Visit other Residences in...
|
Temple of Minerva Aventinensis
Visitors to this Villa
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. Her temple on the Aventine
Hill was a meeting place for skilled artisans, actors, and writers. She was identified with
the Olympian Athena.
Adapting Greek myths about Athena, Romans said that Minerva was not born in the usual way,
but rather Jupiter had a horrible headache and Vulcan opened up his head and out came
Minerva dressed in armor and holding a shield; this image has captivated Western writers
and artists through the ages. She was also a warlike divinity; but a lover of defensive war
only. Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, was the daughter of Jupiter. She had no sympathy with
Mars's savage love of violence and bloodshed.
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 present-day Rome, you can visit Piazza della Minerva near the Pantheon.
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 was born from the head of Jupiter.
The Articles of Temple of Minerva Aventinensis:
Sort by: Featured Date | |
The Discussions of Temple of Minerva Aventinensis:
|
