Thomas Bulfinch (17961867). Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories
of Gods and Heroes. 1913. XIV. a. Minerva and Arachne MINERVA,
the goddess of wisdom, was the daughter of Jupiter. She was said
to have leaped forth from his brain, mature, and in complete
armor. She presided over the useful and ornamental arts, both
those of mensuch as agriculture and navigationand those of
women,spinning, weaving, and needlework. She was also a warlike
divinity; but it was defensive war only that she patronized, and
she had no sympathy with Marss savage love of violence and
bloodshed. Athens was her chosen seat, her own city, awarded to
her as the prize of a contest with Neptune, who also aspired to
it. The tale ran that in the reign of Cecrops, the first king of
Athens, the two deities contended for the possession of the
city. The gods decreed that it should be awarded to that one who
produced the gift most useful to mortals. Neptune gave the
horse; Minerva produced the olive. The gods gave judgment that
the olive was the more