Great Seal of California Great Seal of California The Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and has undergone minor design changes since then, the last being the standardization of the seal in 1937. The seal shows the Roman goddess Minerva (Athena in Greek mythology), the goddess of wisdom and war, because she was born an adult, and California was never a territory; a California grizzly bear (the official state animal) feeding on grape vines, representing California's wine production; a sheaf of grain, representing agriculture; a miner, representing the California Gold Rush and the
Nicaea (mythology) Nicaea (mythology) In Greek mythology, Nicaea or Nikaia was a naiad nymph ("the Astakid nymph", as referred to by Nonnus) of the springs or fountain of the Greek colony of Nikaia in Bithynia (northwestern Anatolia) or else the goddess of the adjacent lake Askanios (Ascanius). She was the daughter of the river-god Sangarius and Cybele. By the god of wine, Dionysus, she mothered Telete (consecration) She was a devotee of the goddess Artemis. When a shepherd, Hymen, pursued Nicaea, she killed him with an arrow to the heart. This enraged Eros, who inspired Dionysus to fall in love with her.