Minerva was one of Rome’s most important gods, considered a goddess of war, wisdom, and the arts. While she is often described as the equivalent of Athena, and she certainly has many parallels with her sister Greek goddess, Minerva was a unique goddess in many ways. She was also arguably more important in Rome than Athena was in Greece because of the centralized nature of Roman religion.
Menrva of the Etruscans
Minerva came from an ancient Etruscan goddess Menrva, the daughter of the king and queen of the gods, Tin and Uni, who later evolved into Jupiter and Juno. Varro (Ling. 5.74) states that she was a Sabine goddess, and the Sabines shared many religious traditions with their Etruscan neighbors. She appeared more frequently than any other deity in Etruscan art between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, usually in the form of votive bronze statues.
Among the Etruscans she was a goddess of war and weather, often appearing with a thunderbolt, an attribute only associated with Zeus/Jupiter by the Greeks and Romans. One Etruscan mirror shows the goddess rushing forward with a shield decorated with an owl in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other. Later Roman authors suggest that the Etruscans believed that there were 12 different types of lightning, each wielded by a different god, so unlike in Rome, lightning was not the exclusive domain of Jupiter.
When Italian and Greek cultures came into closer contact starting around the 6th century BCE, Menrva was seen as the equivalent of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, and crafts, and her Etruscan characteristics mixed with Greek mythology to create the new goddess, Minerva.
Minerva Arrives in Rome
She was probably brought to Rome by an Etruscan elite, who installed Tin, Uni, and Menrva, who became Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, as the Capitoline Triad principally responsible for the prosperity of the Roman state. Ovid called the triad the first gods to be considered truly “Roman;” even the Romans accepted that they borrowed heavily from other cultures.
She was so integral to the Roman state that it was later suggested that she was brought to Italy from Troy, with the hero Aeneas and the other Trojan refugees bringing her statue, the palladium to Italy. When the city was founded by Romulus, according to legend, a cult site was established for her on the Aventine Hill.
Goddess of Wisdom, War, and Works
She was believed to be a goddess of wisdom, the first part of her name “men” linked to the Indo-European root “mens” which means mind. Cicero and other authors also use Minerva’s name as a metonym for intelligence.
The Capitoline Triad was worshipped when the state declared war, and when the successfully completed campaigns. When new territories were conquered, smaller versions of the Capitoline Temple were installed around the Empire, marking out the new regions as part of Rome.
While Minerva was a key member of the Capitoline Triad, she was also worshipped in her own right, especially as a goddess of war. For example, the famous general Pompey the Great dedicated a temple to her in Rome in 60 BCE, giving most of his plunder to the goddess as a votive offering.
She also had a temple on the Aventine Hill from at least the start of the 3rd century BCE, possibly dedicated in 263/262 BCE, as a large issue of Minerva coins appears at this time. Livius Andronicus later deposited a poem about the Battle of Metataurus during the Second Punic War, and it was known as a meeting place for actors, poets, and writers, as she was also a goddess of the arts and trades.
She had a shrine on the Caelian Hill, which Ovid says was dedicated to Minerva Capta. Ovid suggests that it may have been dedicated for the subjugation of the Falerii, an Etruscan tribe, in 241 BCE, representing the capture of her cult.
Her major festival, the Quinquatras, was held on March 19th, which also marked the start of the campaign season for the army. In early Roman history, this festival seems to have been associated exclusively with Mars, but by the late Roman Republic she had more or less eclipsed him, and the festival was expanded to include literary and craft competitions to reflect other aspects of Minerva that she probably inherited from Athena.
She appears several times in the Forum of Domitian. One image of her appears above a frieze showing women performing female household tasks such as spinning and weaving, which were associated with Minerva, and seem to represent the events from the story of Arachne. It was unusual for the goddess to be represented in this way, rather than in her military capacity.
Unlike Athena, Minerva was also sometimes treated as a goddess of medicine. Various sources record a temple of Minerva Medica on the Esquiline in Regio V. Cicero also mentions that she can provide healing without physical medication.
Equivalent to Athena
Most of the Greek myths told about Athena are thought also to have applied to Minerva. This includes her birth, with her mother eaten by her father Jupiter, and then her bursting forth from his head fully grown and fully armored. Minerva was also described as a patron of weaving through her story of interaction with Arachne and turning her into a spider. She created Medusa and then helped Perseus defeat her, and so on.
All her shared myths with Athena can be discovered in our Athena profile.
Minerva and Domitian
Minerva continued to be one of the most important gods in the Roman state under the Empire, often receiving sacrifices alongside Jupiter and Juno for the health and prosperity of the emperor and the imperial family, but she was particularly honored by Domitian, the third Flavian emperor. He promoted her as his special divine benefactress and she is often depicted alongside Domitian in reliefs and was a common symbol of his coinage.
Appearance and Attributes
Minerva always appeared in a long dress and almost always carried armaments, including an aegis shield also familiar with Athena. She was associated with owls, like Athena, and to a lesser extent with Athena’s other attributes, the olive branch and snake. She usually appeared with a helmet, often pushed back on her head, and almost always in a “vigorous” pose, striding forward with arms extended.
As well as appearing in grand state contexts, there are many examples of Minerva in domestic contexts and even funerary settings. This suggests that she inspired a level of personal devotion and was seen as an individual protector as well as a protector of Rome.
Cicero mentions Minerva 19 times in his surviving collected works, demonstrating a personal devotion to the goddess. He portrays himself as an intellectual version of the heroes she watched over such as Hercules and Perseus. He also mentions having a small statue of her in his household shrine.
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