The Goddess Minerva and importance she is to the United States of America Today

Minerva Is the Roman goddess also known as the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic, and the inventor of music. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl, which symbolizes her ties to wisdom.

one of the most important Goddess in Pagan culture

Minerva or Athena was a favourite child of Zeus, who was allowing her to use his weapons, including his thunderbolt.

only Hecate is the other Goddess allowed to use Zeus Thunderbolts.

also known as Maiden, Parthenos, and from this name was taken the name to the most important Temple dedicated to her, the Parthenon.

the protectress of civilized life, of artesian activities, and of agriculture

of household arts and crafts, of spinning and weaving, of textiles. Inventor of the flute, the plough and the ox-yoke, the horse bridle and the chariot. Athena, goddess of war, guardian of Athens, the city named for her; defender of heroes, champion of justice and civil law.

Concerned as we are with the role of women in today's society, we may well ask ourselves, who was Athena that she was celebrated in song and story, portrayed by artist and poet, and worshiped as the pre-eminent goddess of Greece. Was the stately grey-eyed maiden a light in the mind of man, or the dream of woman?

Minerva in Greece was very important

Athena was both very fond of a certain city in Greece

Athena's gift was an olive tree, which was better because it gave the people food, oil and wood. Athena named her city Athens.

We can sympathize with those Athenian women of ancient Greece, because the struggle for women's suffrage was a lengthy one in the United States. It was not until 1920 that women were given the right to vote under the constitutional law of the land. We can thank our own courageous "Athenas" by remembering them and honoring them for securing a privilege that we take for granted today.

Much of what we are told about Minerva / Athena has been passed down to us through word of mouth, or celebrated in song and fable, in poetry and art - paintings on pottery or pieces of sculpture. It is therefore, unnecessary to take sides, to divide our allegiance to the goddess along gender lines. Athena was a virgin goddess, protective of both men and women. William F. Otto in his book, The Homeric Gods, called her "the goddess of nearness," partial to heroes in battle, helping them in their tasks and struggles, and yet close to maidens preparing for bridal nuptials, she was patroness of domestic arts.

.She is one of the most powerful forces on Mount Olympus, representing war and the immortal spirit of wisdom,

Minerva / Athena represents the unity of these powerful symbols and their underestimated force

Minerva / Athena is typically portrayed with her companion, Nike, the goddess of victory.

She is also depicted carrying a shield bearing the head of the Gorgon. Because of her association with wisdom, Athena is usually shown with an owl nearby. As a goddess of war, Athena often shows up in Greek legend to assist various heroes -- Heracles, Odysseus and Jason all got a helping hand from Athena. In classical myth, Athena never took any lovers, and was often revered as Athena the Virgin, or Athena Parthenos. This is where the Parthenon temple got its name. but was Rumored the Goddess Nike was her Secret lover or admirer

Although technically,Minerva / Athena is a warrior goddess, she is not the same sort of war god that Ares is. While Ares goes to war with frenzy and chaos, Athena is the goddess who helps warriors make wise choices that will eventually lead to victory

Minerva / Athena is still worshipped today by Pagans , Wiccans and Druids

She is so well loved as a goddess her worship goes outside Paganism to other cultures and religions and stood the test of time itself

medals of honor showing the Goddess and the medal is a Pentacle a well known Pagan holy symbol

Universities and educational establishments

As patron goddess of wisdom, Minerva frequently features in statuary, as an image on seals, and in other forms, at educational establishments, including:

Minerva is featured in the University at Albany's logo. The catalog of books and other materials in the University Library at the University at Albany campus is called the "Minerva Catalog". Minerva is also mentioned in UAlbany's Alma Mater:

"Wisdom's duty heeds thy call, Ever in Minerva's thrall,"

The Dollar Bill has a Owl hidden it is a Symbol of Minerva a sign of Eternal Protection

A statue of Minerva stands atop the dome of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Scotland.

A seven foot statue of Minerva stands at the highest point in Brooklyn, overlooking New York Harbor, located in Green-Wood Cemetery.

A bronze statue of Minerva lies in monument square Portland, Maine. "Our Lady of Victories Monument" dedicated 1891, Richard Morris Hunt and Franklin Simmons

The Goddess Minerva is on top of the Us Capitol Building

inside you will see this

On the east side of the Great Hall is Elihu Vedder's Marble mosaic of the Minerva of Peace with her shield and helmet set down on the ground. She has put down her arms. On the bottom right, one can see a Winged Nike statue. On her left is one of her symbols, the Owl, signifying wisdom. Behind her is a beaming Sun, so often associated with Libertas and the Sun God Helios, known as Sol in Rome. In her left hand is a scroll that lists disciplines in science, education and art. Minerva is standing guard before the Main Reading Room. According to the Library of Congress, Minerva and her Owl are repeated throughout the Great Hall. In her right is a spear

Look up

but if you ask me they look more like 50 pagan pentacles

APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON: THE CAPITOL DOME

This magnificent Fresco was done by Constantino Brumadi when the Capitol was being expanded. This is when the new cast Iron dome and the Statue of Freedom would be put atop the Dome.

