Jupiter was king of the Gods. The eagle was his messenger. His weapon was the

Thunderbolt (thunder and lightning). All other gods were terrified of him,

although he was a little scared of his wife Juno! Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto were

the three sons of Saturn. They divided up the world between themselves. Jupiter

took the air, Neptune had the sea and Pluto ruled under the earth, the home of the Dead.

Jupiter means Father Jove (Father in Latin is "pater"). There was a big temple on

the Capitol in Rome dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus (which means Jupiter

Best and Greatest). The Romans thought that Jupiter guarded their city and

looked after them.

Neptune is the god of the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and

Pluto. He is analogous but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek

mythology. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the

Etruscan god Nethuns. Originally he was an Italic god paired with Salacia,

possibly the goddess of the salt water. At an early date (399 BC) he was

identified with Poseidon, when the Sibylline books ordered a lectisternium

in his honour.

Neptune was also considered the legendary progenitor god of a Latin

stock, the Faliscans - ancient Italian people - who called themselves

Neptunia proles. In this respect he was the equivalent of Mars, Janus, Saturn and even Jupiter among Latin tribes.

Pluto was the god of the Dead. Romans were afraid to say Pluto's real name because they were afraid he might notice them and they would die.

Pluto sometimes got confused with the Greek god, Plutus, the god of wealth. This is not surprising, since the names sound alike, and also wealth, like gold, silver or jewels, are found underground, where Pluto ruled.

The metal Plutonium is radio-active. It was discovered soon after the planet Pluto. It is not only used for nuclear bombs, it is deadly by itself. It deserves to belong to the god of Death!

Venus was born in the sea and first came to shore at Cyprus, floating on a scallop shell.

There was a Golden Apple with "For the Fairest" written on the side.

Venus, Juno and Minerva all wanted it. They decided to let a man, Paris, judge between them. They were all so beautiful that he couldn't make his mind up. So Juno said she would make him powerful. Minerva said she would make him wise.

Venus offered him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. He chose Venus, and Helen. Unfortunately Helen was married to someone else, and when Paris carried her off to his home at Troy, her husband came with his allies to get her back. Paris and all his family were killed and Troy was destroyed. One of the few Trojans to survive the Trojan War was Aeneas, the son of Venus. He went to Italy, and was the ancestor of the Romans.

What would you choose from Power, Wisdom and Love? (I'd choose Wisdom.)

Vulcan was the smith of the gods, and made Jupiter's thunderbolts.

His smithy was in the volcano Etna, in Sicily, where you can see fire

from his forge.

Once, he made Jupiter angry, and Jupiter threw him out of Heaven.

Vulcan fell to Earth and broke both legs, which made him lame. This

picture from a Greek vase shows him in a sort of winged wheel-chair.

He made women of gold to help him in his smithy - possibly the first

robots!

Diana was the goddess of the moon. Her twin brother Apollo was the god of the sun.

Diana carried a bow and arrows. She was the goddess of hunting. Once

she was bathing in a forest pool. A hunter called Actaeon spied on her.

So Diana turned him into a stag and he was chased by his own hunting dogs.

She helped women in child-birth, because her mother Leto gave birth to

her and her twin brother so easily.

She was the daughter of Ceres and Jupiter, and was described as a very enchanting young girl.Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor to hit Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the fountain of Aretusa near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna with four

black horses.He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in Hades, the Greek Underworld, of which he was the ruler. Pluto was also her uncle, being Jupiter's (and Ceres's) brother and she is therefore Queen of the Underworld.

Her mother Ceres, the goddess of cereals or of the Earth, vainly went looking for her in any corner of the Earth, but wasn't able to find anything but a small belt that was floating upon a little lake (made with the tears of the nymphs).

vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. Ceres refused to go back to

Mount Olympus and started walking on the Earth, making a desert at every step.

Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto (Jupiter's brother) to free Proserpina.

Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go, he made her eat six pomegranate seeds (a symbol of fidelity in marriage) so she would have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with her mother. So this is the reason for Springtime: when Proserpina comes back to her mother, Ceres

decorates the Earth with welcoming flowers, but when in Fall she has to go back to Hades, nature loses any color.

The Romans were great soldiers and thought Mars, the god of War,

was very important. They said that he was the father of Romulus

and Remus, the founders of Rome. When Romulus and Remus were

babies, they were left to die. But they were found by a mother wolf, who suckled them. Romulus gave his name to Rome.

