Mĭnerva

, the godde of wisdom, war, and all the liberal arts, was produced from Jupiter’s brain without a mother. The god, as it is reported, married Metis, whose superior prudence and sagacity above the rest of the gods, made him apprehend that the children of such a union would be of a more exalted nature, and more intelligent than their father. To prevent this, Jupiter devoured Metis in her pregnancy, and some time after, to relieve the pains which he suffered in his head, he ordered Vulcan to cleave it open. Minerva came all armed and grown up from her father’s brain, and immediately was admitted into the a embly of the gods, and made one of the most faithful counsellors of her father. The power of Minerva was great in heaven; she could hurl the thunders of Jupiter, prolong the life of men, bestow the gift of prophecy, and, indeed, she was the only one of all the divinities whose authority and consequence were equal to those of Jupiter. The actions of Minerva are numerous, as well as the kindne es by which she endeared herself to mankind. Her quarrel with Neptune concerning the right of giving a name to the capital of Cecropia deserves attention. The a embly of the gods settled the dispute by promising the preference to whichever of the two gave the most useful and nece ary present to the inhabitants of the earth. Neptune, upon this, struck the ground with his trident, and immediately a horse i ued from the earth. Minerva produced the olive, and obtained the victory by the unanimous voice of the gods, who observed that the olive, as the emblem of peace, is far preferable to the horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. The victorious deity called the capital Athenæ , and became the tutelar godde of the place. Minerva was always very jealous of her power, and the manner in which she punished the presumption of Arachne is well known. See: Arachne . The attempts of Vulcan to offer her violence, are strong marks of her virtue. Jupiter had sworn by the Styx to give to Vulcan, who had made him a complete suit of armour, whatever he desired. Vulcan demanded Minerva, and the father of the gods, who had permitted Minerva to live in perpetual celibacy, consented, but privately advised his daughter to make all the resistance she could to frustrate the attempts of her lover. The prayers and force of Vulcan proved ineffectual, and her chastity was not violated, though the god left on her body the marks of his pa ion, and, from the impurity which proceeded from this scuffle, and which Minerva threw down upon the earth, wrapped up in wool, was born Erichthon, an uncommon monster. See: Erichthonius . Minerva was the first who built a ship, and it was her zeal for navigation, and her care for the Argonauts, which placed the prophetic tree of Dodona behind the ship Argo, when going to Colchis. She was known among the ancients by many names. She was called Athena, Pallas [ See: Pallas ], Par the nos, from her remaining in perpetual celibacy; Tritonia, because worshipped near the lake Triton is; Glaucopis, from the bluene of her eyes; Agorea, from her presiding over markets; Hippia, because she first taught mankind how to manage the horse; Stratea and Area, from her martial character; Coryphagenes, because born from Jupiter’s brain; Sais, because worshipped at Sais, . Some attributed to her the invention of the flute, whence she was surnamed And on, Luscinia, Music a, Salpiga, . She, as it is reported, once amused herself in playing upon her favourite flute before Juno and Venus, but the godde es ridiculed the distortion of her face in blowing the instrument. Minerva, convinced of the justne of their remarks by looking at herself in a fountain near mount Ida, threw away the musical instrument, and denounced a melancholy death to him who found it. Marsyas was the miserable proof of the veracity of her expre ions. The worship of Minerva was universally established; she had magnificent temples in Egypt, Phœnicia, all parts of Greece, Italy, Gaul, and Sicily. Sais, Rhodes, and Athens particularly claimed her attention, and it is even said that Jupiter rained a shower of gold upon the island of Rhodes, which had paid so much veneration and such an early reverence to the divinity of his daughter. The festivals celebrated in her honour were solemn and magnificent. See: Pan a thenæa . She was invoked by every artist, and particularly such as worked in wool, embroidery, painting, and sculpture. It was the duty of almost every member of society to implore the a istance and patronage of a deity who presided over sense, taste, and reason. Hence the poets have had occasion to say, Tu nihil invitâ dices faciesve Minervâ , and, Qui bene placârit Pallada, doctus erit . Minerva was represented in different ways, according to the different characters in which she appeared. She generally appeared with a countenance full more of masculine firmne and composure, than of softne and grace. Most usually she was represented with a helmet on her head, with a large plume nodding in the air. In one hand she held a spear, and in the other a shield, with the dying head of Medusa upon it. Sometimes this Gorgon’s head was on her breastplate, with living serpents writhing round it, as well as round her shield and helmet. In most of her statues she is represented as sitting, and sometimes she holds in one hand a distaff, instead of a spear. When she appeared as the godde of the liberal arts she was arrayed in a variegated veil, which the ancients called peplum . Sometimes Minerva’s helmet was covered at the top with the figure of a cock, a bird which, on account of his great courage, is properly sacred to the godde of war. Some of her statues represented her helmet with a sphinx in the middle, supported on either side by griffins. In some medals, a chariot drawn by four horses, or sometimes a dragon or a serpent, with winding spires, appear at the top of her helmet. She was partial to the olive tree; the owl and the cock were her favourite birds, and the dragon among reptiles was sacred to her. The functions, offices, and actions of Minerva seem so numerous, that they undoubtedly originate in more than one person. Cicero speaks of five persons of this name; a Minerva, mother of Apollo; a daughter of the Nile, who was worshipped at Sais, in Egypt; a third, born from Jupiter’s brain; a fourth, daughter of Jupiter and Coryphe; and a fifth, daughter of Pallas, generally represented with winged shoes. This last put her father to death because he attempted her virtue. Pausanias , bks. 1, 2, 3, . — Horace , bk. 1 , ode 16; bk. 3 , ode 4.— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 2 , . — Strabo , bks. 6, 9, & 13.— Phi lost ratus , Imagines , bk. 2 .— Ovid , Fasti , bk. 3 , . ; Metamorphoses , bk. 6 .— Cicero , de Natura Deorum , bk. 1 , ch. 15 ; bk. 3 , ch. 23 , . — Apollo dor us , bk. 1 , . — Pindar , Olympian , poem 7.— Lucan , bk. 9 , li. 354 .— Sophocles , Œdip us .— Homer , Iliad , . ; Ody ey ; Hymn to Pallas Athena .— Diodorus , bk. 5 .— Hesiod , Theogony .— Aeschylus , Eumenides .— Lucian , Dialogues .— Clement of Alexandria , Stromateis , bk. 2 .— Orpheus , Hymns , poem 31.— Quintus Smyrnæus , bk. 14 , li. 448 .— A poll on i us , bk. 1 .— Hyginus , fable 168.— Statius , Thebiad , bk. 2 , li. 721 ; bk. 7 , . — Call i mach us , Hymn to Demeter .— Ælian , Varia Hist or i a , bk. 12 .— Cornel i us Nepos , Pausanias .— Plutarch , Lycurgus , . — Thucydides , bk. 1 .— Hero dot us , bk. 5 .