The most celebrated of the art monuments that relate to Juno is the Juno Ludovisi, a colossal marble bust of remarkable beauty, which, thanks to casts and photographs, is tolerably well known. Her lofty and commanding countenance is the ideal of perfect womanly beauty, combining in a rare degree woman’s chief ornaments—dignity and grace.
After this comes the Juno Barberini of the Vatican Museum, an entire and upright figure of great size (Fig. 6), distinguished by the admirable draping of the garments. The Farnese Juno, now in the Naples Museum, also deserves mention. In the same museum there is a singularly beautiful head of Hera (Fig. 7), which perhaps lays claim to reflect the conception of Polycletus.
The characteristic features of Juno are a somewhat prominent chin, expressing unbending determination of will; somewhat curling lips, well-defined nostrils, large full eyes, and a high and noble forehead. The attributes of the goddess consist of the sceptre and diadem, significant of her power; the veil (often omitted in the statues of later artists), as a symbol of the married woman; the votive bowl in the hand, the pomegranate as a symbol of love, and the peacock or goose at her feet, also at times the cuckoo, as herald of spring.
3. Pallas Athene (Minerva).—The accounts which the Greeks gave of the birth of Pallas vary considerably. The most common is that which has been already mentioned. According to this, Zeus produced her from his head, which he had ordered Hephæstus to cleave open. The great goddess of war, in full armour, with poised spear, then sprang forth from her father’s head, chanting a war-song, whilst a mighty commotion both on sea and land announced the great event to the world. In her physical character Pallas appears as the goddess of the dawn. The birth of the dawn from the forehead of the sky is not only a natural idea, but one which can be traced in the legends of other nations. Several of the other stories of her birth are connected with the name Tritogenia, the daughter of Tritos, a god, whose name, though not actually found in Greek mythology, may be traced in Amphitrite, Triton, and the Lake Tritonis. This name, which originally expressed the birth of the dawn from the water, was afterwards explained in various ways, and the first part was even derived from a provincial Greek word meaning head. Looked at from her ethical side, she appears as the goddess of wisdom, a reflection and personification of that profound wisdom and sagacity with which Father Zeus controls the destinies of the world. Hence we may easily gather the other features of her character. She is, in the first place, the protectress of states; and all that their welfare requires in peace or war proceeds from her. Thus she appears as goddess of peace as well as war. In the latter capacity she accompanies the army on its march, inspires the soldiers with ardour for the fray, and rewards them with victory and rich spoils; she also affords her mighty protection to towns and cities at home. In Homer she figures, besides, as the kindly guide and protectress of individual heroes, such as Odysseus, Achilles, Diomedes. It was she who first taught mankind to manage the horse, and to build ships and chariots; she also invented the war-trumpet and flute. As goddess of war she usually wears, besides helmet, shield, and spear, the dreadful ægis. The latter, in art monuments, is represented as a breastplate covered with dragon’s scales, and surrounded with serpents, in the midst of which is the dreadful head of Medusa, which has the effect of turning every one that looks on it into stone.
As goddess of peace, Athene is equally lavish in blessing. Everything necessary either to the physical or intellectual welfare of mankind was believed to proceed from her, and to be subject to her influence. Accordingly, useful inventions of all kinds are ascribed to her. It was she who first gave men the rake and the plough; it was she who invented the distaff and loom, as well as the art of dyeing woven stuffs, and many other feminine accomplishments.
By later writers this skill in art is extended to other things, and she is represented as the patroness of every branch of science, art, and manufacture.
She is also called Athene Hygiea, because she was believed to send pure atmosphere, to ward off pestilence, and to promote the growth and health of the youth of the land.
We cannot wonder, therefore, that the worship of a goddess so benevolent, and exercising such an important influence on human life, was very extensive in Greece. Nowhere did she receive a higher degree of veneration than at Athens, of which city she was really the tutelary deity. Her most important shrine was the Parthenon (temple of the virgin goddess), which was erected by Pericles on the Acropolis, and the remains of which, even in the present day, excite the wonder and admiration of the world. The whole land of Attica was, indeed, in a certain measure, the peculiar property of the goddess, which she won after her well-known contest with Poseidon. Zeus had decreed the sovereignty over Attica to that deity who should bestow on the land the most useful present. Poseidon thereupon created the horse; but Athene caused the olive-tree to grow, and was thus held to have won the victory. The sacred olive-tree, which was thus called into existence, was shown in the Temple of Erechtheus on the Acropolis, and possessed such a wonderful vitality that, when the Persians burnt it after capturing the town, it immediately put forth a fresh shoot. Argos and Corinth were also renowned seats of the worship of Pallas Athene; and she also enjoyed the highest veneration in Sparta, Bœotia, Thessaly, Arcadia, and Rhodes.
The Roman Minerva, whose name was derived from a root meaning “to think,” was Hellenised at a very early period, and identified with the Greek Pallas. In Rome, however, the warlike character of the goddess was completely merged in that of the peaceful inventress and patroness of the art and sciences, and of all handiwork of women. She was here worshipped, in company with Jupiter and Juno, as the tutelary deity of the city and empire, and had, in consequence, her own shrine in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. She also had temples on the Aventine and Cœlian hills, to which a third was added by Pompey, in 61 B.C., in the Campus Martius.
Festivals of the goddess.—The Panathenæa, the chief festival of the Greek Pallas, were celebrated with great pomp every four years. A solemn procession passed through the streets of Athens up to the Acropolis; and an offering was made to the goddess in the shape of a costly garment (peplus), artistically embroidered by the Athenian maidens. Horse races, athletic and musical contests, took place at the same time. Another festival of less importance, called the Lesser Panathenæa, was celebrated every year at Athens in honour of the goddess.