FANUM MINERVAE
FANUM MINERVAE
Menerva, the Etruscan-Italic goddess of wisdom, knowledge, war and crafts, the protector of cities, heroes like Hercle (Heracles), Achle (Achilles), Perse (Perseus) and Uthuste (Odysseus), the protector of virgins and little children, the Healer, the goddess who, next to her father Tin (Zeus) ruled the heavens with her flash of lightning, the winged, owl-eyed virgin mother was very highly esteemed and worshipped by the Etruscans.
She is my favorite goddess. When I had nearly completed my studies of archaeology, I wrote my final thesis about her. It is a study into the Etruscan-Italic aspects of a goddess, who was, to a very great extent, adapted from the Greek civilization, so much admired by the Etruscans, as you can read in the list of functions Menerva had. But Menerva also kept indigenous aspects, like being a chthonic goddess (i.e. of the earth), a mother figure, a goddess with wings and a flash of lightning, which the Greek Athena didn't have. Later on, in the Roman civilization, Menerva became Minerva, one of the great triad Juppiter, Juno and Minerva, which in fact was adapted from the Etruscans by the Romans.
Several years after the issue of my thesis, I've started to translate my work into the English language. It contains information about sites where the goddess was worshipped, which functions she held on these sites, inscriptions concearning her and her worshippers, votives, quotations in ancient literature and the theories about her, developed by archaeologists and other scientists. The translation has just begun and I intend to work everything out in a series of articles, which I call the "thesis-series". After completion of a great deal of the translations, a search engine will be added to this page for a quick and easy search in the material. As for now, I relate to the place where the first work has been published:
Articles about Menerva by Thanchvil Cilnei ( the "thesis series"):
1. MENERVA
2. MENERVA's Testimonies (Veii)
Menerva Sites:
Mythological scenes with Menerva in Etruscan Art
Meaning of the name "Menerva" : "gifted with knowledge/wisdom" (*me-nes-Fa)
Other forms attested of the Etruscan name: Menrva, Merva, Mera, Meneruva, Meneruca.
Greek equivalent: Athena, Athene, Athenaia (related Greek goddess: Aphaia [Aegina])
Roman equivalent: Menerva, Minerva