Washington is seen here rising to heaven to become glorified (that is what apotheosis means) with the goddesses Liberty and Fame. Although the architect of the capitol says it is Victory/Fame I have never seen the goddess Victory with a trumpet. It is always the goddess 'Pheme' with her trumpet as the goddess we know as Fame. I am guessing Brumadi was painting Fame. Washington is surrounded by thirteen maidens representing the original states. Again we see a powerful expression of the female deities found in pagan religions. Christianity is patriarchal to the extreme. We see more classical and pagan imagery; nothing Judeo-Christian is used to represent Washington's apotheosis. We are the New Rome; the New Athens; not the New Jerusalem as the religous right claims. We are symbolized by what the Christians sought to wipe off the face of the Earth. Ironic.

Surrounding Washington, the goddesses and the maidens are six groups representing different aspects of the nation. All are represented with pagan gods and goddesses. WAR is an armed Goddess Freedom with her Eagle. SCIENCE is our goddess Minerva teaching invention to Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, and Samuel morse. MARINE is Neptune with Venus holding the Transatlantic Cable. COMMERCE is Mercury (Hermes) handing a bag of money to Robert Morris, a major financier of the American Revolution. MECHANICS is the firey god Vulcan, working at the anvil, making a cannon and a steam engine. AGRICULTURE is our beautiful friend the goddess Ceres, who also represents Peace throughout Washington. With her is America in a red Liberty Cap, the Roman Pileus which freed slaves wore to mark them as free. Flora is picking flowers.

Washington has become godlike (if not a god) and has ascended into heaven. He sits on a cloud wearing a military jacket in purple (the traditional colour worn by the Roman emperor) and his legs are wrapped in a sheet (also purple). In his left hand he holds a sword and his right hand is gesturing to a book (possibly the constitution of the US). At his left sits Victory draped in a green sheet and wearing a laurel wreath, holding a branch and blowing a turmpet. To Washington's right sits Liberty. She is wearing a red phrygian cap and holds the book to which Washington is gesturing in her left hand; in her right hand she is holding the Roman fasces.

Below are Minerva as Science and Neptune as Marine. If you want to see the rest, go to the Apotheosis page at the website of the Architect of the Capitol.

"Liberty" (or "Columbia") is seen in the more aggressive pose of a warrior brandishing a sword in her right hand and carrying a a shield with the stars and stripes in her left hand. At her left side is an equally aggressive American eagle with mouth open and talons clutching a sheaf of arrows. Beneath them are their defeated enemies who are hard to identify but are most likely an assortment of tyrants, kings, and oppressors who are very fearful of Liberty and her eagle. The woman at the left has her hands outstretched in a pose of submission; the white bearded man next to her is clutching a cannon; the dark bearded man in the center is attired in a uniform of boots, breastplate armor, and helmet, and appears to have a club or weapon in his left hand; the person next to him is wearing a brown cloak and is holding a burning torch in his or her right and left hands; the final figure to the right is holding their hand to their face in a look of bewilderment at the power of Liberty.

not one Judeo-Christian figure or symbol has been used to repesent the ideals of Liberty. Indeed, classical and pagan figures far outnumber Judeo-Christian ones, in general, throughout the government buildings.

MINERVA AS "SCIENCE"

Minerva, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom, is portrayed with helmet and spear pointing to an electrical generator creating power stored in batteries next to a printing press, representing great American inventions. American scientists and inventors Benjamin Franklin, Samuel F. B. Morse, and Robert Fulton watch. In the left part of the scene a teacher demonstrates the use of dividers.

Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, is shown with a wreath of wheat and a cornucopia, symbol of plenty, while sitting on a McCormick mechanical reaper. The personification of Young America in a liberty cap holds the reins of the horses, while the goddess Flora gathers flowers in the foreground

Mercury, the Roman god of commerce, with his winged petasos and sandals and a caduceus, is depicted giving a bag of gold to American Revolutionary War financier Robert Morris. To the left, men move a box on a dolly; on the right, the anchor and sailors lead into "Marine.

This scene shows Neptune, the Roman sea-god, with trident and crown of seaweed riding in a shell chariot drawn by sea horses. Venus, goddess of love born from the sea, is depicted helping to lay the transatlantic telegraph cable which ran from America to the Telegraph Field in Ireland. In the background is an ironclad warship with smokestacks

Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and the forge, is depicted standing at an anvil with his foot on a cannon next to a pile of cannonballs. A steam engine is in the background. The man at the forge is thought to represent Charles Thomas, the supervisor of ironwork during the construction of the Capitol dome

A 1817 French Empire mantel clock depicting Minerva. Purchased by James Monroe for the White House.

Minerva is featured on the seals and logos of many institutions of higher learning:

the University of Louisville official seal

the University of North Carolina at Greensboro official seal

University of Lincoln. An emblem of Minerva's head is represented in the logo for this UK University. There is a tradition within the Lincoln Rugby Union team where it is thought that they are Knights of Minerva, with each match being fought and won in her honour.

