The Sculpture
Architectural Sculpture on Abtech House, 18 Park Row, Leeds (former West Riding Union Bank building). Joseph Thewlis ( 1862-1921) Architects Oliver and Dodgshun, 1900). Sandstone (above red Swedish granite). c. 1900. Thewlis, the son of a factory engine-stoker, was a native of Leeds who became a stonemason and sculptor, and traded as Thewlis & Co. from about 1900 to 1911. This four-storey building is located on what The Builder described in 1896 as "the Pall-Mall of Leeds" (qtd. Leach et al. 438) — a street that still carries memories of the city's commercial heyday. It has a distinctive ground floor with interlaced strapwork decorating the red granite. The fine full-length frieze just above it shows Minerva, in her role of Goddess of Commerce, on her throne with figures on each side depicting the bank's trading connections with various parts of the world."
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The Asteroid
The asteroid was discovered on August 24th 1867 by
James Craig Watson, the Canadian-American director of the Detroit Observatory. He discovered a total of 22 asteroids, Minerva being his second find.
On August 16th 2009 it was discovered that 93 Minerva has two small moons. They are 4 and 3 km in diameter and separated by 630km and 380 km respectively. They were discovered by
Frank Marchis , a French astronomer, and his blog explains how he did it.
The Roman Goddess Minerva
"Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. From the second century BC onward, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena, though the Romans did not stress her relation to battle and warfare as the Greeks did.
Following the Greek myths around Athena, she was born of Metis, who had been swallowed by Jupiter, and burst from her father's head, fully armed and clad in armor. Jupiter forcibly impregnated the titaness Metis, which resulted in her attempting to change shape (or shapeshift) to escape him. Jupiter then recalled the prophecy that his own child would overthrow him as he had Saturn, and in turn, Saturn had Caelus.
Fearing that their child would be male, and would grow stronger than he was and rule the Heavens in his place, Jupiter swallowed Metis whole after tricking her into turning herself into a fly. The titaness gave birth to Minerva and forged weapons and armor for her child while within Jupiter's body. In some versions of the story, Metis continued to live inside of Jupiter's mind as the source of his wisdom. Others say she was simply a vessel for the birth of Minerva. The constant pounding and ringing left Jupiter with agonizing pain. To relieve the pain, Vulcan used a hammer to split Jupiter's head and, from the cleft, Minerva emerged, whole, adult, and in full battle armor.
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She was the virgin goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, and the crafts. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the "owl of Minerva", which symbolised her association with wisdom and knowledge as well as, less frequently, the snake and the olive tree."
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