Temple of Minerva

The Temple of Minerva at Dougga, now remains only in outline, dates from the middle of the 2nd century CE, ca. 183-60 AD. The temple was dedicated to Minerva (Menrfa, or Menrva), a Roman goddess whom Hellenizing Romans from the second century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the manifestation of a virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic and the inventor of music. The usual depiction of Minerva shows her as an owl, a symbol of wisdom. It was said that the building was gifted by the patron of the civitas at the end of the 1st century CE. It was funded by a priestess named Iulia Paula Laenatiana who followed the imperial cult. Today, only a few stones and some columns of it still stand on a slope. The podium was at the le...Read More