Mattei Athena atLouvre. Roman copy from the 1st century BC/AD after the Greek originalPiraeus Athena of the 4th century BC attributed to Cephisodotos orEuphranor.
From her origin as an Aegeanpalace goddess, Athena was closely associated with the city. She was known asPolias andPoliouchos (both derived frompolis, meaning "city-state"), and her temples were usually located atop the fortifiedacropolis in the central part of the city. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis is dedicated to her, along with numerous other temples and monuments. As the patron of craft and weaving, Athena was known asErgane. She was also awarrior goddess, and was believed to lead soldiers into battle asAthena Promachos. Her main festival in Athens was thePanathenaia, which was celebrated during the month ofHekatombaion in midsummer and was the most important festival on the Athenian calendar.
InGreek mythology, Athena was believed to have been born from the forehead of her fatherZeus. In almost all versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is born from Zeus' forehead byparthenogenesis. In a few others, such asHesiod'sTheogony, Zeus swallows his consortMetis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead. In thefounding myth of Athens, Athena bestedPoseidon in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. She was known asAthena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin". In one archaicAttic myth,Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting inGaia giving birth toErichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero whom Athena raised. She was the patron goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have aided the heroesPerseus,Heracles,Bellerophon, andJason. Along withAphrodite andHera, Athena was one of the three goddesseswhose feud resulted in theTrojan War. She plays an active role in theIliad, in which she assists theAchaeans and, in theOdyssey, she is thetutelary deity toOdysseus.
In the later writings of the Roman poetOvid, Athena was said to have competed against the mortalArachne in a weaving competition, afterward transforming Arachne into the first spider, and to have transformedMedusa into theGorgon after witnessing the young woman being raped by Poseidon in the goddess's temple. Ovid also says that Athena saved the mortal maidenCorone from the same god by transforming her into a crow.[5][6] Since theRenaissance, Athena has become an international symbol of wisdom,the arts, andclassical learning. Western artists andallegorists have often used Athena as a symbol offreedom and democracy.
Etymology
The Acropolis at Athens (1846) byLeo von Klenze. Athena's name probably comes from the name of the city ofAthens.[4][7]
Athena is associated with the city ofAthens.[4][8] The name of the city in ancient Greek isἈθῆναι (Athȇnai), a pluraltoponym, designating the place where—according to myth—she presided over theAthenai, a sisterhood devoted to her worship.[7] In ancient times, scholars argued whether Athena was named after Athens or Athens after Athena.[4] Now scholars generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city;[4][8] the ending -ene is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names.[4] Testimonies from different cities inancient Greece attest that similarcity goddesses were worshipped in other cities[7] and, like Athena, took their names from the cities where they were worshipped.[7] For example, inMycenae there was a goddess called Mykene, whose sisterhood was known asMykenai,[7] whereas atThebes an analogous deity was called Thebe, and the city was known under the plural formThebai (or Thebes, in English, where the 's' is the plural formation).[7] The nameAthenai is likely ofpre-Greek origin because it contains the presumably pre-Greekmorpheme*-ān-.[9]
In his dialogueCratylus, the ancient Greek philosopherPlato (428–347 BC) gives some rather imaginative etymologies of Athena's name, based on the theories of the ancient Athenians and his etymological speculations:
That is a graver matter, and there, my friend, the modern interpreters of Homer may, I think, assist in explaining the view of the ancients. Most of these in their explanations of the poet, assert that he meant by Athena "mind" [νοῦς,noũs] and "intelligence" [διάνοια,diánoia], and the maker of names appears to have had a singular notion about her; and indeed calls her by a still higher title, "divine intelligence" [θεοῦ νόησις,theoũ nóēsis], as though he would say: This is she who has the mind of God [ἁ θεονόα,a theonóa]. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean "she who knows divine things" [τὰ θεῖα νοοῦσα,ta theia noousa] better than others. Nor shall we be far wrong in supposing that the author of it wished to identify this Goddess with moral intelligence [εν έθει νόεσιν,en éthei nóesin], and therefore gave her the name Etheonoe; which, however, either he or his successors have altered into what they thought a nicer form, and called her Athena.
— Plato, Cratylus407b
Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from GreekἈθεονόα,Atheonóa—which the later Greeks rationalised as from the deity's (θεός,theós) mind (νοῦς,noũs). The second-century AD oratorAelius Aristides attempted to derive natural symbols from the etymological roots of Athena's names to beaether,air,earth, andmoon.[10]
Origins
Fragment of a fresco from the Cult Center atMycenae dating the late thirteenth century BC depicting a warrior goddess, possibly Athena, wearing aboar's tusk helmet and clutching agriffin.[11]
Athena was originally theAegean goddess of the palace, who presided over household crafts and protected the king.[12][13][14][15] A singleMycenaean Greek inscription𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja appears atKnossos in theLinear B tablets from the Late Minoan II-era "Room of the Chariot Tablets";[16][17][11] these comprise the earliest Linear B archive anywhere.[16] AlthoughAthana potnia is often translated as "Mistress Athena", it could also mean "thePotnia of Athana", orthe Lady of Athens.[11][18] However, any connection to the city of Athens in the Knossos inscription is uncertain.[19] A sign seriesa-ta-no-dju-wa-ja appears in the still undeciphered corpus ofLinear A tablets, written in the unclassifiedMinoan language.[20] This could be connected with the Linear B Mycenaean expressionsa-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja anddi-u-ja ordi-wi-ja (Diwia, "of Zeus" or, possibly, related to ahomonymous goddess),[16] resulting in a translation "Athena of Zeus" or "divine Athena". Similarly, in the Greek mythology and epic tradition, Athena figures as a daughter of Zeus (Διός θυγάτηρ;cfr.Dyeus).[21] However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to "a-ta-nū-tī wa-ya", quoted asSY Za 1 by Jan Best.[21] Best translates the initiala-ta-nū-tī, which is recurrent in line beginnings, as "I have given".[21]
