Sections\u00a0 & Primary Sources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Hesiod,\u00a0Theogony<\/em>, 885-900<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homeric Hymn 28, \"To Athena\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_764\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1552\"]
![\"Zeus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/01\/Exaleiptron_birth_Athena_Louvre_CA616.jpg\")
The birth of Athena, black-figure exaleiptron, ca. 570 BCE (Louvre Museum, Paris)[\/caption]\r\n<\/a>Athena Tritogeneia<\/h2>\r\nThe following content is adapted from<\/em> Mythology<\/a> Unbound<\/a> and is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA<\/a> license.<\/em>\r\n
Athena was the daughter of Zeus and his first wife [pb_glossary id=\"1568\"]Metis[\/pb_glossary]. Gaia told Zeus that Metis would first bear a daughter, and then a son who would overthrow his father. Zeus, like his father and grandfather before him, wanted to avoid this fate, so when Metis became pregnant, he swallowed his wife whole. After a few months, Zeus developed a splitting headache and asked Hephaestus (or in some versions, the Titan Prometheus) to help him relieve the pressure. Hephaestus took up his axe and split open Zeus\u2019 head. Out jumped Athena, fully dressed in armor. Another tradition has it that Athena was born near a river called Triton in Boeotia, an [pb_glossary id=\"4647\"]etiological myth[\/pb_glossary] that was created to explain her epithet [pb_glossary id=\"1567\"]Tritogeneia[\/pb_glossary]. The epithet may also come from lake Tritonis in Libya, another location given for the goddess's birth.<\/p>\r\n
Athena may possibly have originated as a warrior goddess of the Mycenaeans, an early Greek-speaking people based in the Peloponnese. She is associated with snakes, but it is not clear what the significance of the snake is to Athena.<\/p>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Hesiod,\u00a0Theogony <\/em>(trans. H. G. Evelyn-White, adapted by P. Rogak and T. Mulder)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic, ca. 700 BCE<\/h4>\r\n
In this selection from his epic poem, the Theogony<\/em>, written in the 8th or 7th century BCE, Hesiod describes the birth of Athena.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[885] Now [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], king of the gods, made [pb_glossary id=\"1568\"]Metis[\/pb_glossary] his wife first, and she was the wisest among gods and mortal men. But when she was about to give birth to the goddess bright-eyed Athena, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] craftily deceived her [890] with cunning words and put her in his own belly, as [pb_glossary id=\"358\"]Earth[\/pb_glossary] and starry [pb_glossary id=\"1546\"]Heaven[\/pb_glossary] advised. They advised him to do this so that no one else should hold royal power over the eternal gods in place of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]; for very wise children were destined to be born of her, [895] first the maiden, bright-eyed [pb_glossary id=\"1567\"]Tritogeneia[\/pb_glossary], equal to her father in strength and in wise understanding; but afterward she was to bear a son of overbearing spirit, king of gods and men. But [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] put her into his own belly first, [900] so that the goddess might both good and evil plots for him.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D886<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/a>Homeric Hymn 28, \"To Athena\" (trans. H. G. Evelyn-White, adapted by L. Zhang, P. Rogak, and T. Mulder)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek hymn, 7th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
This short\u00a0Homeric Hymn\u00a0<\/em>28 \"To Athena,\" written in Greek, probably in the 7th century BCE, describes the goddess' birth and her attributes:<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1] I begin to sing of [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena, the glorious goddess, bright-eyed, inventive, unbending of heart, pure virgin, saviour of cities, courageous, [pb_glossary id=\"1567\"]Tritogeneia[\/pb_glossary]. From his awe-inspiring head wise [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] himself gave birth to her, adorned with warlike weapons of flashing gold, and awe seized all the gods as they watched. But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head and stood before [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] who holds the [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary], shaking a sharp spear: great [pb_glossary id=\"628\"]Olympus[\/pb_glossary] began to reel horribly at the might of the bright-eyed goddess, and earth round about cried fearfully, and the sea was moved and tossed with dark waves, while foam burst forth suddenly: the bright Son of [pb_glossary id=\"878\"]Hyperion[\/pb_glossary] [ [pb_glossary id=\"876\"]Helios[\/pb_glossary] ] stopped his swift-footed horses for a long time, until the maiden [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena had stripped the divine armour from her immortal shoulders. And wise [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] was glad. And so hail to you, daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] who holds the [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]! Now I will remember you and another song as well.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/HomericHymns3.html#28<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/a>Athena in Action<\/h1>\r\n
\r\n Sections & Primary Sources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nAthena as Protector of Heroes<\/a>\r\n- \r\n \t
