Minerva
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A head of Minerva found in ruins of Roman baths in Bath (England) |
Minerva was a
Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. This article focuses on Minerva in early Rome and in cultic practice. For information on mythological accounts of Minerva, which were heavily influenced by
Greek mythology, see
Athena.
The name "Minerva" may come from the
Proto-Indo-European root
men-, from which "mental" and "mind" are also derived. However, the non-Indo-European speaking
Etruscans had a goddess
Menrva, so the name may be of entirely unknown derivation.
Minerva was the daughter of
Jupiter and
Metis. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of
warriors,
poetry,
medicine,
wisdom,
commerce,
crafts, and the
inventor of
music. As
Minerva Medica, she was the goddess of medicine and doctors.
Adapting Greek myths about
Athena, Romans said that Minerva was not born in the usual way, but rather sprang fully armed from the brain of her father; this image has captivated Western writers and artists through the ages.
Ovid called her the "goddess of a thousand works." Minerva was worshipped throughout
Italy, though only in
Rome did she take on a warlike character. Minerva is usually depicted wearing a coat of mail and a helmet, and carrying a spear.
The Romans celebrated her festival from
March 19 to
23 during the day which is called, in the feminine plural,
Quinquatria, the fifth after the Ides of March, the nineteenth, the
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. Minerva was worshipped on the
Capitoline Hill as one of the
Capitoline Triad along with Jupiter and Juno.
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 included
Livius Andronicus. The Aventine sanctuary of Minerva continued to be an important center of the arts for much of the middle
Roman Republic.
In Plutarch's Lives: Pericles; Minerva appears to Pericles in a dream and orders a course of treatment for an injured citizen of Athens. The treatment cured the man and a brass statue was erected in honor of Minerva
*Minerva is displayed in front of
Columbia University's Low Library as "Alma Mater."
*Minerva is found as a hood ornament on the cars of
Minerva automobile*Minerva is the logo of the world famous German "Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science" (
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
*Minerva is a section heading in the
British Journal of Medicine.
*Minerva Medica is the name of a Italian publisher of medical journals and books [
1].
*Minerva is featured on the
seal of California because the state entered the union "fully formed", that is, without having gone through the probation of a Territory.
*Minerva is featured on the seal of the
University of Alabama.
*Minerva is one of the popular concluding sections of each issue of the prestigious weekly publication,
British Medical Journal.
*Minerva is featured on the seals and logos of many institutions of higher learning, including
SUNY Albany, the
University of Alabama, and
Union College.
*In the early
20th century,
Manuel José Estrada Cabrera,
President of Guatemala, tried to promote a "Cult 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 honor of the goddess of learning. Later, this title was adopted for the first degree of
Aleister Crowley's
OTO rituals.
*According to legend, the
Queen of Spades playing card depicts Minerva.
*Minerva is also the name of a song by the band
Deftones and also by the artist
Ani DiFranco.
*
Minerva McGonagall is the name of a character in
J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter series.
*
Minerva Mink is a character in the Steven Speilberg cartoon:
Animaniacs, once considered too sexy for the show.
*There is an international relations blog named
The Duck of Minerva*There is a battleship named Minerva in the Japanese 2004 animation
Gundam Seed Destiny.
*
Robert Zubrin's novel
The Holy Land features aliens who worship Minerva.
*There is a popular single-player
Half-Life 2 modification called
MINERVA.
*Minerva Reef is located in the South Pacific, southwest of the islands of Tonga, of which it is a part. It is above sea level only at low tide. In the 1970s, there was an attempt by several adventurers to declare the independence of Minerva from Tonga by planting a flag on the reef. The king of Tonga quickly dispatched a naval vessel to remove the flag and reassert Tongan authority. [
2]
*The
Robert A. Heinlein novel,
Time Enough for Love features a sentient computer named Minerva, which later transfers its consciousness into a human body.
*Minerva is the name of the ship captained by Otto van Hoek in
Neal Stephenson's book series,
The Baroque Cycle.
* As the Goddess of Wisdom, Minerva is still venerated by seniors and their 'torch bearers' during a pre-graduation ritual called "Torch Night" at the State University of New York, Albany ("UAlbany").
*"The Minerva Medal" is the highest accolade awarded for a lifetime achievement in the field of
design by the
Chartered Society of Designers, the world's largest and only
Chartered body of
professional designers. Presented at the "Minerva Dinner", past receipients include
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Society's
logo is based on an
icon of Minerva.
