Apparently, a museum exhibit on the goddess of youth, Hebe, will not, after all, encourage Pagan worship among the youth of Roseburg, Oregon. So reports the Eugene Register Guard this morning.

Civic boosters have been raising money to replace a long-ago statue of the goddess, ironically erected by prohibitionists to discourage drinking at nearby taverns (the original in Roseburg had Hebe proferring a goblet of water). But opponents to the modern-day replacement (the old statue was wrecked when a horse ran into it) feared that Hebe, who's often pictured offering up a goblet of nectar, would somehow inspire Pagan proclivities among Roseburg's impressionable and vulnerable youth.

The Douglas County Museum decided to host an educational exhibit on the goddess (GOOD idea); but under pressure froom local far-right twits, the county board put the kibosh on the exhibit. Now, apparently realizing they're quickly headed for the top of Jay Leno's monologue, they've reversed field, and announced they'll leave the decision on the exhibit up to the museum.

I hope Roseburg gets the statue, as well as the museum show on Hebe. The City Council, to its partial credit, last November voted 4-3 in support of the new statue of Hebe. 4-3? Sheesh. What's WITH these people? Are book bans next?

Hebe herself would have calmly countenanced the fools. For while she was indeed known as the Goddess of Youth, she also was also "worshipped as a goddess of pardons or forgiveness," according to the Perseus Project at Tufts University.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 21, 2005 08:17 AM

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