- Aeschylus,\u00a0Eumenides<\/em> 566-775<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena the Warrior<\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Homeric Hymn 11, \"To Athena\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer,\u00a0Iliad,\u00a0<\/em>5.711-909<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena as Patron of Athens<\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Pseudo-Apollodorus,\u00a0Bibliotheca<\/em>, 3.14.1<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena's Virginity<\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Callimachus, Hymn 5, \"The Bath of Pallas\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Fulgentius,\u00a0Mythologies<\/em>, 2.11<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena and Arachne<\/a>\r\n
- \r\n \t
- Ovid,\u00a0Metamorphoses,\u00a0<\/em>11.1-145<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
<\/a>Athena as Protector of Heroes<\/h2>\r\nThe following content is adapted from<\/em> Mythology Unbound <\/a>and is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA<\/a> license.<\/em>\r\n
Athena was particularly fond of courageous young men, and she helped many heroes in their quests. When Perseus was sent to kill the Gorgon, Medusa, Athena provided the sword and shiny shield needed to slay the Gorgon without looking at her (see chapter 21<\/a>). She gave the hero Bellerophon the golden bridle he needed to ride the winged horse, Pegasus; by riding on Pegasus\u2019 back, Bellerophon was able to kill the monster, Chimera (see chapter 21<\/a>). The Argonauts were saved from the Clashing Rocks by Athena\u2019s help (see chapter 18<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n
Odysseus, because of his cunning, was one of Athena\u2019s favorite mortals. Odysseus\u2019 return home after the Trojan War was only possible because of Athena\u2019s crafty help. Her intervention also helped him survive the Greater Ajax\u2019s wrath in Sophocles\u2019 Ajax<\/em>. Whenever Odysseus is depicted in a myth, Athena is never far away (see chapter 30<\/a>).<\/p>\r\nSimilarly, sfter Orestes murdered his mother Clytemnestra in order to avenge the murder of his father Agamemnon, the Greek commander in the Trojan War, Athena helped the young man to escape punishment.\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Aeschylus,\u00a0Eumenides<\/em> 566-775 (trans. H. W. Smyth, adapted by L. Zhang, P. Rogak, and Tara Mulder)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek tragedy, 5th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn this excerpt from the end of Aeschylus' tragic play,\u00a0Eumenides<\/em>, the third play in a trilogy called\u00a0The Oresteia<\/em>, written in Greek, at Athens in 458 BCE, we can see Athena defending the hero Orestes in an Athenian court. The earlier plays in the trilogy, the Agamemnon<\/em> and the Libation Bearers<\/em>, told the story of King Agamemnon's return to Mycenae after the Trojan War. Upon his homecoming, bringing with him the captured Trojan princess and priestess of Apollo, Cassandra, Agamemnon walks into a trap set by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon and Cassandra. Then, the couple's son, Orestes, returns home from where he has been raised by foster parents. He avenges the murder of his father, Agamemnon, by killing his mother, Clytemnestra. As the punishment for killing a member of his own family, he is pursued by the Erinyes (or \"Furies\" as they were called by the Romans). These three dread goddesses of the underworld have snakes for hair and have the responsibility for punishing crime, particularly kin-murder and oath-breaking.\r\n\r\nAs this section of the play opens, Athena is introducing the concept of a trial to the Athenians. This is an [pb_glossary id=\"4647\"]etiological[\/pb_glossary] myth that explains the origin of the court system in ancient Athens.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nEnter, in procession, Athena, a herald, the jury of the [pb_glossary id=\"5346\"]Areopagus[\/pb_glossary], a crowd of citizens, [the chorus of [pb_glossary id=\"157\"]Furies[\/pb_glossary] is already onstage]. [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary] moves to the place appointed for the accused. [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] appears after Athena's first speech.<\/em>\r\nATHENA:<\/h6>\r\nHerald, give the signal and restrain the crowd; and let the piercing Tyrrhenian trumpet, filled with human breath, send forth its shrill blare to the people! For it is good for everyone to be silent [570] while this council-hall is filling, and for the whole city to learn my decrees for all time, and for these appellants to learn them too, so that their case may be decided well.\r\n\r\nEnter [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary].<\/em>\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nLord [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary], be master of what is yours. Say what part you have in this matter.\r\n\r\n
Read full text<\/summary> \r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\n[575] I have come both to bear witness\u2014for this man was a lawful suppliant and a guest of my sanctuary, and I am the one who purified him from the stain of bloodshed\u2014and to be his advocate. I am responsible for the murder of his mother. [580] (To Athena)<\/em> Bring in the case and decide it according to your wisdom.\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\n(To the [pb_glossary id=\"157\"]Furies[\/pb_glossary])<\/em> It is up to you to speak\u2014I am only bringing in the case; for the prosecutor speaking first at the beginning will rightly inform us of the matter.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nWe are many, but we will speak briefly. [585] (To [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary])<\/em> Answer our questions, one by one. Say first if you killed your mother.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nI killed her. There is no denial of this.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nThree falls win the wrestling match. This one is already ours.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nYou make this boast over a man who is not down yet.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[590] But say how you killed her.