Minerva

Minerva (Athena), the goddess of wisdom, was the daughter of Jupiter (Zeus). Athena She was said to have leaped forth from his brain, mature, and in complete armour. She presided over the useful and ornamental arts, both those of men - such as agriculture and navigation - and those of women, - spinning, weaving, and needlework. She was also a warlike divinity; but it was defensive war only that she patronized, and she had no sympathy with Mars's (Ares) savage love of violence and bloodshed. Athens was her chosen seat, her own city, awarded to her as the prize of a contest with Neptune (Poseidon), who also aspired to it, The tale ran that in the reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, the two deities contended for the possession of the city. The gods decreed that it should be awarded to that one who produced the gift most useful to mortals. Neptune gave the horse; Minerva produced the olive. The gods gave judgment that the olive was the more useful of the two, and awarded the city to the goddess; and it was named after her, Athens, her name in Greek being Athena.

Every act and thought of every day of fraternity life is a choice. Fraternity men must strive to take the virtuess path, Minerva's path.



Fraternity Seal

The seal of the Fraternity is circular, around the outer edge of which is the name Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. Inside this border appear the date 1856 above, the words Great Seal across the center, and the words Phi Alpha below.



Flag

The flag is rectangular in form, the length being roughly one-and-a-half times the width. The background of the flag is royal purple. In a field of gold in the upper left corner of the flag appear the Greek letters PA in royal purple. Beneath the field are eight gold five-pointed stars, seven of which are arranged in circular form around the eight. The Greek letters SAE appear in an ascending diagonal arrangement across the right side of the flag.



Coat-of-Arms

The coat-of-arms is a shield quartered. In the first quarter are three red crosses on a gold background; in the second quarter is a lamp on an ermine background; in the third quarter is a fleur-de-lis; and in the fourth quarter is a phoenix. The border of the shield is purple and twenty-two fleur-de-lis. The inescutcheon pictures the sun and clouds on a black background. A helmet, mantling, and a crest surmount the shield. The crest depicts Minerva, a lion, and the Greek letters PA in a wreath. Beneath the shield is a scroll bearing the name of the Fraternity in Greek.



Phoenix

Greek mythology places the phoenix in Arabia, where it lives close to a cool well. Every morning at dawn it bathes in the water and sings a beautiful song. So beautiful is the song that the sun god would stop his chariot to listen. There only exists one phoenix at a time. When the phoenix feel sits death approaching (every 500 or 1461 years) it builds a nest, sets it on fire, and is consumed by the flames. A new phoenix springs forth from the pyre. It then embalms the ashes of it's predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flies with it to the City of the Sun. There the egg is deposited on the altar of the sun god. Thus the Phoenix, born of fire out of the ashes, became the symbol of resurrection and eternal life.

To this day there is no more powerful aspiration of mankind than the hope and promise of eternal life. Out of the rich traditions of antiquity from which fraternity draws much of its inspiration, the Phoenix is the finest symbol of the permanence and everlasting qualities of fraternity.



Badge

The badge of the Fraternity is diamond-shaped, a little less than an inch long and bears on a background of nazarene blue enamel the device of Minerva, with a lion crouching at her feet, above which are the letters Sigma Alpha Epsilon in gold. Below are the letters Phi Alpha on a white ground in a wreath. The colors are royal purple and old gold. The flower is the violet. The colors of the pledge pin are nazarene blue, white and gold with Phi Alpha in letters surrounded by a wreath.