Source Verification: Minerva

Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

What the Sources Attest

Is Minerva the same as Athena?

Romans identified Minerva with Athena through interpretatio romana and told the same birth myth - sprung fully armed from Jupiter's head. But Minerva held a distinct Roman civic role as one of the Capitoline Triad and as patron of a specific five-day craft festival, the Quinquatrus, that has no exact Athenian equivalent.

Source: Ovid, Fasti

What was Minerva's place in the Capitoline Triad?

Minerva was worshipped alongside Jupiter and Juno in the great temple on the Capitoline Hill, each deity holding a separate chamber of the same three-part building. The arrangement made her one of Rome's three most important state deities, a standing well above what a wisdom goddess typically held in Greek civic religion.

Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.55

What was the Quinquatrus?

The Quinquatrus was a Roman festival held in March, sacred to Minerva, that Ovid's Fasti describes as a five-day holiday kept especially by teachers, students, and craft workers. Teachers traditionally received their fees and a break from duty during it, and tradespeople from many different crafts treated the days as their own patronal holiday.

Source: Ovid, Fasti

Were the sacred geese that saved Rome from the Gauls Minerva's geese?

No. Livy attributes the geese that warned the consul Marcus Manlius of a night attack on the Capitoline in 390 BCE to Juno, whose own temple stood on the same hill, not to Minerva. The two goddesses are commonly confused because they shared the Capitoline complex, but the ancient sources keep the story specifically to Juno.

Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.47

Who considered Minerva their patron in Roman religion?

Craftspeople, teachers, students, doctors, actors, and poets all treated Minerva as a patron, especially during the Quinquatrus. This broad craft-and-skill following was a distinctly Roman development, built less from myth about her than from a general need across many trades for a shared patron of skill.

Source: Ovid, Fasti

Where Accounts Differ

the sacred geese belong to Juno, not Minerva

For the Greek birth myth and the Athena-specific narrative material (Arachne, the contest with Poseidon, the aegis), see the Athena entry: Minerva's own distinct material is the Capitoline cult and the Quinquatrus, not new narrative.
The sacred geese of the Gallic siege are popularly misattributed to Minerva; Livy names them as Juno's.

Sources

Primary sources

Ovid, Fasti
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.55
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 5.47