RomanArmyTalk
Minerva statue found in Italy (Aeneas landing) - Printable Version

+- RomanArmyTalk (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat)
+-- Forum: Research Arena (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: References & Reviews (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: Minerva statue found in Italy (Aeneas landing) (/showthread.php?tid=24925)



Minerva statue found in Italy (Aeneas landing) - emilio - 07-07-2015

Minerva statue found in Italy where, according to Virgil, Aeneas landed.

The “fortress with the temple of Minerva”, where, according to Virgil, Aeneas landed after the fall of Troy, could be in Castro (Lecce, Italy).
Italian archaeologists have found a large mutilated female statue (fourth century BC) and may represent the goddess Minerva.
Archaeologists have discovered also the phalanx of a finger and an arm, and they hope to find out in time the other elements missing. If it were possible to reassemble the statue would be at least four meters high.

http://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/07/04/foto/salento_scoperto_il_busto_di_minerva_cantato_nell_eneide-118334961/1/#1

In the third book of the Aeneid, according to John Dryden’s 17th-century translation, the poet describes the hero’s discovery of Italy thus:

“… And now the rising morn with rosy light
Adorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight;
When we from far, like bluish mists, descry
The hills, and then the plains, of Italy …
The gentle gales their flagging force renew,
And now the happy harbour is in view.
Minerva’s temple then salutes our sight,
Plac’d, as a landmark, on the mountain’s height …”

arrivederci,
Emilio