AMycenean fresco depicts two women extending their hands towards a central figure, who is covered by an enormous figure-eight shield; this may depict the warrior-goddess with herpalladium, or her palladium in an aniconic representation.[22][23] In the "Procession Fresco" atKnossos, which was reconstructed by the Mycenaeans, two rows of figures carrying vessels seem to meet in front of a central figure, which is probably the Minoan precursor to Athena.[24] The early twentieth-century scholarMartin Persson Nilsson argued that theMinoan snake goddess figurines are early representations of Athena.[12][13]
Nilsson and others have claimed that, in early times, Athena was either an owl herself or abird goddess in general.[25] In the third book of theOdyssey, she takes the form of asea-eagle.[25] Proponents of this view argue that she dropped her prophylactic owl mask before she lost her wings. "Athena, by the time she appears in art,"Jane Ellen Harrison remarks, "has completely shed her animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to attributes, but occasionally inblack-figure vase-paintings she still appears with wings."[26]
It is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of theProto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess.[28][29] The cult of Athena may have also been influenced by those of Near Eastern warrior goddesses such as theEast SemiticIshtar and theUgariticAnat,[11] both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms.[13] Classical scholar Charles Penglase notes that Athena resemblesInanna in her role as a "terrifying warrior goddess"[30] and that both goddesses were closely linked with creation.[30] Athena's birth from the head of Zeus may be derived from the earlierSumerian myth of Inanna's descent into and return from theUnderworld.[31][32]
Plato notes that the citizens ofSais in Egypt worshipped a goddess known asNeith,[e] whom he identifies with Athena.[33] Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. In Greek mythology, Athena was reported to have visited mythological sites in North Africa, including Libya'sTriton River and thePhlegraean plain.[f] Based on these similarities, theSinologistMartin Bernal created the "Black Athena" hypothesis, which claimed that Neith was brought to Greece from Egypt, along with "an enormous number of features of civilization and culture in the third and second millennia".[34][35] The "Black Athena" hypothesis stirred up widespread controversy near the end of the twentieth century,[36][37] but it has now been widely rejected by modern scholars.[38][39]
In a similar manner to her patronage of various activities and Greek cities, Athena was thought to be a "protector of heroes" and a "patron of art" and various local traditions related to the arts and handicrafts.[40]
Athena was known asAtrytone (Άτρυτώνη "the Unwearying"),Parthenos (Παρθένος "Virgin"), andPromachos (Πρόμαχος "she who fights in front"). The epithetPolias (Πολιάς "of the city"), refers to Athena's role as protectress of the city.[41] The epithetErgane (Εργάνη "the Industrious") pointed her out as the patron of craftsmen and artisans.[41] Burkert notes that the Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess",hē theós (ἡ θεός), certainly an ancient title.[4] After serving as the judge at the trial ofOrestes in which he was acquitted of having murdered his motherClytemnestra since he was followingApollo's orders, Athena won the epithetAreia (Αρεία).[41] Some have described Athena, along with the goddessesHestia andArtemis as being asexual, this is mainly supported by the fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5,To Aphrodite, whereAphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses.[42]
Athena was sometimes given the epithetHippia (Ἵππια "of the horses", "equestrian"),[43][44] referring to her invention of thebit,bridle,chariot, andwagon.[43] The Greek geographerPausanias mentions in hisGuide to Greece that the temple of AthenaChalinitis ("the bridler")[44] in Corinth was located near the tomb ofMedea's children.[44] Other epithets includeAgeleia,Itonia andAethyia, under which she was worshiped inMegara.[45][46] She was worshipped asAssesia inAssesos. The wordaíthyia (αἴθυια) signifies a "diver", also some diving bird species (possibly theshearwater) and figuratively, a "ship", so the name must reference Athena teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation.[47] In a temple at Phrixa inElis, reportedly built byClymenus, she was known asCydonia (Κυδωνία).[48] Pausanias wrote that atBuporthmus there was a sanctuary of Athena Promachorma (Προμαχόρμα), meaningprotector of the anchorage.[49][50]
The Greek biographerPlutarch describes Pericles's dedication of a statue to her asAthenaHygieia (Ὑγίεια, "Health") after she inspired, in a dream, his successful treatment of a man injured during the construction of thegateway to the Acropolis.[51]Mechanitis (Μηχανῖτις), meaning skilled in inventing, was one of the epithets of her.[52]
Athena's epithetPallas – her most renowned one – is derived either fromπάλλω, meaning "to brandish [as a weapon]", or, more likely, fromπαλλακίς and related words, meaning "youth, young woman".[54] On this topic, Walter Burkert says "she is the Pallas of Athens,Pallas Athenaie, just as Hera of Argos isHere Argeie".[4] In later times, after the original meaning of the name had been forgotten, the Greeks invented myths to explain its origins, such as those reported by the Epicurean philosopherPhilodemus and theBibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, which claim thatPallas was originally a separate entity, whom Athena had slain in combat.[55]
In one version of the myth,Pallas was the daughter of the sea-godTriton,[56] who was childhood friends with Athena. Zeus one day watched Athena and Pallas have a friendlysparring match. Not wanting his daughter to lose, Zeus flapped hisaegis to distract Pallas, whom Athena accidentally impaled.[57] Distraught over what she had done, Athena took the name Pallas for herself as a sign of her grief and tribute to her friend and Zeus gave her the aegis as an apology.[57] In another version of the story,Pallas was aGiant;[58] Athena slew him during theGigantomachy andflayed off his skin to make her cloak, which she wore as a victory trophy.[58][13][59][60] In an alternative variation of the same myth, Pallas was instead Athena's father,[58][13] who attempted to assault his own daughter,[61] causing Athena to kill him and take his skin as a trophy.[62]
Thepalladium was a statue of Athena that was said to have stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis.[63] Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas.[63] The statue had special talisman-like properties[63] and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall.[63] When the Greeks captured Troy,Cassandra, the daughter ofPriam andHecuba, clung to the palladium for protection,[63] butAjax the Lesser violently tore her away from it, dragged her over to the other captives and raped her.[63] Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection.[64] AlthoughAgamemnon attempted to placate her anger with sacrifices, Athena sent a storm at Cape Kaphereos to destroy almost the entire Greek fleet and scatter all of the surviving ships across the Aegean.[65]
