Vowed by M. Furius Camillus during the war with the Aurunci in 345 B.C., The Temple of Juno Moneta Regina was erected by duoviri appointed by the senate pro amplitudine populi Romani, and dedicated in 344 (Liv. VII.28.4‑6).

Juno Moneta is the Roman Goddess of Good Counsel. Her name means "advisor" or "warner", as She gives good advice to the people in general, and to those about to be married in particular. Her large famous temple on the Arx, a height on the Capitoline Hill, is a site sacred to Her from early times.

Her epithet Moneta has been given various explanations, and it seems even the ancients weren't entirely sure where it came from. "Moneta" is usually assumed to derive from the Latin word for "warn" ~ monere. One story tells us that geese were sacred to Juno, and as such were kept at Her temple on the Capitoline. In the year 390 BCE, the Gauls surprised Rome with an attack on the Capitol, but the geese of Juno started a honking ruckus (as geese are wont to do) and the citizens were alerted and thus able to drive off the Gauls. In gratitude for the noble efforts of Her geese, Juno was honored with the name Moneta.

Another story is that during an earthquake a disembodied voice was heard coming from Juno's Capitoline temple, advising the people to sacrifice a pregnant sow. Presumably this was to placate the Earth Mother who caused the quake: for the sacrifice of a pregnant sow is almost exclusively given to Earth-Goddesses; the sow is strongly associated with fertility and motherhood due to the high number of piglets in the average litter.

Yet another story says that during the war with the Tarentines, a group of Greeks from the city of Tarentum in Magna Graecia in the south of Italy, the Romans were in desperate need of money to fund their end of the war. They prayed to Juno, the protectress of the people, and were given the reply that so long as they fought in a just manner, they would not lack for money. They did, and the money flowed to them. When the war was over, they gave Juno the name Moneta in gratitude, either for the good advice or for the money itself that was given.

All that, however, may just be later attempts at explaning Her name: some scholars point to the true origins of "Moneta" in the Latin mons, "hill" or "mountain", used of the Capitoline Hill of Rome, with which Juno Moneta is deeply associated. Her main temple was located on the fortified height of the Arx (citadel or stronghold) on the Capitoline. Most likely there had been a temple or sacred place to Her there from early times, and perhaps the location on the highest part of the Capitol had something to do with Juno's attribute as a Sky-Goddess who hurled thunderbolts, or as protectress of the Roman people, as the height there would naturally provide a good vantage point. The later temple built there was vowed by the dictator, Camillus Furius (whose father of the same name was responsible for building the temple to Juno Regina on the Aventine), in 345 BCE and was dedicated on the 1st of June, a.k.a. the kalends, a day doubly holy to Juno, since both the kalends and the month of June are sacred to Her. Alternately, the temple was dedicated on the 10th of October, while the June 1st date refers to the dedication date of an early altar.

In 273 BCE the Romans established a mint at Juno Moneta's temple, and for the next four hundred years or so all the silver coins of Rome were made there, up to the time of the Emperor Augustus in the 1st century CE. Juno Moneta then accordingly became associated with money and minting coins, and indeed both the English words "money" and "mint" trace back to Her epithet Moneta.

Quite naturally Juno Moneta is often depicted on coins, and is shown holding a pair of scales with which to measure out the money which lies in a pile at Her feet; She also frequently holds a cornucopia or horn of plenty as an emblem of abundance. Silver denarius showing Juno Moneta 46 BC

Two other theories as to the origin of Her name should be mentioned: some hold it more likely that "Moneta" comes from the mint, not the other way around; or that Her name comes from mons, "hill", meaning both the Capitoline and the Arx. If so, that would make Her primarily a Goddess of protection and of the high places, specifically the old citadel of the Arx. According to legend the Capitoline was the early settlement of the Sabine faction of early Rome (the Romans under Romulus having settled on the Palatine Hill); it is possible that Juno Moneta's origins were Sabine, for Her temple was built on the site of the former house of the early Sabine King Titus Tatius, said to have ruled jointly with Romulus. And like the Sabine Goddess Curitis, Who was considered an aspect of Juno, Juno Moneta seems to have had a military aspect—at least some weapons were apparently kept in Her temple, as one of the omens observed in the disturbed year of 196 BCE was of a pair of spears there which burst into flame. Now the Sabine people, who lived to the north and east of Rome, had a reputation as courageous and warlike, and their Gods were of a like character; they were eventually conquered by Rome and married into the Roman people, forming one of the major ethnic elements of Rome.

