Athena2.0102_Brumidi

Athena2.0102_Brumidi

Architect of the Capitol aoc.gov
ogcma Athena1.0000_Reid
Classical Sources:
Homer, Il. 1.193-218, 5.733ff., 5.875, 9.390, 14.178ff.
Homer, Od. 7.110ff., 20.72ff., and passim
Homeric Hymns "To Athena" 11 and 28
Aeschylus, Eum. 397-1047
Sophocles, Ajax 1-133
Euripides, Suppl. 1183-1226
Euripides, Trojan Women. 48-97
Euripides, Iph. Taur. 1135-1499; Ion 1548-1622; Rhesus 595-674
Orphic Hymns, 32 "To Pallas"
Ap. Rhod., Arg., passim
Diod. Sicul. Bibl., 3.70.1-6
Ovid, Met., 4.790-803, 6.1-145, 8.251ff.
Apollodorus Libr. 3.14.1-7
Hyginus Fabulae 142, 165, 168
Pausanias, 2.1.3, 2.5.1

Antonio Brumidi, "Minerva" instructing American founders in the arts of science, from the Apotheosis of Washington in the Capitol rotunda dome, 1865.

Minerva instructs identifiable American founders in the remarkable arts of technologized civilization: Benjamin Franklin, polymath and inventor of lightning rod, bifocals, etc.; Robert Fulton, pioneer in submarine and steamship technology; Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph; and, importantly, the rising generation of American boys and girls.

Fresco depicting George Washington, Minerva, and historical figures surrounded by allegorical deities and a rainbow

Iconographically, the upturned spear with helmet leaned backward indicates a time of peace. Consistent with the theme throughout Brumidi's dome, the goddess is subservient to the new sky-god (Washington as Phidian Zeus) while dispatching Olympian knowledge to the rising nation. This learning is imparted by other Olympians around the dome: Ceres, Neptune, Mercury. Vulcan.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.