Minerva

Minerva

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This article is about the Roman goddess. For other uses, see Minerva (disambiguation).

Minerva (/mɪˈnɜːr.və/; Latin: [mɪˈnɛr.wa]; Etruscan: Menrva) was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She was born with weapons from the head of Jupiter.^[1] After impregnating the titaness Metis, Jupiter recalled a prophecy that his own child would overthrow him.

Fearing that their child would grow stronger than he and rule the Heavens in his place, Jupiter swallowed Metis whole. The titaness forged weapons and armor for her child while within the father-god, and the constant pounding and ringing gave him a headache. To relieve the pain, Vulcan used a hammer to split Jupiter's head and, from the cleft, Minerva emerged, whole, adult, and bearing her mother's weapons and armor.

From the 2nd century BC onwards, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena.^[2] She was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, and the crafts.^[3] She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the "owl of Minerva",^[4] which symbolised her association with wisdom and knowledge.

Contents

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• 1 Etruscan Menrva
• 2 Worship in Rome
• 3 Roman coinage
• 4 Universities and educational establishments
• 5 Use by societies and governments
• 6 Public monuments, places and modern culture
• 7 See also
• 8 References and sources
• 9 External links

Etruscan Menrva[edit]

Main article: Menrva

Stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā ('She who measures'), the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. It is assumed that her Roman name, Minerva, is based on this Etruscan mythology. Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools and commerce. She was the Etruscan counterpart to Greek Athena. Like Athena, Minerva was born from the head of her father, Jupiter (Greek Zeus).

By a process offolk etymology, the Romans could have linked her foreign name to the root men-in Latin words such as mensmeaning "mind", perhaps because one of her aspects as goddess pertained to the intellectual. The word mens is built from the Proto-Indo-Europeanroot *men- 'mind' (linked with memory as in Greek Mnemosyne/μνημοσύνη and mnestis/μνῆστις: memory, remembrance, recollection, manush in Sanskrit meaning mind).

Worship in Rome[edit]

Raised-relief image of Minerva on a Roman gilt silver bowl, 1st century BC

Temple of Minerva in Sbeitla, Tunisia

The Etruscan Menrva was part of a holy triad with Tiniaand Uni, equivalent to the Roman Capitoline Triadof Jupiter-Juno-Minerva. Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter.

As Minerva Medica, she was the goddess of medicine and doctors. As Minerva Achaea, she was worshipped at Lucera in Apulia where votive gifts and arms said to be those of Diomedes were preserved in her temple.^[5][6]

A head of "Sulis-Minerva" found in the ruins of the Roman baths in Bath

Silver denarius of the Roman Emperor Domitianus (Domitian) featuring Minerva. Dated c. 90 AD. IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P VIIII, laureate head right; IMP XXI COS XV CENS P P P, Minerva standing left, holding spear and thunderbolt, shield resting against back of leg; References: BMC 167, RIC 691, RSC 260, Paris 159, Cohen 260

In FastiIII, Ovid called her the "goddess of a thousand works". Minerva was worshipped throughout Italy, and when she eventually became equated with the Greek goddess Athena, she also became a goddess of battle. Unlike Mars, god of war, she was sometimes portrayed with sword lowered, in sympathy for the recent dead, rather than raised in triumph. In Rome her bellicose nature was emphasized less than elsewhere.^[7] Her worship was also spread throughout the empire—in Britain, for example, she was syncretized with the local goddess Sulis, who was often invokedfor restitution for theft.^[8]

The Romans celebrated her festival from March 19 to March 23 during the day which is called, in the neuter plural, Quinquatria, the fifth after the Ides of March, the nineteenth, an artisans' holiday . A lesser version, the Minusculae Quinquatria, was held on the Ides of June, June 13, by the flute-players, who were particularly useful to religion. In 207 BC, a guild of poets and actors was formed to meet and make votive offerings at the temple of Minerva on the Aventine Hill. Among others, its members includedLivius Andronicus. The Aventine sanctuary of Minerva continued to be an important center of the arts for much of the middle Roman Republic.

Minerva was worshipped on the Capitoline Hill as one of the Capitoline Triad, at the Temple of Minerva Medica, and at the "DelubrumMinervae", a temple founded around 50 BC by Pompey on the site now occupied by the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. When it was founded, the emperor himself was present and was believed to be of divine nature as a result of its construction.

Roman coinage[edit]

Minerva is featured on the coinage of different Roman Emperors. She is often represented on the reverse side of a coin holding an owl and a spear.^[9]

Universities and educational establishments[edit]

Main article: Minerva in the emblems of educational establishments

As a patron goddess of wisdom, Minerva frequently features in statuary, as an image on seals, and in other forms at educational institutions.

