Minerva & Athena

 

Hey, demigods! This week’s battle of the gods is between the goddesses Athena and Minerva. Is the only difference that they have different names or are there also other differences between them? Let’s find out! 

 

Athena: Athena is the goddess of wisdom, knowledge, and tactical war. She is also known as Pallas Athena or Athene. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis, an ex-wife of Zeus. Gaia and/or Ouranos had predicted that Metis would give birth to the child wiser than the father. Zeus was scared to be overthrown by his own children, just like Ouranos & Kronos, and decided to swallow the titan Metis while she was pregnant. After a while got Zeus a really bad headache, it was so bad that even Apollo couldn’t fix it. When the headache became unbearable, Zeus asked Hephaistos to cleave his head open. After Zeus’ head was cleaved open, Athena raised, fully armed and fully grown, from Zeus’ head. Athena is Zeus’ favourite daughter and Zeus let her and Hermes help Perseus (a half-blood son of Zeus) to kill medusa. When Perseus defeated Medusa, he gave her head to Athena who placed it on her shield Aegis. Athena was also the patroness of Athens (which is named after her) after winning the battle against Poseidon by giving an olive tree as a gift. She can be seen wearing a greek war helmet and holding a spear and Aegis (the shield with Medusa’s head on it). Her sacred animal is the owl. 

Minerva: Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, knowledge, and arts & crafts. Where Athena is more war/strategy focused, is Minerva more focussed on her arts & crafts side. Minerva was also more aggressive and crueler to mortals and she was more arrogant. The myth of Arachne is more a Roman myth, while the myth of Tiresias is more a Greek myth. In the myth of Arachne notices Minerva that Arachne very good is in weaving (what was one of Minerva’s things, as it counts as arts & crafts). Arachne was so good, that she even drew the attention of Minerva, Minerva challenged her for a battle to see who the best weaver was. They finished at the same time and the results looked equally beautiful. Minerva became mad and changed her into a spider. In the myth of Tiresias heard Tiresias something behind the bushes, he decided to look at what it was and saw Athena bathing. Athena didn’t really like that he saw her taking a bath and blinded him. After a while felt Athena sorry for Tiresias, he was just curious (and that was one of the things Athena supports). So instead of giving him his vision back, she made him a seer. If you asked him a question, he responded wisely (a little bit like an oracle). Minerva also can be seen wearing a war helmet and holding a spear and Aegis. Her sacred animal is, just like Athena’s, the owl. 

 

If you look at them, you’ll see that they have some similarities, but they also have some differences. Their appearance is the same and they have the same sacred animals. Their jobs are also a little bit similar, but Athena is more focussed on tactic war and strategy, and Minerva more focussed on Arts and Crafts. Another difference is their personality, Minerva is very jealous and takes often revenge on mortals who have bothered or insulted her, while Athena is a little bit more laid back and caring about the people who have the things that she likes to see in mortals (smarts, knowledge, inventions, curiosity, etc.).

If you have suggestions on which god or goddess next, let me know!