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nI will say it: with a drawn sword in hand, I stabbed her in the throat.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nBy whom were you persuaded and on whose advice?\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nBy the oracles of this god here; he is my witness.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nThe prophet directed you to kill your mother?\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[595] Yes, and to this very hour, I do not blame my fortune.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nBut if the jury's vote gets you, you'll soon be singing a different tune.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nI have good confidence. My father will send protection from his grave.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nPut your confidence in the dead now, after you have killed your mother!\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nI do, for she was twice polluted.[footnote]\"Pollution\" here refers to the Greek concept of miasma, the idea that death defiles someone or makes them impure. For further explanation, see Mythology Unbound<\/a>.[\/footnote]\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[600] How so? Demonstrate to the judges.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nBy murdering her husband, she killed my father.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nAnd now she is free from pollution by her death. But you are still alive.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nBut why did you not drive her into exile, while she lived?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nShe was not related by blood to the man she killed.\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[605] Then am I my mother's kin by blood?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nHow else could she have nurtured you, murderer, beneath her belt? Do you reject the nearest kinship, that of a mother?\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary], give your testimony now. Explain, on my behalf, whether I was justified in killing her. [610] For I do not deny that I did it, for it is done. But decide whether this bloodshed was, according to you, just or injust, so that I may inform the court.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nI will speak fairly before you, Athena's great tribunal. Since I am a prophet, I cannot lie. [615] I have never yet, on my oracular throne, said anything about a man or woman or city even [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], the father of the Olympians, did not command me to say. Learn how strong this plea of justice is. Obey the will of my father; [620] for an oath is not more powerful than [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary].\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], as you say, gave you this oracular command? He told you to tell [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary] here to avenge his father's murder but to take no account at all of the honour due his mother?\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nYes, for these are not the same thing. For his was the murder of a noble man, [625] honoured by a god-given scepter, moreover murder by a woman, and not by rushing arrows from far off (as if sent by an [pb_glossary id=\"1207\"]Amazon[\/pb_glossary]). It happened as you are about to hear, [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], and those who are here to decide this matter by vote.\r\n\r\n[630] She welcomed him back from the expedition [to [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary]], where he had for the most part won success beyond expectation, in the judgment of those favorable to him; then, as he was stepping from the bath, on its very edge, she threw a cloak like a tent over it, bound her husband in an embroidered robe, and cut him down.\r\n\r\n[635] This was his death, as I have told it to you\u2014the death of a man wholly majestic, commander of the fleet. As for that woman, I have described her in such a way as to fuel the indignation of the people who have been appointed to decide this case.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] gives greater honour to a father's death, according to what you say; [640] yet he himself bound his aged father, [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary]. How does this not contradict what you say? (To the judges)<\/em> I call on you as witnesses to hear these things.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nOh, monsters utterly hated and detested by the gods! [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] could undo bonds, there is a remedy for that, [645] and many means of release. But when the dust has sucked up the blood of a man, once he is dead, there is no return to life. For this, my father has made no magic spells, although he manipulates all other things, turning them up and down; [650] nor does his display of power cost him a breath.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nSee how you advocate acquittal for this man! After he has poured out his mother's blood on the ground, shall he then live in his father's house in Argos? Which of the public altars shall he use? [655] What purification rite of the brotherhoods will receive him?\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nI will explain this, too, and see how correctly I will speak. The mother of what is called her child is not the parent, but the nurse of the newly-sown embryo. The one who mounts is the parent, whereas she, as a stranger for a stranger, [660] preserves the young plant, if the god does not harm it. And I will show you proof of what I say: a father might exist without a mother. A witness is here at hand, the child of Olympian [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], who was not nursed in the darkness of a womb, [665] and she is such a child as no goddess could give birth to.