Glaukopis
Theowl of Athena, surrounded by an olive wreath. Reverse of an Athenian silver tetradrachm,c. 175 BC
InHomer'sepic works, Athena's most commonepithet isGlaukopis (γλαυκῶπις), which usually is translated as, "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes".[66] The word is a combination ofglaukós (γλαυκός, meaning "gleaming, silvery", and later, "bluish-green" or "gray")[67] andṓps (ὤψ, "eye, face").[68]
The wordglaúx (γλαύξ,[69] "little owl")[70] is from the same root, presumably according to some, because of the bird's own distinctive eyes. Athena was associated with the owl from very early on;[71] in archaic images, she is frequently depicted with anowl perched on her hand.[71] Through its association with Athena, the owl evolved into the national mascot of the Athenians and eventually became a symbol of wisdom.[3]
Tritogeneia
In theIliad (4.514), theOdyssey (3.378), theHomeric Hymns, and inHesiod'sTheogony, Athena is also given the curious epithetTritogeneia (Τριτογένεια), whose significance remains unclear.[72] It could mean various things, including "Triton-born", perhaps indicating that thehomonymous sea-deity was her parent according to some early myths.[72] One myth relates the foster father relationship of this Triton towards the half-orphan Athena, whom he raised alongside his own daughter Pallas.[56] Kerényi suggests that "Tritogeneia did not mean that she came into the world on any particular river or lake, but that she was born of the water itself; for the name Triton seems to be associated with water generally."[73][74] InOvid'sMetamorphoses, Athena is occasionally referred to as "Tritonia".
Another possible meaning may be "triple-born" or "third-born", which may refer to a triad or to her status as the third daughter of Zeus or the fact she was born from Metis, Zeus, and herself; various legends list her as being the first child after Artemis and Apollo, though other legends identify her as Zeus' first child.[75] Several scholars have suggested a connection to theRigvedic godTrita,[76] who was sometimes grouped in a body of three mythological poets.[76] Michael Janda has connected the myth of Trita to the scene in theIliad in which the "three brothers" Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divide the world between them, receiving the "broad sky", the sea, and the underworld respectively.[77][78] Janda further connects the myth of Athena being born of the head (i. e. the uppermost part) of Zeus, understandingTrito- (which perhaps originally meant "the third") as another word for "the sky".[77] In Janda's analysis of Indo-European mythology, this heavenly sphere is also associated with the mythological body of water surrounding the inhabited world (cfr. Triton's mother,Amphitrite, queen ofPoseidon).[77]
Yet another possible meaning is mentioned inDiogenes Laertius' biography ofDemocritus, that Athena was called "Tritogeneia" because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her.[79]
Cult and patronages
Panhellenic and Athenian cult
Atheniantetradrachm representing the goddess Athena
In her aspect ofAthena Polias, Athena was venerated as the goddess of the city and the protectress of the citadel.[13][80][43] In Athens, thePlynteria, or "Feast of the Bath", was observed every year at the end of the month ofThargelion.[81] The festival lasted for five days. During this period, the priestesses of Athena, orplyntrídes, performed a cleansing ritual within theErechtheion, a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon.[82] Here Athena's statue was undressed, her clothes washed, and body purified.[82] Athena was worshipped at festivals such asChalceia asAthena Ergane,[83][43] the patroness of various crafts, especiallyweaving.[83][43] She was also the patron of metalworkers and was believed to aid in the forging of armor and weapons.[83] During the late fifth century BC, the role of goddess of philosophy became a major aspect of Athena'scult.[84]
AsAthena Promachos, she was believed to lead soldiers into battle.[85][41] Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brotherAres, the patron of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter—"the raw force of war".[86][87] Athena was believed to only support those fighting for a just cause[86] and was thought to view war primarily as a means to resolve conflict.[86] The Greeks regarded Athena with much higher esteem than Ares.[86][87] Athena was especially worshipped in this role during the festivals of thePanathenaea andPamboeotia,[88] both of which prominently featured displays of athletic and military prowess.[88] As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength.[89]
In her aspect as a warrior maiden, Athena was known asParthenos (Παρθένος "virgin"),[85][91][92] because, like her fellow goddessesArtemis andHestia, she was believed to remain perpetually a virgin.[93][94][85][92][95] Athena's most famous temple, theParthenon on theAthenian Acropolis, takes its name from this title.[95] According toKarl Kerényi, a scholar of Greek mythology, the nameParthenos is not merely an observation of Athena's virginity, but also a recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery.[95] Even beyond recognition, the Athenians allotted the goddess value based on this pureness of virginity, which they upheld as a rudiment of female behavior.[95] Kerényi's study and theory of Athena explains her virginal epithet as a result of her relationship to her father Zeus and a vital, cohesive piece of her character throughout the ages.[95] This role is expressed in several stories about Athena.Marinus of Neapolis reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from theParthenon, a beautiful woman appeared in a dream toProclus, a devotee of Athena, and announced that the"Athenian Lady" wished to dwell with him.[96]
Athena was also credited with creating the pebble-based form of divination. Those pebbles were calledthriai, which was also the collective name of a group of nymphs with prophetic powers. Her half-brother Apollo, however, angered and spiteful at the practitioners of an art rival to his own, complained to their father Zeus about it, with the pretext that many people took to casting pebbles, but few actually were true prophets. Zeus, sympathizing with Apollo's grievances, discredited the pebble divination by rendering the pebbles useless. Apollo's words became the basis of an ancient Greek idiom.[97]
