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
The Graveyard of the Hesperides Albia, a widow, works as a "delatrix" (a detective or private informer) in ancient Rome, like Falco. The cover of the UK hardback edition has an image of a golden apple with a silver leaf, resting on a marble surface with a few drops of what appears to be blood, and it carries the strapline: "A Flavia Albia Novel". The American hardback edition has a colourful image of a woman walking away between classical columns. The plot features sex workers, bones, wedding planners and lentils. In Greek mythology, the Garden of the Hesperides is the garden of the goddess Hera