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The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Revered by craftsmen, merchants, statesmen, military leaders, artists, and philosophers alike, Minerva was a central figure in the Roman mythos. Temples dedicated to Minerva were plentiful throughout the Roman Empire, and several festivals were held each year in her honor.
As with other Roman deities, the worship of Minerva was eclipsed by the rise of Christianity, which came to dominate Roman hearts and minds in the fourth century CE. The wisest of all gods and goddesses, Minerva had a calculating mind that she used to achieve her aims. The chastest of Roman deities, Minerva spurned the advances of men and gods alike in order to retain her virginal purity. As a goddess of peace and the civilized arts, Minerva sometimes wore a chiton—a set of long robes worn to floor-length by a lady, and knee-length by men—and a crown of laurels.
Most depictions of the goddess portrayed her in this latter attire. In her Hellenic form, Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter, the king of the gods, and Metis, a giant or Titan. Other half siblings included Mercury , the messenger god of commerce, sailing, and travel, Venus , the goddess of love and sexual desire, and Proserpina, the maiden goddess abducted by Pluto.
Later Romans appropriated the myths of the Greek goddess Athena and applied them to Minerva; thus, the Roman story of the birth of Minerva is identical to the Greek story of the birth of Athena. It began—as stories involving Jupiter often did—with his sexual promiscuity. In this case, Jupiter had an affair with a woman named Metis, who in the Greek tradition was described as a Titan. When Metis became pregnant, Jupiter, who had seized control of the universe by overthrowing his father Saturn, learned of a prophecy foretelling his downfall at the hands of his own son.
Biding her time, the unborn Minerva plotted her emergence from the womb. Virgil indicated that Minerva hatched the scheme that ultimately led to the sack of Troy. An owl is a reminder that you may start a new chapter in your life. In Mongolia and Japan, owls are considered good omens. The Aztec god of death, Miclantecuhtli, was frequently depicted surrounded by owls. The Native American peoples attach a number of meanings to the appearance of an owl, but owls are generally seen as messengers from the spirit world to humans.
Most great horned owls mate for life, but in the fall the pair begin a courtship display, loudly calling to each other. And these owls have a range of other vocalizations, too, some of which sound like barks or a screeching cat.
They are seen to bring luck and wisdom, while their screech is considered an omen of death. In Hindu mythology, an owl is the vehicle of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. People worship Lakshmi on Diwali, while exorcists sacrifice the bird in black-magic rituals that are believed to dispel bad luck and bring prosperity.
Owls in India are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, , making it illegal to poach, trap, or trade in owls or their body parts. Raising awareness of the issue is a first step in bringing about a change in attitude towards these protected species.
In Greek mythology, the goddess Athene was thought to symbolize wisdom and was often depicted with an owl nearby. The Greeks also thought owls had some sort of inner light that let them see at night. Lakshmi is depicted in Indian art as an elegantly dressed, prosperity-showering golden-coloured woman with an owl as her vehicle, signifying the importance of economic activity in maintenance of life, her ability to move, work and prevail in confusing darkness.
Table of Contents. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Do not sell my personal information. Cookie Settings Accept. Manage consent. She later had two brothers, Malcolm and Robert Jnr , who revealed magical ability in due course. As a child, Minerva helped her mother conceal from her father the accidents and embarrassments the young witch's magic sometimes caused.
She was very close to her Muggle father, whom in temperament she resembled more than her mother. On Minerva's eleventh birthday, Minerva received her admittance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , at the time headed by Professor Armando Dippet. Before coming to the school, she visited Diagon Alley and purchased her wand from Ollivander's Wand Shop. The wand she selected was an unusual specimen, 9 and a half inches, fir and dragon heartstring.
Now free to be with her kind and to exercise her talents, Minerva saw how her mother sobbed that day, not only out of pride, but also out of envy.
During her Sorting , she proved to be a hatstall : the Sorting Hat spent five-and-a-half minutes wavering between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before deciding to place her in the former. Minerva's school career overlapped by two years with that of Pomona Sprout , and the two students enjoyed an excellent relationship, both then and in later years. Minerva was quickly recognised as the most outstanding student of her year with a particular talent for Transfiguration.
By the end of her education at Hogwarts, she had achieved an impressive record: top grades in O. Under the guidance of her inspirational Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore , Minerva had managed to become an Animagus ; her animal form, with its distinctive markings tabby cat, square spectacles markings around eyes were duly logged in the Ministry of Magic's Animagus Registry.
Minerva played for Gryffindor Quidditch team in her student years, in which she proved to be gifted. However, she suffered a nasty fall in her final year: a foul during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match which would decide the Quidditch Cup winner.