Athena was not only the patron goddess of Athens, but also other cities, includingPergamon,[40]Argos,Sparta,Gortyn,Lindos, andLarisa.[41] The various cults of Athena were all branches of her panhellenic cult[41] and often proctored various initiation rites of Grecian youth, such as the passage into citizenship by young men or the passage of young women into marriage.[41] These cults were portals of a uniform socialization, even beyond mainland Greece.[41] Athena was frequently equated withAphaea, a local goddess of the island ofAegina, originally fromCrete and also associated withArtemis and the nymphBritomartis.[98] InArcadia, she was assimilated with the ancient goddess Alea and worshiped asAthena Alea.[99] Sanctuaries dedicated to Athena Alea were located in theLaconian towns ofMantineia andTegea. The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece.[g] The geographerPausanias was informed that thetemenos had been founded byAleus.[100]
Athena had a major temple on theSpartan Acropolis,[101][43] where she was venerated as Poliouchos andKhalkíoikos ("of the Brazen House", oftenLatinized asChalcioecus).[101][43] This epithet may refer to the fact that cult statue held there may have been made of bronze,[101] that the walls of the temple itself may have been made of bronze,[101] or that Athena was the patron of metal-workers.[101] Bells made of terracotta and bronze were used in Sparta as part of Athena's cult.[101] AnIonic-style temple to Athena Polias was built atPriene in the fourth century BC.[102] It was designed byPytheos of Priene,[103] the same architect who designed theMausoleum at Halicarnassus.[103] The temple was dedicated byAlexander the Great[104] andan inscription from the temple declaring his dedication is now held in theBritish Museum.[102] She was worshipped asAthena Asia inColchis – supposedly on an account of a nearby mountain with that name – from which her worship was believed to have been brought byCastor and Pollux toLaconia, where a temple was built to her atLas.[105][106][107]
Athena Cyrrhestica worshiped in the city ofCyrrhus in theCyrrhestica province of Syria.[108]
In Pergamon, Athena was thought to have been a god of thecosmos and the aspects of it that aided Pergamon and its fate.[40]
In the classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was regarded as the favorite child of Zeus, the king of the gods, born fully armed from his forehead. Since her birth, she possessed great power.[109][110][111][h] The story of her birth comes in several versions.[112][113][114] The earliest mention is in Book V of theIliad, whenAres accused Zeus of being biased in favor of Athena because "autos egeinao" (literally "you fathered her", but probably intended as "you gave birth to her").[115][116] She usually is the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, and often emerged full-grown from his forehead; but there is an uncommon alternate story in which Zeus swallowedMetis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena and when she was fully grown she emerged from his forehead.[109][110][111][i]
In the version recounted byHesiod in hisTheogony, Zeus married Metis, who is described as the "wisest among gods and mortal men", and engaged in sexual intercourse with her.[117][118][116][119] After learning that Metis was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, because Gaia andOuranos had prophesied that Metis would bear a son wiser and more powerful than his father who would overthrow him.[117][118][116][119] In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because she had already conceived and soon gave birth to their daughter Athena, whom Metis raised inside of his mind, where she continues to give him advice as a ruler. When Athena grew up, Metis forged robes, armor, a shield and a spear for her daughter.[117][120][116][119] A later account of the story from theBibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, written in the second century AD, makes Metis Zeus's unwilling sexual partner, rather than his wife.[121][122] According to this version of the story, Metis transformed into many different shapes in effort to escape Zeus,[121][122] but Zeus successfully raped her and swallowed her.[121][122]
After swallowing Metis, according to Hesiod, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife,Hera.[119] Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache.[123][116][119] He was in such pain that he ordered someone (eitherPrometheus,Hephaestus,Hermes,Ares, or Palaemon, depending on the sources examined) to cleave his head open with thelabrys, the double-headedMinoanaxe.[58][116][124][122] Athena leaped from Zeus's head, often fully grown and armed.[58][116][111][125] The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states in lines 9–16 that the gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance[126] and evenHelios, the god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky.[126] Pindar, in his "Seventh Olympian Ode", states that she "cried aloud with a mighty shout" and that "the Sky and mother Earth shuddered before her".[127][126]
Hesiod states that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having given birth to a child on his own that she conceived and boreHephaestus byherself,[119] but inImagines2. 27 (trans. Fairbanks), the third-century AD Greek rhetoricianPhilostratus the Elder writes that Hera "rejoices" at Athena's birth "as though Athena were her daughter also". The second-century AD Christian apologistJustin Martyr takes issue with those pagans who erect at springs images ofKore, whom he interprets as Athena: "They said that Athena was the daughter of Zeus not from intercourse, but when the god had in mind the making of a world through a word (logos) his first thought was Athena."[128] According to a rare account of the story in a scholium on theIliad, when Zeus swallowed Metis, she was pregnant with Athena by theCyclops Brontes.[129] TheEtymologicum Magnum[130] instead deems Athena the daughter of theDaktylItonos.[131] Fragments attributed by the ChristianEusebius of Caesarea to the semi-legendaryPhoenician historianSanchuniathon, which Eusebius thought had been written before theTrojan War, make Athena instead the daughter ofCronus, a king ofByblos who visited "the inhabitable world" and bequeathedAttica to Athena.[132][133]
Athena, born a daughter instead of the son of the prophecy Hesiod described, never successfully overthrew her father Zeus as the ruler of the cosmos; butHomer'Iliad tells of an attempted overthrow, in which she, Hera andPoseidon conspired to overpower Zeus and tie him in bonds. It is only because of theNereidThetis, who summoned Briareus, one of theHecatoncheires, toMount Olympus, that the other gods abandon their plans (out of fear for Briareus).[134]
