#A2ZChallenge M is for Minerva

M is for Minerva

Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era

Before I properly begin this post, I'd like to state that at a little more than halfway through, I'm thoroughly enjoying my #A2ZChallenge this April. I'm gaining great satisfaction in ferreting out the extra information, beyond what I know already, to create the posts, and I hope my readers find the posts useful and entertaining. Again, my thanks to the organisers of the #A2ZChallenge!

M is for Minerva! 

The goddess Minerva is portrayed in many different paintings, having inspired artists in very different ways. Minerva is associated with, and patron of, many different aspects of life: wisdom, medicine, crafts, poetry and the arts in general. She was a popular goddess, worshipped by rich and poor alike.

She is thought to have come to be revered as a Roman goddess via an Etruscan origin. She had many temples in Rome, most famously on the Aventine and on Capitol Hill and there was a well-visited shrine on the Mons Caelius (another of the 7 hills of Rome). 

I saw this hugely impressive sculpture in the Capitoline Museum in 2016 which displays a typical vision of Minerva - wearing a Greek-like chiton, a ubiquitous helmet, carrying a shield - and in this case, missing the sword (?).

Believed to be the daughter of Jupiter the story of Minerva's birth is quite dramatic. 

In an attempt to avoid his 'still to be born' daughter becoming more powerful than he was, Jupiter swallowed his lover Metis. That didn't work out too well for Jupiter, though, since he ended up with the most horrendous headaches. Meanwhile, inside him, Metis was a busy lady, making all sorts of noise and creating discomforts as she forged weapons for her growing daughter. In an attempt to get rid of the  headaches, Jupiter asked the god Vulcan to split open his head, which Vulcan was quite happy to do. When Vulcan made the slit, out popped a fully grown Minerva, clad and weaponed.

It would appear that Minerva was quite appreciative of Vulcan, this amazing painting  by Jacopo Zucchi depicting her at Vulcan's forge. 

In this painting, she's dressed in what I'd call a much more Roman-army like attire, but this time minus the shield. 

Next time I'm down in Edinburgh, I'll pop in again to the National Galleries, Scotland, and have another good look at this version of Minerva. 

There are other stories associated with Minerva, in particular one about Arachne which is in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The story can be read elsewhere, but essentially it's a cautionary one which points out that it's not a good idea to boast that you can do anything better than the gods. Arachne challenged Minerva to a weaving competition. Whether, or not, she in fact was a better weaver Arachne ends up as a spider! Mortals should never consider themselves as good as the gods...or goddesses. 

Along with Jupiter and Juno, Minerva is  one of the Capitoline trio of gods. And also along with Vesta and Diana, Minerva is one of the 'virgin' goddesses who vowed never to marry. In mythology, the famous hero, Aeneas, having escaped from the besieged city of Troy, was said to have brought a  statue of Minerva to Rome whereupon it was installed into the Temple of Vesta. It was said that as long as Minerva's statue was safe in that temple, then Rome itself was safe.  

The painter Peter Paul Rubens painted a number of works which included Minerva, this one above  showing Minerva protecting Pax from the somewhat lusty god, Mars. Minerva is said to have also declined Mars' advances...

This painting above, also by Peter Paul Rubens, is of Thetis and Minerva. A lot less cluttered, I look at this painting and wonder exactly what the sea nymph Thetis is saying to Minerva. Is she seducing Minerva, or is she just a bit gossipy? You can decide for yourself! 

The Quinquatria festival, which began on the 19th March, went on for 5 days. At some point, Minerva took over the festival (or most of it) which had before been the dominion of Mars, initially celebrating the spring equinox and the rebirth of the fields. On the first day of the festival, no blood was shed but during the subsequent 4 days there were gladiatorial spectacles where, presumably, it was fine to shed plenty of blood!

The fifth and last day of the Quinquatria festival (March 23rd) was feted in honour of Mars and the Sabine goddess Nerine - I wonder what Minerva thought about that? The 23rd March was also the  Tubilustrium. The Tubilustrium was the beginning of the traditional military campaign season and was a celebration that was designed to ensure the army were prepared for war. Sacred trumpets (tubae/ tubi?) were used in the ceremony which traditionally took place in the Atrium Sutorium, the Hall of the Shoemakers in Rome, where a female (ewe) lamb was sacrificed. Not everyone attended the ceremony but the population were reminded of it because the Salii - the 'leaping priests ' - made a procession around the streets dancing and singing. The Salii were 12 patrician youths who, according to the poet Ovid, were dressed in old fashioned military garb, special helmets, and they carried special bronze shields (ancilia). The traditional hymns they sang were probably designed to protect the armies of Rome.

From Trajan's Column

Minerva became associated with military victory but she is also associated with proffering the olive branch of peace, Pompey dedicating a temple to her in Rome after his successful campaigns in the east.

Minerva was also the goddess of the strategy of war which is my tenuous link to Roman Scotland! 

The Emperor Domitian claimed Minerva was his special protectress but, in terms of Roman Scotland, I have my doubts on his protestations since he ordered so many of his legionary and auxiliary units to leave Caledonia to help him subdue the Chatti in Lower Germania. 

I'd love to know if General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola was a true devotee of Minerva, but so far I've not seen that referred to. His biographer, Cornelius Tacitus, does hint that Agricola was as superstitious as just about everyone else in Ancient Rome, so in Agricola's Bane, #4 of my Roman Scotland Clan Saga, my character Agricola mentions quite a few gods and goddesses. You'll have to read the series to find out if Minerva is one of his favourites! 

The painting at left is of Minerva slaying Discord, also by Peter Paul Rubens.

I find there's something rather grotesque about the 'Discord' here. Minerva's face is relatively feminine but  her upswept arm is masculine. The figure of Discord is decidedly  muscular as well.

I'd love to know what Rubens was thinking as he constructed this painting. 

I really love the early works by Botticelli, this one below perhaps representing Minerva as the Greek Pallas Athena with a centaur. The sad, reflective expressions are juxtaposed for me by the deadly battle axe carried by the goddess. The leafy decoration may hide some of her body but the leafy crown seems to me to be a token gesture to Christianity as opposed to Roman mythology,  which is the essence of the depiction. 

It wasn't only artists who drew inspiration from Minerva. I'll finish this post by leaving you with a short piece of music by Joseph Strauss. 

Which is your favourite painting from the above selection? Or did you prefer the short musical interlude? Please tell me in the comment box below.

Till tomorrow and more #A2ZChallenge posts...

Slainthe!  

http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=1403 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minerva_slaying_Discord,_by_Peter_Paul_Rubens.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Paul_Rubens_(taller)_-_Thetis_y_Minerva.jpg

Jacopo Zucchi  Minerva at the the Forge of Vulcan

https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/pallas-and-the-centaur