At any rate, Juno Moneta as Goddess of the Arx would accord well with Her aspect as one who warns, for from the height of the Arx one could command a view of the surrounding area and keep watch on approaching trouble. On a more abstract level, it also works with Her function as advisor, for from such a vantage point one is far-seeing, a very good quality in one giving advice. The spears kept in Her temple may indicate a protective or warrior aspect, especially of defense of the people, as does the association with Things Sabine; and/or they may refer to Her role as Sky-Goddess with the power to throw lightning-bolts, which are often symbolized by the spear. She was also believed to particularly protect money and monetary matters through Her association with the mint, an important aspect of protecting the well-being of the people.

Visit Aedes Junonis Regina, a beautiful temple on the mons Aventine dedicated to Juno after the conquest of Veii.



From Bill Thayer's website

Vowed by M. Furius Camillus during the war with the Aurunci in 345 B.C., The Temple of Juno Moneta Regina was erected by duoviri appointed by the senate pro amplitudine populi Romani, and dedicated in 344 (Liv. VII.28.4‑6).

It stood on the Arx of the Capitoline Hill, on the site formerly occupied by the house of M. Manlius Capitolinus, which had been destroyed in 384 B.C. (Liv. VI.20.13; Val. Max. VI.3.1; Ov. Fast. i.638; vi.34, 183). Titus Tatius is also said to have lived on this site (Plut. Rom. 20; Solin. I.21).

In the Temple were kept the libri lintei (Liv. IV.7.12, 20.8), and it is mentioned in connection with the prodigia for 196 B.C. (Liv. XXXIII.26.8: ad Monetam duarum hastarum spicula arserant). It is altogether probable that this temple of Camillus replaced an earlier cult centre of Iuno Moneta, to which reference is made by Plutarch (Cam. 27), when speaking of the sacred geese that were kept around her temple in 390 B.C.

Various explanations were given by the Roman antiquarians of the epithet Moneta. Cicero (de Div. I.101) says that it was derived from the warning voice of the goddess, heard in the temple on the occasion of an earthquake, 'ut sue plena procuratio fieret.' Moneta could be derived from mons, hill, or from monere - to warn. Legend has that the sacred geese of Juno warned the Romans when the Gauls tried to take the Capitolium in 390 BCE.

Suidas (s.v. Μονῆτα) states that during the war with Tarentum the Romans, needing money, obtained it by following the advice of Juno; and that in gratitude they gave her the epithet Moneta and decided to establish the mint in her temple. None of the explanations yet suggested is satisfactory, and even the usual derivation of the word Moneta from moneo is open to doubt (Walde, Etym. Wörterb. 2nd ed. 493).

Because the origin of money is closely associated with a Roman religious ritual for Jupiter's sister and wife, Juno Moneta, the first Roman coins were minted in her temple. The mint was perhaps established there in 269 when silver coinage was introduced into Rome (Liv. IV.20.13; Cic. ad Att. VIII.7.3), and was called Moneta or ad Monetam. It seems to have been removed at the end of the first century (see Moneta), and nothing further is heard of the temple (Jord. I.2.108‑111; WR 190; Rosch. II.592‑594, 603, 612; RE X.1118).

Not a trace of it has been found in the works for the erection of the monument to Victor Emmanuel, and it may have occupied the site of the transepts of the church of S. Maria in Aracoeli (Hülsen, Bilder aus der Geschichte des Kapitols (Rome, 1899), 31).



Artist's rendition of the Temple Juno Moneta

On the right side of the temple of Juno stood a small temple called Temple of Honour and Virtue (two deities often joined on the coins), and immediately in front on the right was the Obelisk of Isis. Lower, close to the Tabularium stood the "small temple of Concord" which was consecrated in 221 by the pretor L. Manlius after the appeasement of a military sedition.





Sources:
Juno
Denarius depicting Juno Moneta courtesy of Vroma
3D Model of the Arx and Temples courtesy of Maquettes de Rome