The Attributes of Minerva

Hey everyone, at the beginning I would like to welcome you to one of my last contributions this year and hope you had a Merry Christmas! In my new post I would like to go into the Roman mythology and hope you are able to expand your knowledge a bit.

To be seen here are sculptures of the Roman goddess Minerva, who is also known as the equivalent of the goddess Athena from Greek mythology and as an extremely diverse goddess, a huge cult has arisen around her, which has changed over time. In the earlier years, Minerva was mainly regarded as the goddess of various arts and many people who created things with their hands considered her as protectors of the activities and over time, she was increasingly considered a source of wisdom and closely associated with the development of education or science and she was also worshipped as the goddess of the powerful city of Rome. In her honour, numerous monuments or temples were already built by the Etruscans or in the Roman Empire and some rulers were of the opinion that she had helped with their ascent and not infrequently they were also linked to strategic leadership and also in the military field, she was revered for her wisdom and strategic warfare. Roughly, it can be said that Minerva was worshipped as a diverse goddess and even if the meaning often differs greatly, she was particularly often regarded as a donor of wisdom, who was typically depicted with an owl on her shoulder, which was an important symbol for her intelligence and knowledge, and not infrequently it was also referred to as a bearer of secret knowledge.

Since owls are nocturnal animals, Minerva was sometimes referred to as the goddess of the night because owls only spread their wings in the evening hours to rise into the air and the symbol is often very controversial and some consider it as a symbol of happiness while others associate it rather with negative characteristics. There are also some interpretations that it makes a difference in which direction the owl is currently looking and other typical attributes are the lance as well as armor such as a helmet or shield which were probably created by the god of blacksmithing Vulcan and should represent her strength. Sometimes she was also depicted with a snake or other attributes and her typical representation with spear and lance has set an example and also other gods such as the Swiss protector Mother Helvetica or Britannia are somewhat reminiscent of the representation of Minerva from antiquity. Sometimes she was also presented with an olive branch and even considered as a patron goddess in competitions and here too, she was again considered as a sign of strategy and before competitions worshipped athletes Minerva and hope that she could give them the right strategy and how important her cult was also show some festivities which were specially celebrated and it can be said that she has taken an enormous influence through the diversity and has left many traces like in heraldry or various works of art.

Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about this exciting topic! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.