Mystery Lady at the top of the Capitol
I’m a sucker for stuff like this. Ever wonder who that is on the top of the Capitol building? Some say it is Justice. They are somewhat right. It is actually the Greek Goddess Persephone, who amongst other things was Goddess of the underworld. When she judged the dead as they entered the underworld she was referred to as Justicia. Why is Persephone on top of the Capitol building. In 1854 Pope Pius IX issued the decree of Immaculate Conception. This got Congress all riled up, and so the story goes they wanted to put a statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the Capitol. That probably was only slightly more popular than it would be today, so they had to kind of side step it, and settled on a deity who as legend has it was immaculately conceived–Persephone. The article has some interesting tidbits. I have no idea how much is true, but it’s fun nonetheless.
January 2, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Dear Mrs. Or Mr.,
Pleese Tell me as soon as possible. ok see my teacher(social)was talking about the capital building and the little statue on top of the capital building and she didnt know what it was but she said that it could be girl thats on top.i just wanted to help her out and im so curios of what it is.please can you send me a picture about it?! im begging so bad i have researched like crazy in just one day please send me wahat it is and a picture to go with it.um…….oh and explain what it is, when was it built and why. oh and is it called the apotheosis of washington or is that just the hole on the dome???????
confused,begging and waiting for an answer,
Danielle(7th grade)
p.s as soon as possible please!!!!
January 2, 2007 at 8:45 pm
REMEMBER PLEASE HELP ME IM LIKE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DESPERATE RIGHT NOW
January 2, 2007 at 8:45 pm
OK WELL BYE!!
July 25, 2008 at 5:57 am
Sorry guy,
the statue on the top of the capitol building is “freedom” as quoted below:
The Statue of Freedom, sometimes called Armed Freedom or simply Freedom, is Thomas Crawford’s bronze statue that, since 1863, has crowned the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The original and formal name of the work was Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace. Official United States publications say that the statue, “is officially known as the Statue of Freedom.” [1]
though this is late for Daniela, perhaps someone will be lucker
November 21, 2008 at 12:42 am
That’s what they’d like you to believe.
February 24, 2009 at 6:14 pm
And who is this “they”? It is clearly “Freedom”, and this is very well documented.
http://www.c-span.org/questions/week126.asp
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/dome.cfm
And those are only 2 examples among many.