This event left her with a concussion, several broken ribs, and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch. A younger Minerva McGonagall.
She returned to her family's manse to spend one last summer with her family before moving to London. During these months an eighteen-years old Minerva met Dougal McGregor , a local Muggle , who was the handsome, clever, and funny son of a local farmer.
The two shared a sense of humour, argued fiercely, and suspected mysterious depths in each other. Minerva fell head-over-heels in love with McGregor, being the first and only time in her life that she might have been said to lose her head. Eventually, McGregor proposed to Minerva on a ploughed field and she accepted his offer.
That night, however, Minerva was unable to tell her parents of her engagement. Thinking about her future, she realised that wedding a Muggle who didn't know that she was a witch would mean Minerva would follow her mother's footsteps and live unhappily with her wand locked away, shredding all of her ambitions. Early next morning, Minerva went to tell McGregor she had changed her mind and could not marry him, aware that if she broke the International Statute of Secrecy and told him why, she would lose the job at the Ministry for which she was giving him up.
She could give him no good reason for her change of heart, leaving McGregor devastated and left for London three days later. Though her feelings for the Ministry of Magic were affected by the fact that she had recently suffered an emotional crisis, Minerva didn't much enjoy her home in London and workplace, where some of her co-workers had an ingrained anti-Muggle bias.
Given her adoration of her Muggle father and continuing love for Dougal, she deplored these ideas. Despite this, Minerva was among the most efficient, gifted employees in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and became fond of her much older boss, Elphinstone Urquart. After two years at the Ministry, she was offered a prestigious promotion, yet found herself turning it down as she missed her home in Scotland.
Minerva in her earlier years as a Professor. Instead, Minerva sent an owl to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , asking whether she might be considered for a teaching post.
The owl returned within hours, offering her a job in the Transfiguration department, under Head of Department, Albus Dumbledore. Through her efforts and work, Minerva proved to be a inspirational yet strict teacher, maintaining control of her students with a stern hand that made her someone not to be crossed. By this time, Minerva was shocked to learn from her oblivious mother in the middle of a chatty letter of local news that Dougal had married the daughter of another farmer. Albus discovered his former student and colleague in tears in her classroom late that evening, and she confessed the whole story to him.
He offered both comfort and told Minerva some of his own family history, previously unknown to her. The confidences exchanged that night between were to form the basis of a lasting friendship. Among her first students were Newt Scamander and Leta Lestrange , the latter of whom was frequently in trouble with Minerva for retaliating to vicious gossip about her half-brother 's death.
A notable example of this is when Leta hexed a fellow student with the dark charm Oscausi during her third year, after the other girl had been speaking ill of Leta behind her back. Minerva was called upon to fix the situation, but Leta ran from her and Minerva was forced to chase her around the school, all the while docking points Minerva ended up docking a total of points.
When she couldn't find Leta, Minerva removed the spell from the girl but promptly restored it with an irritated "Whisht! During Gellert Grindelwald's rise, Minerva still taught at Hogwarts and was a close confidant to Dumbledore.
She was quite critical of the Ministry of Magic 's involvement at Hogwarts and was furious when Torquil Travers and a team of Aurors interrupted Dumbledore's Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, protesting that this was "a school.
Through her early years at Hogwarts, Minerva remained close friends with her former boss in the Ministry, Elphinstone. Surprised, embarrassed, and still in love with Dougal, she declined. However, the two still remained in contact for years. Later on in her career, Minerva rose to the position of Head of the Transfiguration department.
Her lessons consisted of but were not limited to match to needle , animal to water goblet , beetle to button , and mouse to snuffbox transformations, as well as Switching Spells , Vanishing , and Conjuring.
Furthermore, Minerva was appointed the position of Head of Gryffindor House , the house in which she used to reside whilst studying at Hogwarts. After he became Headmaster, Dumbledore would later on in his career also trust her enough to allow her to become Deputy Headmistress of the school and fill in for him on the occasions of his absence. Previously, she was suspicious of Riddle in spite of the fact that she wasn't his teacher and thus shared her fears with Dumbledore in private.
Even so, McGonagall chose to not join the Order of the Phoenix , which was seen as a renegade outfit by the Ministry at the time. Instead, unbeknownst to her students, she spent many nights spying for them in the guise of a tabby cat, bringing the Aurors crucial information on the activities of Voldemort's followers. Minerva placing the Sorting Hat on Lily Evans.
