Merva
Menrva (also spelled Menerva or Menfra) was an Etruscan goddess of war, art, wisdom, and medicine. She contributed much of her character to the Roman Minerva and like her was eventually seen as a counterpart of the Greek Athena. She was the child of Uni and Tinia.
Although Menrva was seen by Hellenized Etruscans as their counterpart to Athena Menrva has some unique traits that make it clear that she was not an import from Greece. Etruscan artists under the influence of Greek culture, however, liked to portray Menrva with Gorgoneion, helmet, spear, and shield. Etruscan art show Menrva in much of the same adventures as those of her counterpart, such as being born by bursting from her father's head already fully armed and armored, protecting and aiding heroes such as Hercle (Heracles) and Pherse (Perseus), confronting the dragon (alongside Jason) guarding the Golden Fleece, considering granting immortality to Tydeus before being disgusted by his cannibalism, and partaking in the Judgement of Paris (known to the Etruscans as Elcsntre). On a bronze mirror found at Praeneste, she attends Perseus, who consults two Graeae, and, on another, holds high the head of Medusa, while she and seated Perseus and Hermes all gaze safely at its reflection in a pool at their feet. These images are more likely to reflect literary sources than any cult practice. On a bronze mirror from Bolsena, c. 300 BCE, she is portrayed attending a scene of Prometheus Unbound with Esplace (Asclepius), who bandages Prometheus' chest.
While most Greek and Roman traditions claimed Athena/Minerva as an unmarried and childless maiden, these are not universal and these traditions did not seem to apply to Menrva. Nancy Thomson de Grummond stated that "there is good evidence that she was involved in romance... even more surprising is that her consort may be none other than the great hero/god Hercle." One bronze mirror from c. 325 BC (Morlanwelz, CSE Belgique:1.25a) shows the two as an intimate pair, with a nude Hercle embracing Menrva, who is clothed (including her distinctive helmet and aegis) and leaning into him. Another mirror from c. 300 BC (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Antikensammilung) shows Menrva ardently embraced by a naked youth with a bow underfoot, probably also representing Hercle. A bronze mirror from Vulci, c. 425-400 BCE (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung) also shows a nude beardless Hercle, picking up Epiur, here depicted as a young adult; Menrva, present next to Hercle, raises her right hand in a gesture of farewell or affection. Several other mirrors show Menrva and Hercle mutually holding a baby (sometimes identified as Epiur), causing some historians to theorize that they were Epiur's parents or foster parents. Another mirror depicts Menrva with her right arm wrapped around Hercle, who is holding a baby. The Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae describes the scene as follows: "Bronze mirror fr. Heligoland, Kropatschek ColI. - Hornbostel, o. c. 56, 97 no. 118. - C. 300 B. C. - H. [Hercle] and Menerva in center of ensemble with child. H. (nude, lionskin over l. arm) holds child in l. as on 153. Menerva embraces H. with her r. Inscribed, fragmentary: - Leinth (far r.), Turon (r., background), Men[rva]; male figure to l. of H. is too incomplete to identify; in background, temple architecture; below: Catmithe (~Ganymedes/Catmite) with eagle; above: satyr?".
Often, Menrva is depicted in a more essentially Etruscan style, as a lightning thrower. Martianus mentions her as one of nine Etruscan lightning deities. Etruscan style works often depict Menrva with a thunderbolt; the thunderbolt imagery seems to be unique to Etruscan Menrva images. The Greeks never attributed an association with weather to Athena, making this another important difference between the two religious cults that demonstrates their separate characteristics.
Menrva's name is indigenous to Italy and might even be of Etruscan origin, stemming from an Italic moon goddess, *Meneswā 'She who measures'. It is thought that the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. However, this has been disputed. Carl Becker suggests that her name appears to contain the PIE root *men-, which he notes was linked in Greek primarily to memory words (cf. Greek "mnestis"/μνῆστις 'memory, remembrance, recollection'), but which more generally referred to 'mind' in most Indo-European languages.
Menrva often was depicted in the Judgement of Paris, called Elcsntre (Alexander, his alternative name in Greek) in Etruscan, one of the most popular Greek myths in Etruria.
Menrva was part of a triple deity with Uni and Tinia, later reflected in the Roman Capitoline Triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
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