Bible Dictionary

Jupiter

Angels & Spiritual Beings • New Testament

Jupiter, or Zeus, was a chief god of the Greek and Roman world. At Lystra the people identified Barnabas with Jupiter, whose temple stood outside the city, showing the contrast between pagan worship and the living God.

Definition

Jupiter is the Latin equivalent of Zeus, the chief deity of the ancient Greek and Roman world. He was regarded as the supreme ruler of the heathen pantheon and was worshiped under various titles. Local peoples could identify him with deities in their own cults.

Biblical Usage

At Lystra the Lycaonians identified Barnabas with Jupiter because of his commanding appearance and identified Paul with Hermes. A temple of Jupiter stood outside the city. The name also occurs in connection with the expression concerning something that fell from the sky at Ephesus.

Historical Background

The temple at Lystra was outside the city gates. In the Hellenistic world Zeus was identified with local gods, while the Zeus mentioned in 2 Maccabees was the Greek deity adopted as a patron by Antiochus Epiphanes.

Scripture References

Acts 14:12 Acts 14:13 Acts 19:35

Related Figures

Historical Bible Dictionaries

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The principal deity of the ancient Greeks and Romans. He was worshipped by them under various epithets. Barnabas was identified with this god by the Lycaonians (Acts 14:12), because he was of stately and commanding presence, as they supposed Jupiter to be. There was a temple dedicated to this god outside the gates of Lystra (14:13).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

(a father that helps), the Greek Zeus. The Olympian Zeus was the national god of the Hellenic race, as well as the supreme ruler of the heathen world, and as such formed the true opposite to Jehovah. Jupiter or Zeus is mentioned in two passages of the New Testament, on the occasion of St. Paul’s visit to Lystra, (Acts 14:12,13) where the expression “Jupiter, which was before their city,” means that his temple was outside the city. Also in (Acts 19:35)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)

joo'-pi-ter, ju'-pi-ter (Zeus): "Jupiter" is mentioned in 2 Macc 6:2; Ac 14:12,13, with "Zeus" in the Revised Version margin in all cases. In addition the Greek stem appears in diopetous, in Ac 19:35, English Versions of the Bible "which fell down from Jupiter"; but the word means "from the clear sky" (compare "from heaven" in the Revised Version margin). "Jupiter" was considered the Latin equivalent of the Greek "Zeus," the highest god in the developed Greek pantheon, and Zeus in turn, in accord with the syncretism of the period, was identified with countless deities in the local cults of Asia Minor and elsewhere. So in Ac 14:12,13, "Zeus" and "Hermes" are local deities that had been renamed. On the other hand, the Zeus of 2 Macc 6:2 is the genuine Greek deity, who had been adopted as a special patron by Antiochus Epiphanes and to whose temple in Athens Antiochus had contributed largely. The title "Olympius" (2 Macc 6:2) is derived from the early worship on Mt. Olympus, but had come to be thought one of the god's highest appellations; Xenios, "protector of strangers," was a title in a cult particularly popular with travelers.See ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, and Smith, HGHL, 333-34.Burton Scott Easton

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