University at Albany, The State University of New York. Minerva is pictured in the university's logo. "Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom has been the institution's enduring symbol." [5] Minerva is still venerated by seniors and their 'torch bearers' during a pre-graduation ritual called "Torch Night" there.

the University of Alabama

the University of Virginia

Union College, New York. Union College has also used Minerva as the name of their new academic and social "Third Space" program, the Minerva House System; and, also here, Minerva is the goddess of Theta Delta Chi.

UFRJ, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.

Escola Politécnica da USP, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, in Brazil.

Ghent University, in Belgium

A 1817 French Empire mantel clock depicting Minerva. Purchased by James Monroe for the White House.

American Academy of Arts & Sciences, in Cambridge, Mass. The seal's principal figure is Minerva - a symbol appropriate for an organization created in the midst of the American Revolution and dedicated to the cultivation of every art and science to "advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people."

Max Planck Society, Germany.

Leiden University, Minerva is presented in the centre of the great seal of the most ancient University in the Netherlands (1575).

Minerva is the name and the patroness of the most ancient student-association of the Netherlands.

Minerva decorates the keystone over the main entrance to the Boston Public Library beneath the words, "Free to all." BPL was the original public-financed library in America and, with all other libraries, is the long-term memory of the human race.

The annual prize for the best Politics student in Liverpool Hope University in the UK is called the Minerva Prize, both because of the association with wisdom and knowledge and because there is a statue of Minerva on the dome of Liverpool Town Hall, the seat of local politics in the city.

Minerva is the Goddess of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Fraternity Brothers are known as Loyal Sons of Minerva.

Minerva is the name of a remote learning facility at Bath Spa University in England, UK.

Minerva is featured on the seal of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

Minerva is featured on the seal of the "Escuela Comercial Cámara de Comercio", in Mexico, founded in 1923.

A statue of Minerva stands in the entrance to Main Building at Wells College in Aurora, NY. On the last day of spring semester classes, graduating seniors kiss Minerva's feet for luck and lifelong wisdom. Minerva was the only statue that survived the 1888 fire of old Main Building. [6]

Minerva is the patroness of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Minerva is featured in the logo of The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School, Australia.

Minerva is featured in the logo of Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow, Scotland

Minerva is featured on the seals of many schools and colleges: on that of Union College in Schenectady, NY, the motto is (translated from the French) "Under the laws of Minerva, we are all brothers."

Minerva is the patroness of the Union Philosophical Society of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut, features a Roman marble statue of Minerva in its 4th floor atrium.

The Minerva head is displayed outside The Natural History Museum, Bergen, Norway

The seal for the University of Louisville includes a large head of Minerva.

McGill University's web interface is called Minerva.

Milne Library at SUNY Geneseo has a statue of Minerva in their lobby.

Minerva is the name of the managed learning environment at the University of Sheffield Medical School

Minerva is the goddess of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Minerva is on the crest of the Girls Day School Trust

Minerva is the goddess of Kappa Kappa Gamma and can be seen, with her owl, on their crest.

Minerva as a bronze head bust over the main entrance of the Main Library of the University of California, Berkeley.

The Minerva head has been associated with the Chartered Society of Designers since its inception in 1930 and has been redefined several times during the history of the Society by notable graphic designers. The current logo was established in 1983.

Minerva is the symbol of the University of Porto.

A statue of Minerva is located in the center of La Sapienza University, the most important university of Rome.

Athena is the patron goddess of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

Minerva is displayed in front of Columbia University's Low Memorial Library as "Alma Mater."

Above the entrance to the University of Vienna main building, there is a sculpture work titled "The Birth of Minerva".[4]

A statue of Minerva adorns the library at the United States Military Academy

Minerva is the name of a language school in Ruse, Bulgaria.

Minerva is the name of a female residence at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Minerva is displayed to the East of University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Elliot University Center as a statue.

The SUNY Potsdam campus in Potsdam, NY is home to multiple statues of Minerva and a cafe named after he

The Seal of California depicts the Goddess Minerva having sprung full grown from the brain of Jupiter. This was interpreted as analogous to the political birth of the State of California without having gone through the probation period of being a Territory.

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

Minerva is the logo of the world famous German "Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science" (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

The helmet of Minerva serves as the crest of the distinctive unit insignia for Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Minerva is displayed on the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government.

A large mozaic of Menerva is the focal art piece in the great room of the U.S. Library of Congress

A small Roman shrine to Minerva (the only one still in situ in the UK) stands in Handbridge, Chester. It sits in a public park, overlooking the River Dee.

Minerva circle is one of the famous and busiest circles in Bangalore. It gets its name from an eponymous movie theatre that used to be located there.

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".

Minerva is displayed as a statue in the Minneapolis Central Library in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Minerva is displayed as a statue in Pavia near the train station, and is considered as an important landmark in the city.