Despite her involvement in the Ministry's efforts to contain the threat of the Dark Lord's rise to power, Minerva got through the war unscathed. However, she suffered personal bereavements: the loss of her brother Robert ; of two of her favourite students, Lily Evans and James Potter ; and of Dougal McGregor , who was murdered in a random anti-Muggle attack by the Death Eaters, along with his wife and children. This last news was a terrible blow to Minerva, who wondered if she would have been able to save him if she had married him.
Concurrently, as the war raged outside the castle walls, the school was plagued by a series of curses inadvertently unleashed by one of the students, Jacob , who began to meddle with the five fabled Cursed Vaults. Like the rest of the faculty, Professor McGonagall did everything she could to protect the students, although they were ultimately unable to prevent the injury of several students and the death of a Slytherin student named Duncan Ashe ; this all led to Jacob's expulsion.
Minerva and Dumbledore delivering Harry to the Dursleys ' home. In , baby Harry Potter "defeated" Lord Voldemort in his family home at Godric's Hollow after his parents James and Lily Potter both members of the Order of the Phoenix were murdered whilst protecting their son from harm.
The defeat of Voldemort ultimately ended the war and his followers were arrested and those that escaped went into hiding. Minerva travelled to Surrey and there spent an entire day observing the Dursley family seeing whether or not they met the standards of looking after Harry as they were his only living relatives with his parents now dead.
What she saw horrified her; the Dursleys couldn't have been any less like Lily and James if they had tried. She was thus present, along with Rubeus Hagrid , when Dumbledore placed Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep, despite her objections to leaving him with these Muggles , whom she considered to be the "worst kind" of them.
She kept a close eye on Harry from time to time during his early childhood, as did the members of the Order of the Phoenix. After the First Wizarding War had ended, Minerva continued on with her career at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , carrying on teaching the art of Transfiguration.
Elphinstone, who had never ceased to love her, proposed every now and then until she finally accepted after Dougal's death. Their engagement happened during a summertime stroll around the lake in the Hogwarts grounds.
The retired Elphinstone bought a small cottage for the two of them in Hogsmeade, whence Minerva could travel easily to work every day. Although the couple had no children, her nieces and nephews visited often. This was a period of great fulfilment for Minerva. In , three years into their marriage, Elphinstone died from a Venomous Tentacula bite.
It is unknown whether she still owns the cottage. Always a brave and private person, Minerva poured all her energies into her work and few people — excepting perhaps Albus — ever realised how much she suffered. During the second year of Jacob's sibling , when Ben Copper when missing, they asked Minerva about it as she was the Head of the Gryffindor House. She first asked if Jacob's sibling had seen him in the Hogwarts Express and if he had been acting strange and after learning that they didn't but Penny Haywood did and Ben seemed fine even though he was always a bit odd.
She mentioned that the Cursed ice may have changed Ben and slightly chastised Jacob's sibling for their attempt to enter the Cursed Vault , asking them if they had learnt anything that said of a threat beyond the door and appealed to them that this involved all of Hogwarts, not just Jacob.
Learning that they had found and read a message about an Ice Knight and Vanished Stairs , Minerva said she will discuss this with Dumbledore and accidentally revealed that she and the other teachers had once dealt with the Cursed Ice, which she quickly covered by telling Jacob's sibling that he is free to help in the search of Ben and ask for him to tell her personally should he succeed, promising to reward him.
Minerva was perplexed that the Knockback Jinx had no effect on the ice, noting on how they once could use it to shatter the ice, and even more so when Snape callously suggested they use Incendio to melt the ice while also burning him to death, as she realised from how the Cursed Ice had began to expand throughout the school that someone had been tampering with the Vaults. Ignoring Snape's frustrated questioning of Dumbledore's whereabouts, Minerva and Snape used the Fire-Making Spell to successfully free Ben from the Cursed Ice, taking care to target as further as possible from his body.
Knowing Minerva was the only one left in the school with Dumbledore gone that could possibly teach them the Revelio Charm , Jacob's sibling turned to her to learn the spell. At first Minerva was baffled due to how advanced the charm was but ultimately agreed to teach them if they proved themselves sufficiently adept, impressed by their desire to help Hogwarts and study Transfiguration.
Finding their abilities to have reached the level required in the class, Minerva called them to have their private lesson and after Jacob's sibling successfully learned Revelio, Minerva congratulated them and noted the usefulness of the spell.
In friend of Albus Dumbledore , Nicolas Flamel , had the Philosopher's Stone that was keeping him alive moved from his safe in Gringotts to Hogwarts for safe keeping. Minerva contributed to the defences set up around the magical artefact by transfiguring an enormous chess set and animating it to behave as a normal Wizard's chess set would.
