VEJOVIS

also spelled Vediovis, or Vedivs, in Roman religion, a god of uncertain attributes, worshiped at Rome between the two summits of the Capitoline Hill (the Arx and the Capitol) and on Tiber Island (both temples date from just after 200 BC) and at Bovillae, 12 miles southeast of Rome. His name may be connected with that of Jupiter (Jovis), but there is little agreement as to its meaning: he may be a little Jupiter or a sinister Jupiter or the opposite of Jupiter (i.e., a chthonic, or underworld, god). The last seems most likely, since his offering was a she-goat humano ritu; the term humano ritu has been defined both as on behalf of the dead and as a substitute for a human sacrifice.