\r\n\r\nFor my part, [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], as in all other matters, as I know how, I will make your city and people great; and I have sent this man as a suppliant to your sanctuary so that he may be faithful for all time, [670] and that you, goddess, might win him and those to come after him as a new ally and so that these pledges of faith might remain always, for the later generations of these people to cherish.\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\nAm I to assume that enough has been said, and shall I now command these jurors to cast an honest vote according to their judgment?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\n[675] For our part, every bolt is already shot. But I am waiting to hear how the trial will be decided.\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\nWhy not? (To [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary])<\/em> \u00a0As for you, how shall I arrange matters so that I will not be blamed by you?\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nYou have heard what you have heard; and as you cast your ballots, keep the oath sacred in your hearts, friends.\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\n[680] Hear now my ordinance, people of Attica, as you judge the first trial for bloodshed. In the future, even as now, this court of judges will always exist for the people of [pb_glossary id=\"1575\"]Aegeus[\/pb_glossary]. And this Hill of [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary], the seat and camp of the [pb_glossary id=\"1207\"]Amazons[\/pb_glossary], [685] when they came with an army in resentment against [pb_glossary id=\"1438\"]Theseus[\/pb_glossary], and in those days built up this new citadel with lofty towers to rival his, and sacrificed to [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary], from which this rock takes its name, the Hill of [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary]: [690] on this hill, the reverence of the citizens, and fear, its kinsman, will hold them back from doing wrong by day and night alike, so long as they themselves do not pollute the laws with evil streams; if you stain clear water with filth, you will never find a drink.\r\n\r\n[695] Neither anarchy nor tyranny\u2014this I counsel my citizens to support and respect, and not to drive fear wholly out of the city. For who among mortals, if he fears nothing, is righteous? Stand in just awe of such majesty, [700] and you will have a defense for your land and salvation of your city, such as no man has, either among the Scythians or in [pb_glossary id=\"632\"]Pelops[\/pb_glossary]' realm. I establish this tribunal, untouched by greed, worthy of reverence, quick to anger, awake on behalf of those who sleep, a guardian of the land.\r\n\r\n[705] But, I have gone on long enough with this advice for my citizens for their future. Now you must rise and take a ballot, and decide the case under the sacred obligation of your oath. My word has been spoken.\r\n\r\n[710] The judges rise from their seats and cast their ballots one by one during the following dialogue.<\/em>\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nAnd I counsel you not to dishonour us in any way, since our company can be a burden to your land.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nAnd I, for my part, command you to stand in fear of the oracles, both mine and [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]', and not cause them to be unfulfilled.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nYou honor bloody crimes that aren't your business. [715] Your oracles will never now be pure.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nSo Zeus made a mistake when [pb_glossary id=\"1482\"]Ixion[\/pb_glossary], the first to kill, appealed to him for help?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nYou said it, I didn't. But if I don't get justice, I will come back to crush this land forever.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\n[720] How so? You have no honour among the gods, young or old. I will win this case.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nYou did the same thing too, in Pheres' house: you persuaded the [pb_glossary id=\"605\"]Fates[\/pb_glossary] to let men hide from death.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nIs it unjust to treat someone so kindly, such a pious worshipper, [725] especially when he is in need?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nIt was you who destroyed the old divine order when you beguiled the ancient goddesses with wine.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nOnce you have lost the case you will spit out your venom. It won't be a threat to your enemies.\r\n\r\n[730] The voting is now over.<\/em>\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nSince you, a youth, deride my old age, I am waiting to hear the verdict in the case. I have not decided whether or not to be angry at the city.\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\nIt is my duty to give the final judgment and I will cast my vote for [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary]. [735] No mother gave birth to me; and in all things, except for marriage, I am whole-heartedly on the male side and on the side of my father . Therefore, I will not award greater honour to the death of a woman who killed her husband, the master of the house. If the vote comes out equal. [740] [pb_glossary id=\"1572\"]Orestes[\/pb_glossary] will win.\r\n\r\nTurn over the urns and count the ballots as quickly as possible, you jurors who have been assigned this task.\r\n\r\nThe ballots are turned out and separated.<\/em>\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\nO [pb_glossary id=\"946\"]Phoebus[\/pb_glossary] [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary]! How will the trial be decided?\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nO [pb_glossary id=\"1576\"]Night[\/pb_glossary], our dark Mother, do you see this? [745]\r\n
ORESTS:<\/h6>\r\nNow I will die by hanging, or I will live.\r\n
