Roman Goddess Victoria & Asteroid 12 Victoria– Copenhagen, Denmark
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 55° 41.429 E 012° 35.951
33U E 349088 N 6174245
12 Victoria is a large main-belt asteroid, originally named after Queen Victoria. It was changed to be officially named after the Roman Goddess Victoria, otherwise known as Victory.
Waymark Code: WMHQ18
Location: Denmark
Date Posted: 08/02/2013
Views: 28
The Statue
The statue stands on top of a marble column commemorating the death of of Admiral Ivar Huitfeldt and his men in a naval battle off Stevns during the Great Northern War. The monument was constructed in 1886 to a design by Vilhelm Dahlerup. Ferdinand Edvard Ring was responsible for the statue of Victoria and for the reliefs, while Carl Brummerundertook the monument’s architectonic design.
On 4 October 1710, the ship-of-the-line Dannebrog, which Huitfeldt commanded, was set on fire during an encounter with the Swedes. He gave orders to continue the battle, which only came to an end when the ship blew up. Huitfeldt and 497 crew members were killed.
The Roman Goddess Victoria
In ancient Roman religion,
Victoria was the personified goddess of victory especially over death and determined who would be successful during war. She was normally worshipped by triumphant generals returning from war.
Although Admiral Ivar Huitfeldt died in the naval battle Sweden was ultimately defeated and so having Victoria on top of his memorial is still appropriate.
The Asteroid
The asteroid was discovered on September 13th 1850 by
J.R. Hind of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London.
He chose the name during the reign of Queen Victoria, but it was felt to be inappropriate to have the asteroid named after a living monarch.
However W. C. Bond, of the Harvard College Observatory held that the mythological condition was fulfilled and the name stayed as it was.
It has a diameter of 112.77 km, an orbital speed of 9.5 km/s and an orbital period of 3.57 Julian Years. It is the joint 117th largest known asteroid.