As the goddess of war, good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, Athena became the guardian of the welfare of kings. In afounding myth reported by Pseudo-Apollodorus,[130] she competed withPoseidon for the patronage of Athens.[135] They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift[135] and thatCecrops, the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better.[135] Poseidon struck the ground with histrident and a salt water spring sprang up;[135] this gave the Athenians access to trade and water.[136] Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating thePersian fleet at theBattle of Salamis[136]—but the water was salty and undrinkable.[136] In an alternative version of the myth fromVergil'sGeorgics,[130] Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse.[135] Athena offered the first domesticatedolive tree.[135][92] Cecrops accepted this gift[135] and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens.[135] The olive tree brought wood, oil, and food,[136] and became a symbol of Athenian economic prosperity.[92][137]Robert Graves was of the opinion that "Poseidon's attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths",[136] which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions.[136]
TheAthena Giustiniani, a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Pallas Athena. The guardian serpent of the Athenian Acropolis sits coiled at her feet.[138]
Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons,Halirrhothius, to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him. This was supposedly the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive treemoria, for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal (moros in Greek). Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on theAreopagus ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event.[139][140]
Pseudo-Apollodorus[130] records an archaic legend, which claims thatHephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him toejaculate on her thigh.[141][90][142] Athena wiped thesemen off using a tuft ofwool, which she tossed into the dust, impregnatingGaia and causing her to give birth toErichthonius.[141][90][142] Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son and raised him.[141][142] TheFabulae, a work of Roman mythography attributed toGaius Julius Hyginus, records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born.[141] Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married,[141] but, when Hephaestus was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius.[141]
The geographerPausanias[130] records that Athena went to place the infant Erichthonius into a small chest[143] (cista), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters ofCecrops:Herse,Pandrosos, andAglauros of Athens.[143] She warned the three sisters not to open the chest,[143] but did not explain to them why or what was in it.[143] Aglauros, and possibly one of the other sisters,[143] opened the chest.[143] Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent.[144] In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off theAcropolis, dying instantly,[145] but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead.[145] An alternative version of the story is that Athena left the box with the daughters of Cecrops while she went to fetch a limestone mountain from thePallene peninsula to use in the Acropolis. While she was away, Aglaurus and Herse opened the box. A crow saw them open the box, and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain she was carrying which becameMount Lycabettus.
Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told inMetamorphoses by the Roman poetOvid (43 BC – 17 AD); in this late variantHermes falls in love with Herse. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to the temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. Hermes gives her the money the sisters have already offered to Athena. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddessEnvy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. He turns her to stone.[146]
Erichthonius was one of the most important founding heroes of Athens[90] and the legend of the daughters of Cecrops was a cult myth linked to the rituals of theArrhephoria festival.[90][147] Pausanias records that, during the Arrhephoria, two young girls known as theArrhephoroi, who lived near the temple of Athena Polias, would be given hidden objects by thepriestess of Athena,[148] which they would carry on their heads down a natural underground passage.[148] They would leave the objects they had been given at the bottom of the passage and take another set of hidden objects,[148] which they would carry on their heads back up to the temple.[148] The ritual was performed in the dead of night[148] and no one, not even the priestess, knew what the objects were.[148] The serpent in the story may be the same one depicted coiled at Athena's feet in Pheidias's famous statue of theAthena Parthenos in the Parthenon.[138] Many of the surviving sculptures of Athena show this serpent.[138] Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis[138] and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering.[138] On the eve of theSecond Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake[138] and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them.[138]
Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl namedMyrsine, a chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both thepalaestra and the race. Out of envy, the other athletes murdered her, but Athena took pity in her and transformed her dead body into amyrtle, a plant thereafter as favoured by her as the olive was.[149] An almost exact story was said about another girl,Elaea, who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree.[150]
According to Ovid, one day as the mortal maidenCorone was walking by the seashore, Poseidon saw her and attempted to seduce her. When his efforts failed, he attempted to rape her instead. However, Corone fled from his rapacious advances, crying out to men and gods. While no man heard her, "the virgin goddess feels pity for a virgin"; Athena saved her by transforming her into acrow.[5][6]
After the deaths of their parents, the orphanedCleothera andMerope were raised byAphrodite.[151] The other Olympian goddesses also blessed the girls with gifts and blessings;Hera gave them beauty,Artemis high stature, and Athena taught them women's crafts.[151][152]
Patron of heroes
In Homer'sIliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspired and fought alongside the Greek heroes; her aid was synonymous with military prowess. Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derived in part from the fact that she represented the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represented mere blood lust. Her superiority also derived in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In theIliad, Athena was the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personified excellence in close combat and glory, and was personally attended byNike, the goddess of victory. The qualities that led to victory were found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault.
