Menrva

Menrva, also known as Menerva is the goddess of war, wisdom, art and health. She is the daughter of Tinia, god of the sky and Uni, goddess of love and marriage.

Often, Menrva is depicted in a more essentially Etruscan style, as a lightning thrower. Martianus mentions her as one of nine Etruscan lightning deities. Depiction with a thunderbolt may be seen on later Roman coins of Minerva as well.

Menrva seems to have been associated with weather phenomena. The Greeks never attributed an association with weather to Athena, making this another important difference between the two religious cults that demonstrates their separate characteristics.

Menrva's name is indigenous to Italy and might even be of Etruscan origin, stemming from an Italic moon goddess, Meneswā 'She who measures'. It is thought that the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. However, this has been disputed. Carl Becker suggests that her name appears to contain the PIE root men-, which he notes was linked in Greek primarily to memory words (cf. Greek "mnestis"/μνῆστις 'memory, remembrance, recollection'), but which more generally referred to 'mind' in most Indo-European languages.

Menrva often was depicted in the Judgement of Paris, called Elcsntre (Alexander, his alternative name in Greek) in Etruscan, one of the most popular Greek myths in Etruria.

Menrva was part of a triple deity with Uni and Tinia, later reflected in the Roman Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva.