [[Mnemosyne]] ("Μνημοσύνη"), the goddess of memory and the mother of the [[Muse]]s. The goddess's name is derived from Latin ''monēre'' (which means to remind, warn, or instruct). She is mentioned in a fragment of [[Livius Andronicus]]' Latin Odyssey: ''Nam diva Monetas filia docuit'' ("since the divine daughter of Moneta has taught...", frg. 21 Büchner), which may be the equivalent of either Od. 8,480-1 or 488.

The epithet Moneta that was given to [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], in contrast, is more likely to have derived from the Greek word "moneres" ("μονήρης"), meaning "alone”, or “unique".{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} By the time Andronicus was writing, the folk etymology of ''monēre'' was widely accepted, and so he could plausibly transmute this epithet into a reference to separate goddess - the literary (though not the religious) counterpart of the Greek Mnemosyne.

== Juno Moneta and Hyginus' Moneta==
{{see also|Temple of Juno Moneta}}
[[File:Juno Moneta denarius 46BC ashmolian.JPG|thumb|right|A bust of Juno Moneta on a denarius]]
Juno Moneta, an epithet of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], was the protectress of funds, and, accordingly, money in ancient [[Rome]] was coined in her temple. The word "moneta" (from which the words "money" and "monetize" are derived) was used by writers such as [[Ovid]], [[Martial]], [[Juvenal]], and [[Cicero]]. In several modern languages, including Russian and Italian, ''moneta'' (Spanish ''moneda'') is the word for "coin".

Juno Moneta's name (like the name of the goddess Moneta) is derived either from the Latin ''monēre'' (since, as the protectress of funds, she "warned" of economic instability) or, more likely, from the Greek "moneres", meaning "alone” or “unique".{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

According to the [[Suda]], a [[Byzantine]] encyclopedia (which uses the Greek names of the goddess), she was called Moneta (Μονήτα) because when the Romans needed money during the wars against [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]] and [[Taranto]], they prayed to Hera, and she replied to them that, if they would hold out against the enemies with justice, they would not go short of money. After the wars, the Romans honoured Hera Moneta (that is, advisor - invoking the Latin verb moneo, meaning to 'warn' or 'advise'), and, accordingly, decided to stamp the coinage in her temple.<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/mu/1220 Suda On Line, mu,1220]</ref><ref>[https://topostext.org/work/240#mu.1220 Suda topostext, mu,1220]</ref>
Hyginus in his [[Fabulae]], writes of Moneta as a Titaness daughter of [[Aether (mythology)|Aether]] and [[Tellus (mythology)|Tellus]], and as the mother by [[Jove]] of the nine Muses. Hyginus doesn't seem to identify Moneta with either Juno or Mnemosyne, as the latter is later called a daughter of Jove and [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]].

== Coinage==
"Moneta" retained the meanings of "money" and "die" well into the Middle Ages and appeared often on minted coins. For example, the phrase ''moneta nova'' is regular on coins of the [[Low Countries]] and the [[Rhineland]] in the fourteenth and fifteenth century, with the "nova", Latin for "new", not necessarily signifying a new type or variety of coin.<ref>{{cite journal | author =B.H.I.H Stewart | year =1962 | title =Moneta and Mot on Anglo-Saxon Coins | journal =British Numismatic Journal | volume =31 | pages =27–30 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=RkQaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA27 | access-date =27 December 2017 }}</ref>

== In culture ==
Moneta is a central figure in [[John Keats]]' poem "[[The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream]]".

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book | last = Simpson | first = D. P. | title = Cassell's Latin Dictionary: 5th Edition | publisher = Macmillan Publishing Co | location = New York | year = 1968 | isbn = 0-02-522570-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/cassellslatindic00simp }}
* {{cite book | title = The American Heritage dictionary of the English language: 4th Edition | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Co | location = New York | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-02-522570-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/cassellslatindic00simp }}
* [http://en.museicapitolini.org/sede/campidoglio_antico/tempio_di_giunone_moneta en.museicapitolini.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114152402/http://en.museicapitolini.org/sede/campidoglio_antico/tempio_di_giunone_moneta |date=2012-01-14 }}

[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Juno (mythology)]]