According to Pseudo-Apollodorus'sBibliotheca, Athena advisedArgos, the builder of theArgo, the ship on which the heroJason and his band ofArgonauts sailed, and aided in the ship's construction.[154][155] According to Pindar'sThirteenth Olympian Ode, Athena helped the heroBellerophon tame the winged horsePegasus by giving him abit.[156][157] InAeschylus's tragedyOrestes, Athena intervenes to saveOrestes from the wrath of theErinyes and presides over his trial for the murder of his motherClytemnestra.[158] When half the jury votes to acquit and the other half votes toconvict, Athena casts the deciding vote to acquit Orestes[158] and declares that, from then on, whenever a jury is tied, the defendant shall always be acquitted.[159]
Pseudo-Apollodorus also records that Athena guided the heroPerseus in his quest to beheadMedusa.[160][161][162] She andHermes, the god of travelers, appeared to Perseus after he set off on his quest and gifted him with tools he would need to kill the Gorgon.[162][163] Athena lent Perseus her polished bronze shield to view Medusa's reflection without becoming petrified himself.[162][164] Hermes lent Perseus hisharpe to behead Medusa with.[162][165] When Perseus swung the blade to behead Medusa, Athena guided it, allowing the blade to cut the Gorgon's head clean off.[162][164]
Inancient Greek art, Athena is frequently shown aiding the heroHeracles.[166] She appears in four of the twelvemetopes on theTemple of Zeus at Olympia depicting Heracles'sTwelve Labors,[167][166] including the first, in which she simply watches him slay theNemean lion after having told him how to use the lion's own claws to skin the pelt,[166] and in the tenth, in which she is shown actively helping him hold up the sky itself.[168] According to Apollodorus, on Athena's advice, Heracles draggedAlcyoneus, one of the two strongest Giants alongsidePorphyrion, beyond the borders of his native land, where he was immortal, and then fatally shot him (compare withAntaeus).[169] She is presented as Heracles' "stern ally",[170] but also the "gentle ... acknowledger of his achievements".[170] Artistic depictions of Heracles'sapotheosis show Athena driving him to Mount Olympus in her chariot and presenting him to Zeus for his deification.[168]
InThe Odyssey,Odysseus' cunning and shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour.[171][155] For the first part of the poem, however, she largely is confined to aiding him only fromafar, mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey home from Troy. Her guiding actions reinforce her role as the "protectress of heroes", or, as mythologianWalter Friedrich Otto dubbed her, the "goddess of nearness", due to her mentoring and motherly probing.[172][160][173] It is not until he washes up on the shore of the island of thePhaeacians, whereNausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena arrives personally to provide more tangible assistance.[174] She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus and plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca.[175] Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman;[176][177][171] she initially lies and tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried and that he is believed to be dead,[176] but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself.[178][177] Impressed by his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself and tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom.[179][177][171] She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope,[180][177] and helps him to defeat the suitors.[180][181][177] Athena also appears to Odysseus's son Telemachus.[182] Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades and ask about his father.[183] He hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey.[183] Athena's push for Telemachus's journey helps him grow into the man role, that his father once held.[184] She also plays a role in ending the resultant feud against the suitors' relatives. She instructsLaertes to throw his spear and to killEupeithes, the father ofAntinous.
Athena and Heracles on anAttic red-figurekylix, 480–470 BC
A myth told by the early third-century BC Hellenistic poetCallimachus in hisHymn 5 begins with Athena bathing in a spring onMount Helicon at midday with one of her favorite companions, the nymphChariclo.[142][185] Chariclo's sonTiresias happened to be hunting on the same mountain and came to the spring searching for water.[142][185] He inadvertently saw Athena naked, so she struck him blind to ensure he would never again see what man was not intended to see.[142][186][187] Chariclo intervened on her son's behalf and begged Athena to have mercy.[142][187][188] Athena replied that she could not restore Tiresias's eyesight,[142][187][188] so, instead, she gave him the ability to understand the language of the birds and thus foretell the future.[189][188][142]
Myrmex was a clever and chaste Attic girl who became quickly a favourite of Athena. However, when Athena invented the plough, Myrmex went to the Atticans and told them that it was in fact her own invention. Hurt by the girl's betrayal, Athena transformed her into the small insect bearing her name, theant.[190]
Classical Greek depiction ofMedusa from the fourth century BC
TheGorgoneion appears to have originated as anapotropaic symbol intended to ward off evil.[191] In a late Roman myth invented to explain the origins of the Gorgon,[192]Medusa is described as having been raped by Poseidon in the temple of Athena.[193] Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with serpents for hair whose gazewould turn any mortal to stone.[194]
In hisTwelfth Pythian Ode,Pindar recounts the story of how Athena invented theaulos, a kind of flute, in imitation of the lamentations of Medusa's sisters, the Gorgons, after she was beheaded by the heroPerseus.[195] According to Pindar, Athena gave the aulos to mortals as a gift.[195] Later, the comic playwrightMelanippides of Melos (c. 480–430 BC) embellished the story in his comedyMarsyas,[195] claiming that Athena looked in the mirror while she was playing the aulos and saw how blowing into it puffed up her cheeks and made her look silly, so she threw the aulos away and cursed it so that whoever picked it up would meet an awful death.[195] The aulos was picked up by the satyrMarsyas, who was later killed by Apollo for hishubris.[195] Later, this version of the story became accepted as canonical[195] and the Athenian sculptorMyron created a group of bronze sculptures based on it, which was installed before the western front of the Parthenon in around 440 BC.[195]
Thefable ofArachne appears in the Roman poetOvid'sMetamorphoses (8 AD) (vi.5–54 and 129–145),[196][197][198] which is nearly the only extant source for the legend.[197][198] The story does not appear to have been well known prior to Ovid's rendition of it[197] and the only earlier reference to it is a brief allusion inVirgil'sGeorgics, (29 BC) (iv, 246) that does not mention Arachne by name.[198] According to Ovid, Arachne (whose name meansspider in ancient Greek[199]) was the daughter of a famous dyer inTyrian purple in Hypaipa ofLydia, and a weaving student of Athena.[200] She became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena herself and that she didn't feel grateful to the goddess for anything, despite Athena's invention of the craft.[200][201] Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the deities.[196][201] Arachne scoffed and invited her to a weaving contest to prove her skill.[202][201] Athena revealed her true form, accepted and wove the scene of her victory overPoseidon in the contest for the patronage of Athens.[202][203][201] Her tapestry also depicted the 12 Olympian gods and defeat of mythological figures who challenged their authority.[204] Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the deities' sexual affairs,[202][203][201] includingZeus being unfaithful withLeda, withEuropa, and withDanaë.[203] It represented the unjust and discrediting behavior of the gods towards mortals.[204] Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless,[202][201][203] but was outraged at Arachne's choice of subject.[202][201][203] Finally, losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle.[202][201][203] Athena then struck Arachne across the face with her staff four times.[202][201][203] Arachne hanged herself in despair,[202][201][203] but Athena took pity on her and brought her back from the dead in the form of a spider.[202][201][203]
In a rarer version, surviving in thescholia of an unnamed scholiast onNicander, whose works heavily influenced Ovid, Arachne is placed in Attica instead and has a brother namedPhalanx. Athena taught Arachne the art of weaving and Phalanx the art of war, but when brother and sister laid together in bed, Athena was so disgusted with them that she turned them both into spiders, animals forever doomed to be eaten by their own young.[205]
According to Book VIII (236–59) of Ovid'sMetamorphoses,Daedalus was so proud of his achievements as an inventor that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her sonPerdix under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts. While walking on the seashore, he picked up the spine of a fish or a serpent's jaw. Imitating it, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, thus inventing the saw. Daedalus was so envious of his nephew's accomplishments that he took an opportunity, when they were together one day on the top of a high tower, to push him off, but Athena, who favors ingenuity, saw him falling and saved his life by changing him into a bird called after his name, theperdix (partridge). This bird does not build its nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but nestles in thehedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high places. For this crime, Daedalus was tried and banished. In some accounts, she leaves Daedalus with a scar in the shape of a partridge, to always remind him of his crime.