The Campus Martius or field of Mars, was next to the river Tiber in

in ancient Rome. It was used to train soldiers and hold horse

races. March was called after Mars because that was when the

soldiers started fighting again after winter.

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-

operation. A replacement for the ineffectiveLeague of Nations, the organization was established on

24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN

had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is

in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated

in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary

contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and

security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the

environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

During the Second World War, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated talks on a successor

agency to the League of Nations, and the United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in

April–June 1945; this charter took effect 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation. The UN's

mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the

US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in major actions

in Korea and the Congo, as well as approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. The

organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s, and

by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its

spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military and

peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success.

The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly);

the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and

Social Council (ECOSOC) (for promoting international economic and social co-operation and

development); the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN);

the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the United Nations Trusteeship

Council (inactive since 1994). UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health

Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF. The UN's most prominent officer

is the Secretary-General, an office held by South Korean Ban Ki-moon since 2007. Non-

governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies

to participate in the UN's work.

The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies

have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UN's effectiveness have been mixed.

Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human

development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased.

Below are 20 facts about the United Nations.

1. The United Nations is an international organization created to maintain international peace and

promote human rights.

2. It was founded in 1945 after the Second World War.

3. The U.N. began with 51 countries and is now comprised of 193 Member States.

4. The U.N. reaches virtually every corner of the world.

5. The U.N. is best known for peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian

assistance.

6. The United Nations has four main goals.

7. The U.N.’s first purpose is to keep peace throughout the world.

8. The second goal is to develop friendly relations.

9. The third purpose is to assist nations in encouraging human rights, helping the poor, and improving

hunger, disease and literacy.

10. The fourth goal is to operate as a center—a community—for achieving these goals.

11. The U.N. provides food to 90 million people in over 75 countries.

12. They assist over 34 million refugees.

13. They work with 140 nations to combat climate change.

14. The U.N. vaccinates 58 percent of the world’s children.

15. They keep peace with 120,000 peace keepers over 4 continents.

16. The U.N. assists about 50 countries per year in elections.

17. They protect human rights through 80 different treaties and declarations.

18. They fight poverty by helping 370 million rural poor individuals achieve better living circumstances.

19. The U.N. mobilizes $12.5 billion in humanitarian aid.

20. They assist about 30 million women a year by their maternal health efforts.

Check out these 10 facts about United Nations Peacekeeping to get to know them better:

1. UN Peacekeeping is made up of 116,919 total field personnel, with 123 countries

contributing troops, police, and civilian personnel.

2. There are currently 16 UN peacekeeping operations deployed on 4 continents.

3. UN Peacekeeping is the second largest deployment in the world yet accounts for less

than 0.5% of the world’s military expenditures.

4. Women make up 30% of civilian peacekeepers, 10% of police peacekeepers, and 3% of

military of military peacekeepers.

5. The largest mission is in Darfur, which has 26,612 personnel in partnership with the

African Union.

6. UN peacekeepers help over 150 million people across the world.

7. The UN is currently sheltering more than 80,000 civilians at peacekeeping bases in South

Sudan, as violence continues to cripple the nation and take innocent lives.

8. In July of 2013, 18 months after Mali was overrun by extremists, UN peacekeepers

supported free and fair democratic in Mali by securing 21,000 polling stations.

9. May 29th is the annual International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers!

10. UN Peacekeeping is supported by 193 member states, who contribute personnel,

equipment, and funds.

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Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, medicine, commerce,

handicrafts, poetry, the arts in general, and later, war. In many ways

similar to the Greek goddess Athena, she had important temples

in Rome and was patron of the Quinquatras festival.

Originally, Minerva was an Italian goddess of handicrafts closely

associated to the Greek goddess Athena. The scholarly consensus,

however, is that Minerva was indigenous, passing to the Romans

from the Etruscan goddess Menrva, and that her name derives

from meminisse, meaning 'to remember'.

The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth),Apollo has been variously

recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light,

plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin

sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis. He was the god

of music, and he is often depicted playing a golden lyre. He was also known as

the Archer, far shooting with a silver bow; the god of healing, giving the science

of medicine to man; the god of light; and the god of truth. One of Apollo's most

important daily tasks was to harness his four-horse chariot, in order to move

the Sun across the sky.