MINERVA, AEDES
a temple on the Aventine, first mentioned as becoming
the headquarters of the scribae and histriones during the second Punic
war (Fest. 333). It was restored by Augustus (Mon.
Anc. iv. 6=
Greek
x. 10, 11,
ναὸς ᾿Αθηνᾶς; cf. RGDA 81;
Rosch. ii. 664; Merlin 300-301), was
standing in the fourth century (Not. Reg. XIII), and is represented on the
Marble Plan (fr. 2) as peripteral hexastyle, about 22 metres wide and 45
long, with thirteen columns on each side. It seems to have been between
the temples of
LUNA and
DIANA (q.v.;
Oros. v. 12), probably near the
intersection of the modern Vie di S. Sabina and S. Prisca (Merlin 103).
The date of the foundation of this temple is not known. The day of
dedication is given in some of the sources as the Quinquatrus, 19th
March (Ov.
Fast. iii. 812; Fest. 257; Fast. Praen. ad xiii Kal. Apr.,
CIL ia. p. 234; cf. Fast. Philoc. ib. 260, where the date is erroneously
21st March); in others as 19th June (Ov.
Fast. vi. 728; Fast. Esq. Amit.
ad xiii Kal. Iul., CIL i². p. 211. 243; Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, 99). This
discrepancy has been explained by supposing that the later date was that
of the restored temple (Aust. de aed. sacr. 42 f.; WR 253;
Rosch. ii. 2985),
or that it referred to the constitutio of the temple, and the earlier to the
dedicatio (CIL i'. p. 312-313, 320; HJ 159).