^In other traditions, Athena's father is sometimes listed asPallas,Brontes, orItonos.Poseidon is also sometimes listed as her father, by the nymph Tritonis. Herodotus 4.180, Pausanias 1.14.6
^"The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athena; they are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them." (Timaeus 21e.)
^Aeschylus,Eumenides, v. 292 f. Cf. the tradition that she was the daughter of Neilos: see, e. g. Clement of AlexandriaProtr. 2.28.2; Cicero,De Natura Deorum 3.59.
^"This sanctuary had been respected from early days by all thePeloponnesians, and afforded peculiar safety to its suppliants" (Pausanias,Description of Greece iii.5.6)
^Jane Ellen Harrison's famous characterization of this myth-element as, "a desperate theological expedient to rid an earth-born Kore of her matriarchal conditions" (Harrison 1922:302) has never been refuted nor confirmed.
^Jane Ellen Harrison's famous characterization of this myth-element as, "a desperate theological expedient to rid an earth-born Kore of her matriarchal conditions" (Harrison 1922:302) has never been refuted nor confirmed.
The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in theIliad,[206] but is described in depth in anepitome of theCypria, a lost poem of theEpic Cycle,[207] which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage ofPeleus andThetis (the eventual parents ofAchilles).[206] OnlyEris, goddess of discord, was not invited.[207] She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses.[208] Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple.[208][142] The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, aTrojan prince.[208][142] After bathing in the spring ofMount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision.[208] In the extant ancient depictions of the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite is only occasionally represented nude, and Athena and Hera are always fully clothed.[209] Since theRenaissance, however, Western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked.[209] All three goddesses were ideally beautiful and Paris could not decide between them, so they resorted to bribes.[208] Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia and Europe,[208][142] and Athena offered fame and glory in battle,[208][142] but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth.[210][142] This woman wasHelen, who was already married to KingMenelaus ofSparta.[210] Paris selected Aphrodite and awarded her the apple.[210][142] The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in theTrojan War.[210][142]
Athena statue in the Antalya Museum.
In Books V–VI of theIliad, Athena aids the heroDiomedes, who, in the absence of Achilles, proves himself to be the most effective Greek warrior.[211][155] Several artistic representations from the early sixth century BC may show Athena and Diomedes,[211] including an early sixth-century BC shield band depicting Athena and an unidentified warrior riding on a chariot, a vase painting of a warrior with his charioteer facing Athena, and an inscribed clay plaque showing Diomedes and Athena riding in a chariot.[211] Numerous passages in theIliad also mention Athena having previously served as the patron of Diomedes's fatherTydeus.[212][213] When the Trojans go to her temple on the Acropolis to plead her for protection from Diomedes, Athena ignores them.[64] Later, when Zeus allows the gods to fight, Ares, who sided with the Trojans, attacks Athena, but she overpowers him by striking him with a boulder.[214]
In Book XXII of theIliad, while Achilles is chasingHector around the walls of Troy, Athena appears to Hector disguised as his brotherDeiphobus[215] and persuades him to hold his ground so that they can fight Achilles together.[215] Then, Hector throws his spear at Achilles and misses, expecting Deiphobus to hand him another,[216] but Athena disappears instead, leaving Hector to face Achilles alone without his spear.[216] InSophocles's tragedyAjax, she punishes Odysseus's rivalAjax the Great, driving him insane and causing him to massacre the Achaeans' cattle, thinking that he is slaughtering the Achaeans themselves.[217] Even after Odysseus himself expresses pity for Ajax,[218] Athena declares, "To laugh at your enemies – what sweeter laughter can there be than that?" (lines 78–9).[218] Ajax later commits suicide as a result of his humiliation.[218]
Classical art
Athena appears frequently in classical Greek art, including on coins and in paintings on ceramics.[219][220] She is especially prominent in works produced in Athens.[219] In classical depictions, Athena is usually portrayed standing upright, wearing a full-lengthchiton.[221] She is most often represented dressed in armor like a male soldier[220][221][8] and wearing aCorinthian helmet raised high atop her forehead.[222][8][220] Her shield bears at its centre the aegis with the head of the gorgon (gorgoneion) in the center and snakes around the edge.[192] Sometimes she is shown wearing the aegis as a cloak.[220] As Athena Promachos, she is shown brandishing a spear.[219][8][220] Scenes in which Athena was represented include her birth from the head of Zeus, her battle with theGigantes, the birth of Erichthonius, and the Judgement of Paris.[219]
TheMourning Athena orAthena Meditating is a famous relief sculpture dating to around 470–460 BC[222][219] that has been interpreted to represent Athena Polias.[222] The most famous classical depiction of Athena was theAthena Parthenos, a now-lost 11.5 m (38 ft)[223]gold and ivory statue of her in theParthenon created by the Athenian sculptorPhidias.[221][219] Copies reveal that this statue depicted Athena holding her shield in her left hand withNike, the winged goddess of victory, standing in her right.[219] Athena Polias is also represented in a Neo-Attic relief now held in theVirginia Museum of Fine Arts,[222] which depicts her holding an owl in her hand[a] and wearing her characteristic Corinthian helmet while resting her shield against a nearbyherma.[222] The Roman goddess Minerva adopted most of Athena's Greek iconographical associations,[224] but was also integrated into theCapitoline Triad.[224]
Statue of Pallas Athena in front of theAustrian Parliament Building. Athena has been used throughout Western history as a symbol of freedom and democracy.[225]