As part of its protection duty, it required that the person or persons seeking to get past would have to take the place of a piece on the board and play an actual game of wizard's chess, at great physical risk to themselves. This larger than life version of Wizard's Chess is known to be brutally violent and sacrificial for wizards to have to take part in themselves.
Minerva directing students during the Sorting ceremony. Also in this year, Harry Potter , whom Minerva had been watching over for many years, would start his first year of education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry , not knowing this, as he did not know that he was a wizard. Once Harry eventually arrived at Hogwarts, after the delivery of many acceptance letters, Harry was Sorted into the house of Gryffindor which Minerva was head of. Harry was therefore again placed under the watchful eye and care of McGonagall.
Though Minerva often maintained her strict persona in regards to the boy, she wasn't above bending the rules for him on occasion, such as when she caught him flying on a broomstick without proper supervision.
Instead of expelling him, which was Madam Hooch's stated punishment for anyone caught doing so, Minerva instead took him to see Oliver Wood , captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team , to comment on his prodigious skill with the broom. Harry made the team, remarkable for a first year, and became the youngest Seeker in a century. She made arrangements for Harry to have a Nimbus , the fastest broomstick of the time, for use during games and practices. However, several incidents marred the year.
At Hallowe'en, the festive feast was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Quirrell, who came charging in screaming about a troll loose in the dungeons before fainting dead away.
After restoring calm, Dumbledore ordered all students to return to their dormitories while he and the teachers made their way to the dungeons. The troll was not there upon their entry, but a terrible racket from an upper floor provided a clue.
Upon reaching the site, Minerva was shocked to discover a wrecked bathroom, an unconscious troll and three bedraggled first years, one of whom was her best student Hermione Granger. To her further shock, Hermione claimed that she had gone looking for the troll thinking she could handle it but would most assuredly have been killed had Harry and Ron not found her.
Torn between anger and pride, Minerva took five points from Hermione but awarded five each to Harry and Ron for, as she put it, "sheer dumb luck. McGonagall being informed of the trio's suspicions someone was going to steal the Stone. However, her serious side appeared one night when she caught Draco Malfoy roaming the school at night. Dragging him by the ear, she sentenced him to detention and deducted twenty points from Slytherin when he claimed that Harry was also out of bed with an illegal baby dragon.
Though the dragon in question was successfully released, Harry, Hermione and Neville were all caught and brought before McGonagall by Filch. Mad and disappointed with them, she told them all off before punishing them severely; a loss of fifty points each, in total, and detention with Malfoy.
This caused Gryffindor to drop to last in the House Cup. Towards the end of the year, McGonagall and the other teachers' protective enchantments down in the Philosopher's Stone chambers would come to test when Quirrell attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
The trio was successful in stopping the stone being stolen and at the end of the school year, Gryffindor had won the house cup after receiving the most house points that year after getting bonus points for the trio's and Neville Longbottom 's bravery. Thus, for the first time in years, McGonagall's house was the current house cup champions. Her reaction wasn't documented, but it's assumed that she was pleased with their efforts as Professor Snape shook her hand with a very forced look of congratulations.
This nearly exposed the wizarding world to Muggles, but Minerva was fairer than Snape, the one who brought the matter up in the first place. Minerva ultimately let them off with a mere detention and letters to their families. Also she didn't take any house points as Harry pointed out that term had not started yet when they took the car, which she confirmed and almost smiled at this remark.
Later, Minerva was present for the re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets. She, along with the rest of the teaching staff, scoured the castle for the Chamber, but to no avail.
Minerva was worried over the messages left on the walls and was at a loss about what should be done. She also had to deal with the less than helpful Gilderoy Lockhart , who had been hired for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. McGonagall had little liking or use for the man and by the end of the year was only one of the many staff members who utterly despised him.
For example when he decorated the Great Hall in nauseatingly lurid pink hearts for Valentine's Day, she was observed to have a muscle twitching noticeably in her face.
In the final weeks of that school year, Minerva served as temporary Headmistress of Hogwarts after the Board of Governors, under Lucius Malfoy's influence, suspended Dumbledore for failing to stop the attacks against the students. She was also quite shaken and softened up, as when Harry and Ron tried to sneak off to investigate the matter but were caught by herself. She let them off under the belief that they were trying to visit a petrified Hermione, though she normally would punish them with detention.
When Ginny Weasley was later taken into the Chamber of Secrets, where " her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever ", Minerva despairingly believed that they were facing the end of Hogwarts.
Her temperament was not improved by the arrival of the hated Gilderoy Lockhart, who was completely oblivious to the worry of his fellow staff members, and immediately joined Professors Snape, Flitwick and Sprout in forcing him into a corner by recalling all of his boasts that he could deal with the monster easily.