CHORUS:<\/h6>\r\nYes, and we will be ruined, or maintain our honours further.\r\n
APOLLO:<\/h6>\r\nCount the ballots correctly, friends, and do not make a mistake in dividing the votes. Error in judgment causes much distress, [750] and the cast of a single ballot has turned a house upside down.\r\n\r\nThe ballots are shown to Athena.<\/em>\r\n
ATHENA:<\/h6>\r\nThis man is acquitted on the charge of murder, for the numbers of the ballots are equal.\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary] disappears.<\/em>\r\n
ORESTES:<\/h6>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], savior of my house! I was deprived of a fatherland, and it is you who have given me a home there again. [755] The [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Hellenes[\/pb_glossary] will say, \u201cThe man is an [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argive[\/pb_glossary] once again, and lives in his father's estate, by the grace of [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] and of [pb_glossary id=\"1577\"]Loxias[\/pb_glossary] and of that third god, the one who accomplishes everything, the savior\u201d\u2014the one who, honouring my father's death, [760] saves me, in the face of my mother's advocates.\r\n\r\nI will go home now, after I swear an oath to this land and to your people for the future and for all time to come, that no commander of my land [765] will ever come here and do violence against them with a well-equipped spear. I will ensure this even from the grave. I will curse them with non-remediable failure, making their marches spiritless and their journeys ill-omened. [770] Those who violate this oath of mine will regret their enterprise. But while they remain true and they hold this city of [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary]\u00a0 as allies in everlasting honour, I will be the more well-disposed to them.\r\n\r\nAnd so farewell\u2014you and the people who guard your city. [775] May none of your enemies escape you and may you have safety and victory with the spear!\r\n\r\nExit<\/em>.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D566<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n
<\/a>Athena the Warrior<\/h2>\r\n
Athena was one of the war gods of the ancient Mediterranean. She was often compared to her brother Ares, but whereas the Greek saw him as the god of bloodthirsty, irrational battle lust, her domain was strategy and tactical warfare. However, this comparison was not always at the forefront of literary depictions of the two.<\/p>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Homeric Hymn 11, \"To Athena\" (trans. H. G. Evelyn-White, adapted by L. Zhang and T. Mulder)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek hymn, 7th-4th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
This brief hymn to Athena, written sometime in the 7th-4th centuries CE, addresses Athena and Ares as a duo. Together, they love \"deeds of war, the raiding of cities, and the shouting of the battle.\"<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[1] Of [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena, guardian of the city, I begin to sing. She is greatly revered, and with [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] she loves deeds of war, the raiding of cities and the shouting of the battle. It is she who saves the people when they go out to war and come back. Hail, goddess, and give us good fortune along with happiness!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/HomericHymns3.html#11<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/a>Homer,\u00a0Iliad,\u00a0<\/em>Book 5.711-909 (trans. A. S. Kline, adapted by L. Zhang, P. Rogak, and T. Mulder)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek epic poem, 8th century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
In this selection from the\u00a0Iliad,\u00a0<\/em>Book 5, Athena fights alongside the Greek hero, Diomedes. She helps him to wound Aries, who is fighting on the side of the Trojans.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[711-766] And when the goddess, white-armed [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] saw the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argives[\/pb_glossary] being slaughtered in mortal combat, she swiftly spoke winged words to Athena, \"Oh, child of [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1580\"]Atrytone[\/pb_glossary], if we let savage [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] rage like this, then what good is our promise to Menelaus that he will sack the high walls of [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary] before returning home? Come let us also think of wild bravery.\u2019\r\n\r\nRead full text<\/summary>Bright-eyed Athena hastened to obey her words. [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary], the great goddess, daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary], ran to harness her steeds with gold, while [pb_glossary id=\"1239\"]Hebe[\/pb_glossary] swiftly fitted the eight-spoked wheels of bronze on the chariot\u2019s iron axle. The rims of these chariot wheels are imperishable gold: the tires are bronze, a wonder to see; while the whirling hubs are silver. The platform is woven with straps of silver and gold, with a double rail, and a long silver pole to which she fastened the golden yoke and breast straps. Then Hera, eager to fight, yoked her swift horses.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile Athena, daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], took off her soft, richly embroidered robe, that she had made herself. She left it at the entrance to her father's house and dressed herself in the tunic of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the cloud-driver, and put on her armour, ready for gloomy war. She threw the frightening, tasseled [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary] over her shoulders, a garment filled with terror, violence and strife, adorned with the monstrous image of the [pb_glossary id=\"956\"]Gorgon[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s head,\u00a0 the grim and awful emblem of [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]. On her head she put the golden helmet with its four cones and double-crest, decorated with warriors of a hundred cities. Then she set foot on the fiery chariot, grasped her huge, strong, weighty spear, with which this daughter of a mighty Father shatters the ranks in anger.