Early Christian writers, such asClement of Alexandria andFirmicus, denigrated Athena as representative of all the things that were detestable about paganism;[226] they condemned her as "immodest and immoral".[227] During the Middle Ages, however, many attributes of Athena were given to theVirgin Mary,[227] who, in fourth-century portrayals, was often depicted wearing theGorgoneion.[227] Some even viewed the Virgin Mary as a warrior maiden, much like Athena Parthenos;[227] one anecdote tells that the Virgin Mary once appeared upon the walls ofConstantinople when it was under siege by the Avars, clutching a spear and urging the people to fight.[228] During the Middle Ages, Athena became widely used as a Christian symbol and allegory, and she appeared on the family crests of certain noble houses.[229]
During the Renaissance, Athena donned the mantle of patron of the arts and human endeavor;[230] allegorical paintings involving Athena were a favorite of the Italian Renaissance painters.[230] InSandro Botticelli's paintingPallas and the Centaur, probably painted sometime in the 1480s, Athena is the personification of chastity, who is shown grasping the forelock of a centaur, who represents lust.[231][232]Andrea Mantegna's 1502 paintingMinerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue uses Athena as the personification of Graeco-Roman learning chasing the vices of medievalism from the garden of modern scholarship.[233][232][234] Athena is also used as the personification of wisdom inBartholomeus Spranger's 1591 paintingThe Triumph of Wisdom orMinerva Victorious over Ignorance.[224]
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Athena was used as a symbol for female rulers.[235] In his bookA Revelation of the True Minerva (1582),Thomas Blennerhassett portraysQueen Elizabeth I of England as a "new Minerva" and "the greatest goddesse nowe on earth".[236] A series of paintings byPeter Paul Rubens depict Athena asMarie de' Medici's patron and mentor;[237] the final painting in the series goes even further and shows Marie de' Medici with Athena's iconography, as the mortal incarnation of the goddess herself.[237] The Flemish sculptorJean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert (Jan Peter Anton Tassaert) later portrayedCatherine II of Russia as Athena in a marble bust in 1774.[224] During theFrench Revolution, statues of pagan gods were torn down all throughout France, but statues of Athena were not.[237] Instead, Athena was transformed into the personification of freedom and the republic[237] and a statue of the goddess stood in the center of thePlace de la Revolution in Paris.[237] In the years following the Revolution, artistic representations of Athena proliferated.[238]
One ofSigmund Freud's most treasured possessions was a small, bronze sculpture of Athena, which sat on his desk.[244] Freud once described Athena as "a woman who is unapproachable and repels all sexual desires – since she displays the terrifying genitals of the Mother".[245]Feminist views on Athena are sharply divided;[245] some regard her as "the ultimatepatriarchal sell out ... who uses her powers to promote and advance men rather than others of her sex",[245] while some feminists regard her as a symbol of female empowerment,[245] In contemporaryWicca, Athena is venerated as an aspect of theGoddess[246] and some Wiccans believe that she may bestow the "Owl Gift" ("the ability to write and communicate clearly") upon her worshippers.[246] Due to her status as one of the twelve Olympians, Athena is a major deity inHellenismos,[247] aNeopagan religion which seeks to authentically revive and recreate the religion of ancient Greece in the modern world.[248]
Athena is a natural patron of universities: AtBryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, a statue of Athena (a replica of the original bronze one in the arts and archaeology library) resides in the Great Hall.[249] It is traditional at exam time for students to leave offerings to the goddess with a note asking for good luck,[249] or to repent for accidentally breaking any of the college's numerous other traditions.[249] Pallas Athena is the tutelary goddess of the international social fraternityPhi Delta Theta.[250] Her owl is also a symbol of the fraternity.[250]
^abcdJanson, Horst Woldemar; Janson, Anthony F. (2004). Touborg, Sarah; Moore, Julia; Oppenheimer, Margaret; Castro, Anita (eds.).History of Art: The Western Tradition. Vol. 1 (Revised 6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:Pearson Education. pp. 111, 160.ISBN0-13-182622-0.
^"Life of Pericles 13,8".Plutarch, Parallel Lives. uchicago.edu. 1916.The Parallel Lives by Plutarch published in Vol. III of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1916
^Justin,Apology 64.5, quoted in Robert McQueen Grant,Gods and the One God, vol. 1:155, who observes that it isPorphyry "who similarly identifies Athena with 'forethought'".
^Antaeus, another offspring of Gaia who was an opponent of Heracles, was immortal as long as he was in contact with the earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by crushing him while holding him off the ground. ForPindar, Hearacles' battle with Alcyoneus (whom he calls a herdsman) and the Gigantomachy were separate events, see:Isthmian6.30–35,Nemean4.24–30.
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![Attic black-figure exaleiptron of the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus (c. 570–560 BC) by the C Painter[219]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aExaleiptron_birth_Athena_Louvre_CA616_n2.jpg)
![The Mourning Athena relief (c. 470-460 BC)[222][219]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPensive_Athena_in_Acropolis_Museum_2024.jpg)
![Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue (1502) by Andrea Mantegna[233][232][234]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMinerve_chassant_les_Vices_du_jardin_des_Vertus%2c_Mantegna_(Louvre_INV_371)_02.jpg)
![Maria de Medici (1622) by Peter Paul Rubens, showing her as the incarnation of Athena[237]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPeter_Paul_Rubens_-_Marie_de_Medicis_as_Bellona2.jpg)
![Pompeii's Roman fresco shows Ajax dragging Cassandra away from palladium in the fall of Troy, event that provoked Athena's wrath to Greek armies[49]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPompeii_-_Casa_del_Menandro_-_Menelaos.jpg)