With him dealt with, as they couldn't care less if he succeeded or failed, the staff turned their attention to the thing they never thought would happen; the permanent closure of Hogwarts.
Thankfully, this terrible reality never came to pass. While McGonagall received Ginny's distraught parents in her office, along with a returned Albus Dumbledore, she was astonished to see Ginny herself walk in, accompanied by a slime-covered Harry, Ron and Lockhart, the ragged old Sorting Hat, Dumbledore's pet phoenix and the silver Sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry then explained that he and Ron had gone into the Chamber to find Ginny, having realised the mystery, and had slain the monster within.
Dumbledore then declared the crisis over and sent Minerva down to the kitchens to organise a celebratory feast, which she subsequently attended with great joy as the monster was dead and Lockhart banished. The summer of also saw the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban. When the school year began in September, Minerva had to deal with the effects that the Dementors had on her students, such as Harry Potter.
She also authorised Hermione Granger to use a Time-Turner in order to take extra classes, a decision that would prove more useful in future events that year. This year at Hogwarts would prove to be another difficult year with Dementors guarding the castle, though they were forbidden from entering the grounds properly by Dumbledore. Minerva heartily approved of this, as she despised the foul creatures. At the start of the year, when McGonagall demonstrated her Animagus form to her first class, she notes how quiet they were, as every class she demonstrated it to prior clapped.
When Hermione explained about their first Divination , McGonagall understood and asked her class which of them would be dying this year. Harry Potter raised his hand. McGonagall assured him that Sybill Trelawney 's predictions were a way of greeting her class and that no deaths of any students have occurred yet.
To further put him at ease, she demonstrated one of her rare glimmerings of humour by stating that she still expected him to do his homework, but if he did die then she would excuse his not handing it in.
Throughout the year, Minerva assisted in guarding the school, yet nonetheless Black was able to infiltrate the castle. After Black had attacked the Fat Lady , McGonagall tried to tell Harry that Black was after him, but was cut off by Harry, who told her that Mr Weasley had told him, before she could explain. She initially dismissed him as Black could not have possibly got in without the password unaware that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks , befriended by Sirius and gave him a discarded list of passwords but was rendered speechless when the new guardian, Sir Cadogan , confirmed that he had indeed let him in because he had the passwords written down.
When Neville Longbottom admitted to having written the passwords down, McGonagall banned him from future Hogsmeade visits for the rest of the year, gave him a detention, forbade anyone to give him the password into Gryffindor Tower and wrote to his grandmother.
As a result, Neville received a Howler from her during breakfast. When Harry received a Firebolt following the destruction of his Nimbus , McGonagall had it confiscated to be "examined" because she believed it to have been sent by Black and correctly so , and therefore lethally cursed which was incorrect.
This incident caused Harry and Hermione to have a row, because Hermione had alerted Minerva about the Firebolt. It was returned to him later after having been declared safe. Utterly furious at this downright trickery, she deducted fifty points from Slytherin and put the quartet in detention. Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup in In the spring of , though disgusted by the Slytherin Quidditch team's dirty tactics during the final Quidditch match after witnessing Draco Malfoy grab onto the end of Harry's Firebolt to stop him from catching the Golden Snitch which infuriated her to the point where she stopped telling Lee Jordan off and actually joined him in firing furious comments at Malfoy , she witnessed the Gryffindor Quidditch team win the Quidditch Cup for the first time since Charlie Weasley had played for the team during his Hogwarts education.
McGonagall was delighted by Gryffindor's victory, openly sobbing — even louder than the already sobbing Oliver Wood — into a Gryffindor Flag, but was upset to see Oliver Wood leaving. Later on in the year, three students from her house — Harry Potter , Ron Weasley , and Hermione Granger — would run into trouble when Sirius Black returned to Hogwarts.
In the autumn of , Hogwarts hosted the magical schools, the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute for the Triwizard Tournament. Harry Potter was selected as a Triwizard Champion, despite being under age and McGonagall worried for his safety after having looked after him for so many years.
Minerva pleaded with Dumbledore and Crouch to withdraw Harry from the tournament, as the tournament was highly dangerous. But withdrawing would go against the rules of the tournament and Potter had to continue on, as there was a binding magical contract in place.
During the year Minerva more than once exhorted her students to provide a good appearance to their guests at the castle. She attended the Yule Ball with Albus Dumbledore and notably wore her hair down for the first time since Harry started his education at Hogwarts. In the case of the former, Harry Potter noticed Bagman kiss Minerva's hand once they had finished dancing.
Minerva loaned her classroom to Harry, Ron and Hermione so they could practise spells for Harry's preparation for the Third Task.
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