\r\n\r\nAt once, [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] whipped up the horses, and the gates of Olympus groaned open on their hinges all on their own accord, gates that the [pb_glossary id=\"164\"]Hours[\/pb_glossary] guard, the wardens of wide heaven and [pb_glossary id=\"628\"]Olympus[\/pb_glossary], hiding or showing them as they see fit. Through the gates they drove their steady horses, and found [ [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] ] the Son of [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Cronus[\/pb_glossary] sitting alone on the topmost peak of many-ridged [pb_glossary id=\"628\"]Olympus[\/pb_glossary]. There white-armed [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] reined in the horses, and asked lofty [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], \"Father Zeus, aren't you seething mad at [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] for his reckless violence that has destroyed a vast army of noble [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary], causing me great distress? Meanwhile Cyprian [pb_glossary id=\"882\"]Aphrodite[\/pb_glossary], and [pb_glossary id=\"183\"]Apollo[\/pb_glossary], Lord of the Silver Bow, are delightedly unleashing lawless carnage. Will you be angry, Father [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], if I strike [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] hard and drive him from the field?\"\r\n\r\n\"Instead of that, rouse Athena, always the first to chase the spoils, and let her face him,\" [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the cloud-gatherer replied. \"She, above all, is accustomed to causing him pain.\"\r\n\r\n[767-845] The goddess, white-armed [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary], sped to obey his order, flicking the horses with her whip, and the willing pair galloped between earth and the starry heavens. Those thundering horses of the gods cover the distance at one bound that a man can see through the distant haze, gazing from a watchtower over the wine-dark sea. They soon reached [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary], land of the two rivers, and there at the meeting of [pb_glossary id=\"1581\"]Simoeis[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1218\"]Scamander[\/pb_glossary], the white-armed goddess [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] reined in her horses, and loosed them from the yoke. She veiled them with a thick mist, while [pb_glossary id=\"1581\"]Simoeis[\/pb_glossary] made ambrosia spring up for them to graze. Then the two goddesses strutted forward, like bold pigeons, in their eagerness to aid the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argive[\/pb_glossary] army.\r\n\r\nWhen they had reached the place where a select force of [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Achaeans[\/pb_glossary], arrayed like ravenous lions or formidable wild boars, had gathered round mighty [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], tamer of horses, the goddess, white-armed [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] halted and called aloud, imitating bronze-voiced Stentor\u2019s great shout, louder than fifty men, \"Shame on you, Greeks, fine to look at, but cowards inside! When noble [pb_glossary id=\"1582\"]Achilles[\/pb_glossary] led the fight no Trojan dared to leave the Dardanian Gates, they feared his great spear so much, but now far from their city they fight by your hollow ships.\"\r\n\r\nWith these words she roused the courage and daring in every man. Meanwhile bright-eyed Athena, seeing [pb_glossary id=\"1583\"]Tydeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son beside his horses and chariot with the arrow-wound that Pandarus had given him, ran swiftly to his side. Beneath the broad shoulder-strap of his round shield the sweat was irritating him, and he lifted the strap to wipe away the dark blood beneath his weakened arm. The goddess laid her hand on the chariot yoke saying, \"[pb_glossary id=\"1583\"]Tydeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 son is hardly like his father. Small though he was, he was a fighter. Even when I wanted him not to fight or make a row, when he strode alone into the crowd of Cadmeians at [pb_glossary id=\"4675\"]Thebes[\/pb_glossary], bearing them a message, even when I\u2019d told him to sit and banquet quietly in their hall, he with his great heart had to challenge the Cadmeian youth, and beat them easily, as ever, though with my help. But you, I stand by your side, I shield you from harm, ready to urge you on against the Trojans, yet you seem too tired to attack again or fear robs you of your strength. If that is so, then you are no child of [pb_glossary id=\"1583\"]Tydeus[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"1461\"]Oeneus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 warlike son!\"\r\n\r\n\"I know you, daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary]-bearing [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary],\" answered mighty [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], \"so I will speak freely, hiding nothing. Neither blind fear nor fatigue possess me, I am merely obeying your command not to fight with the gods face to face, unless [pb_glossary id=\"882\"]Aphrodite[\/pb_glossary] daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] enters the fray, whom I am allowed to wound with my sharp blade. But it is [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] I see controlling the field of war, so I have retreated and told the rest of the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argives[\/pb_glossary] to gather here around me.