Use by societies and governments[edit]

Minerva and owl (right) depicted on Confederatecurrency (1861)

• The Seal of California     depicts the Goddess Minerva. Her birth fully-grown parallels California     becoming a state without first being a territory.^[10]
• In the     early 20th century, Manuel José     Estrada Cabrera, President of     Guatemala, tried to promote a "Worship of Minerva" in     his country; this left little legacy other than a few interesting Hellenic style "Temples"     in parks around Guatemala.
• According     to John Robison's     Proofs of a Conspiracy (1798), the third degree of the Bavarian Illuminati was called Minerval or Brother     of Minerva, in honour of the goddess of learning. Later, this title     was adopted for the first initiation of Aleister Crowley's     OTO     rituals.
• Minerva is     displayed on the Medal of Honor,     the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government.
• Minerva is     featured in the logo of the Max Planck Society.
• Minerva     alongside Mars is displayed on the cap badge of the Artists Rifles Territorial SAS Regiment of     the British Army. A regimental rhyme records: "Mars, he was the God     of war, and didn't stop at trifles. Minerva was a bloody whore. So hence     The Artists' Rifles."
• Kingston Upon Hull's     oldest Masonic lodge is     named The Minerva Lodge.
• Minerva is     the patron goddess of the Theta Delta Chi     and Sigma Alpha Epsilon     fraternities, the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and the Kappa Kappa Gamma     and Delta Sigma Theta^{[11][additional citation needed]}     sororities
• LSV     Minerva is the oldest student society in the Netherlands and strongly     related to Leiden University.
• Minerva Schools at     KGI is an innovative global four-year undergraduate program     that took their name from Minerva.

Public monuments, places and modern culture[edit]

• A statue     of Minerva is displayed by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is the     university's new graphic identity starting 2004.
• A small Roman shrine to     Minerva stands in Handbridge, Chester. It sits in a public park,     overlooking the River Dee.
• A statue     to Minerva was designed by John Charles     Felix Rossi to adorn the Town Hall of Liverpool, where it has stood since 1799. It     remains extant and was restored as part of the 2014 renovations conducted     by the city.^[12][13]
• The     Minerva Roundabout in Guadalajara, Mexico,     located at the crossing of the López Mateos,     Vallarta, López Cotilla, Agustín Yáñez     and Golfo de Cortez avenues, features the goddess standing on a pedestal,     surrounded by a large fountain, with an inscription which says "Justice,     wisdom and strength guard this loyal city".
• A bronze     statue of Minerva stands in Monument     Square (Portland, Maine). "Our Lady of Victories     Monument" dedicated in 1891, features a 14-foot tall bronze figure by     Franklin Simmons     atop a granite pedestal with smaller bronze sculptures by Richard Morris Hunt.^[14][15]
• A sculpture     of Minerva by Andy Scott,     known as the Briggate Minerva, stands outside Trinity Leeds shopping     centre.
• Minerva is     displayed as a statue in Pavia, Italy, near the train station, and is     considered as an important landmark in the city.
• Minerva is     the name of a supercomputer at the Icahn     School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
• Minerva is     the name of a supercomputer at the Albert     Einstein Institute in Potsdam, also known as the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.^[16]
• In the     comic book series The Wicked + The     Divine, Minerva is one of twelve gods in a     "pantheon" who reincarnate every 90 years but only live for two     years each reincarnation.
• Minerva is     the song title of a     single and the third track by the Deftones on their self-titled album     released May 20, 2003.
• Minerva is     a reoccurring character in the Assassin's Creed     franchise as a guide to Desmond and later a potential foil for Juno,     a main antagonist for the series.
• Minerva,     along with her Greek counterpart Athena are gods in the Japanese mobile game Puzzle & Dragons.
• Minerva is     displayed as a cast bronze statue in the Minneapolis     Central Library, rendered in 1889 by Jakob Fjelde.^[17]
• Minerva is     displayed as a 7-ft statue in the Science Library at the State     University of New York at Albany and is on the official     academic seal of the University.^[18]
• Minerva is     displayed as a bronze statue in Frederick Ruckstull's     1920 Altar to Liberty: Minerva monument near the top of Battle     Hill, the highest point of Brooklyn, NY, in Green-Wood Cemetery.
• Minerva is     displayed as an 11-ft statue in Antonin Carlès's     1895 "James Gordon Bennett Memorial" in New York City's Herald     Square.^[19]
• A statue     of Minerva is displayed at Wells College outside of Main Building. Each     year, the senior class decorates Minerva at the beginning of the fall     semester. Minerva remains decorated throughout the school year; then     during the morning of the last day of classes and after singing around the     Sycamore tree, the senior class takes turns kissing the feet of Minerva,     believed to be good luck and bring success and prosperity to all     graduation seniors.^[20][21][22]