Roman deities: Vica Pota

Vica Pota was a goddess in ancient Roman religion, and her shrine (aedes) was situated where Publius Valerius Publicola’s domus had stood, at the base of the Velian Hill.

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1 Vica Pota was a goddess in ancient Roman religion, and her shrine (aedes) was situated where Publius Valerius Publicola’s domus had stood, at the base of the Velian Hill.
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In this site, the temple would be close to the Regia and on the same side of the Velia as the Forum. According to Cicero, her name derives from the Latin phrase “conquering and obtaining mastery,” vincendi atque potiundi. Vica Pota, who is often associated with Jupiter, is Diespiter’s mother in the Apocolocyntosis. Arthur Bernard Cook believes that Diespiter should possibly be seen as the chthonic Dispater. Vica Pota Festival took place on January 5. Vica Pota was the elder version of Victoria but certainly not a personification of victory per se. Asconius names her as Victoria, although she is likely an earlier Roman or Italic type of victory goddess that before Victoria and the influence of Greek Nike.

Featured image: Winged Victory of Brescia, 1st century BC: the earlier goddess Vica Pota became identified with Victory personified