\"\r\n\r\n\"Dearest [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], true son of [pb_glossary id=\"1583\"]Tydeus[\/pb_glossary],\" bright-eyed Athena replied, \"have no fear of [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] or any of the immortals, and I will be here beside you to defend you. Drive your swift steeds towards him, and strike him at close range. Do not be in awe of [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] raging in his fury, treacherous plague that he is, who promised [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary] and I that he would help the Greeks against the Trojans, but now forgets what he swore and fights for [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Troy[\/pb_glossary].\"\r\n\r\nShe reached out as she spoke and, grasping Sthenelus, hustled him from the chariot. He was quick to leave and she mounted beside [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], eager herself for battle. The beech-wood axle groaned beneath its burden, weighed down by the mighty warrior and the fearsome goddess. [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena grasped the reins, and whipped the swift horses towards [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] as he was stripping the armour from the great Periphas, noble son of Ochesius and pride of the Aetolians. Spattered with blood, he despoiled the corpse, while Athena donned [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 helmet of invisibility, to hide her identity from the mighty god.\r\n\r\n[846-909] But the moment [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary], bane of the living, glimpsed [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], he left great Periphas where he had killed him, and headed straight for the [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]horse-tamer[\/pb_glossary]. When they were at close quarters, [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] thrust with his bronze spear over the reins and yoke at [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], eager to strike him dead: but bright-eyed Athena caught the spear in her hand, and drove it above the chariot into the air. Now, [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], of the loud war-cry, thrust his bronze-spear at [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary], and [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena drove it home into the lower belly, where he wore a defensive apron. There the thrust landed, tearing the flesh, and [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary] wrenched it free again. Then bronze-clad [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] bellowed as loud as ten thousand warriors shout in battle, when they meet in the war-god\u2019s shadow. The Greeks and Trojans trembled with fear at insatiable [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 cry.\r\n\r\nLike the dark column that whirls from the cloud when a tornado forms in heated air, so brazen [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] seemed to [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], as he sped through the sky to high heaven. Swiftly he reached the gods\u2019 home on steep [pb_glossary id=\"628\"]Olympus[\/pb_glossary], and sat down at [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 side, in anguish. [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Ares[\/pb_glossary] showed [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] the divine ichor flowing from the wound, and spoke in a sad voice, \"Father [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], does it not stir your indignation to see all this violence? We gods always suffer cruelly at each other\u2019s hands when we show favour to mortals. We are all at odds with you because you cursed the world with that mad daughter of yours who is always bent on lawlessness. The rest of us Olympians obey you and bow to you, but you say and do nothing to stop her antics, you condone them rather, simply because this girl who wreaks havoc is yours. Now she spurs on foolhardy [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary] to vent his anger on us immortals. First in a close encounter he wounded [pb_glossary id=\"882\"]Aphrodite[\/pb_glossary] on the wrist then he ran at me like a demon. Quick on my feet, I sprang away, or I would have suffered there for ages among the grisly dead, or been crippled by his spear-blows.\"\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary], the cloud-gatherer, turned on him angrily, \"Don\u2019t come here to whine, you backslider. Strife, conflict, and war are all you care for, so much so that I loathe you more than all the other Olympians. You share your mother [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s intolerable, headstrong spirit; she too will scarcely obey my word. I suspect she prompted this and caused your wound. Yet as my offspring I\u2019ll not let you suffer, since it was to me she bore you, though if any other god had fathered so violent a son, you\u2019d have been ranked below the sons of [pb_glossary id=\"1546\"]Uranus[\/pb_glossary], long ago.\u2019 So saying, he ordered [pb_glossary id=\"2806\"]Paean[\/pb_glossary] to heal him, by spreading soothing ointment on the wound, for Ares was no mortal. He healed the fierce god as swiftly as fig-juice thickens milk that curdles when stirred. Then [pb_glossary id=\"1239\"]Hebe[\/pb_glossary] bathed him, and dressed him in fine clothes, and he sat down again by [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 side, in all his former glory.\r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Iliad5.php#anchor_Toc239244908<\/a>\r\n
Translated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a> 2009 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n
<\/a>Athena as Patron of Athens<\/h2>\r\n
