Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom

This is Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. Some of you might know her better by her Greek name, Athena. Minerva stands at the top of the highest point in Brooklyn, known as "Battle Hill" in Green-wood Cemetery, right down the street from where I'm staying.

If you scroll down to the next picture, you might be able to make out the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Minerva is saluting the statue from Battle Hill. Some jackass tried to build an apartment building that blocked the two sisters, but thankfully somebody put a stop to that.

Now, this may be shocking, but it turns out that Battle Hill garnered its name because it was once the site of a major battle. Strange, but true. The first battle of the Revolutionary War, The Battle of Brooklyn, took place here. It is alternately known as the Battle of Long Island for those of you that give 2 craps.

During the Battle of Brooklyn, Washington, in his first military action as commander of the Continental Army, led 10,000 stout man to repulse the British invasion of New York. Unfortunately, the British had over 3 times as many soldiers and roundly kicked Washington's ass. Never fear, Americans, because our hearty commander led one of the bravest retreats in military history. According to the sign I saw, at least.

So, the goddess of Wisdom now stands in the spot to commemorate Washington getting knocked around by the British.

Somebody just confiscated my flag pin.

Many thanks to Mark for the amazing tour of the cemetery and 3/4 of the information in this post. I assure you, he presented it with much more grace and aplomb than my sarcastic, childish writing.