Athena earned her special association with the city of Athens by winning a contest with Poseidon for patronage of the city. Differing versions say that Zeus, a council of the gods, or even the Athenians themselves served as judges. In any event, each god was asked to provide a gift for the city and the judge(s) would decide who had given the better gift. Poseidon struck a rock with his trident and out came a spring of salt water and Athena grew an olive tree. The judge(s) decided that the olive was more useful than the saltwater spring and awarded the city to Athena. When Athena was not living on Olympus, she often lived in the Parthenon, the temple to her on the Acropolis in Athens.<\/p>\r\nFor further discussion of the foundation and mythology of Athens, see chapter 36<\/a>.\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca,<\/em> Book 3 (trans. J.G. Frazer, adapted by P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek mythography, 2nd century CE<\/h4>\r\n
In this section of the\u00a0Bibliotheca<\/em>, Pseudo-Apollodorus writes about the contest between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[3.14.1] [pb_glossary id=\"1585\"]Cecrops[\/pb_glossary], a son of the soil, with a body that was half man and half serpent, was the first king of Attica. The country that was formerly called Acte he named Cecropia after himself. In his lifetime, it is said that the gods decided to take possession of cities that would worship them particularly. So [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary] was the first that came to Attica, and with a blow of his trident in the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which they now call Erechtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on [pb_glossary id=\"1585\"]Cecrops[\/pb_glossary] to witness her action, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the Pandrosium. But when the two struggled for possession of the country, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] separated them and appointed judges. These judges were not, as some have claimed, [pb_glossary id=\"1585\"]Cecrops[\/pb_glossary] and Cranaus, nor even Erysichthon [of Attica], but the twelve gods. And by their verdict the country was awarded to Athena, because [pb_glossary id=\"1585\"]Cecrops[\/pb_glossary] witnessed that she had been the first to plant the olive tree. Athena, therefore, called the city [pb_glossary id=\"4669\"]Athens[\/pb_glossary] after herself, and [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Poseidon[\/pb_glossary] in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attica under the sea.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/Apollodorus3.html#14<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/a>Athena\u2019s Virginity<\/h2>\r\n
[content warning for the following section: sexual assault]<\/h5>\r\n
Like Artemis and Hestia, Athena was a virgin goddess. Her virginity entailed not only abstaining from sexual relations, but also preventing anything that could be considered adjacent to sex from occurring (such as being seen naked).<\/p>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Callimachus, Hymn 5, \"The Bath of Pallas\" (trans. J.G. Frazer, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Greek hymn, 3rd century BCE<\/h4>\r\n
Callimachus' 3rd century BCE Greek hymn to Athena describes the ritual bathing of the statue of Athena by the women of Athens. It describes the differences between Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and erotic desire. It also warns the listener about what will happen if anyone attempts to violate the virginity of Athena or sees her naked, even accidentally.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1] All you who are companions of the Bath of [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], come out, come out! I heard the snorting of the sacred steeds just now\u00a0 and the goddess is ready to go. Hurry now, fair-haired daughters of Pelasgus, hurry! Never did Athena wash her mighty arms before she removed the dust from the flanks of her horses \u2013 not even when, her armour all dirtied with filth, she returned from the battle with the lawless [pb_glossary id=\"601\"]Giants[\/pb_glossary]; but first she freed her horses\u2019 necks from their yoke, and in the springs of [pb_glossary id=\"216\"]Ocean[\/pb_glossary] washed the flecks of sweat and from their mouths that chewed the bit, cleansed the clotted foam.\r\n\r\nRead full text<\/summary>[13] Come, daughters of Achaea, and do not bring perfume or alabasters (I hear the voice of the wheel hubs!); do not bring perfume or alabasters for [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], you companions of the Bath (for Athena does not love mixed ointments), and also do not bring a mirror. Her face is always beautiful, and, even when the Phrygian [ [pb_glossary id=\"317\"]Paris[\/pb_glossary] ] judged the contest on Ida, the great goddess did not look into [polished metal] orichalc, nor into the transparent currents of [pb_glossary id=\"1581\"]Simoeis[\/pb_glossary], nor did [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Hera[\/pb_glossary]. But Cypris [ [pb_glossary id=\"882\"]Aphrodite[\/pb_glossary] ] took the shining bronze and often altered and altered again the same lock of hair. But [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], after running twice sixty double courses, just like, beside the Eurotas [river], the Lacedaemonian Stars [ [pb_glossary id=\"1407\"]Castor[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1590\"]Pollux[\/pb_glossary] ], took and skillfully anointed herself with simple ointments, the birth of her own tree [olive oil]. And, O maidens, the red blush arose on her, as the colour of the morning rose or the seed of a pomegranate. For that reason now also bring only the manly olive oil, with which [pb_glossary id=\"1407\"]Castor[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1591\"]Heracles[\/pb_glossary] anoint themselves. And bring her a comb all of gold, so that she may comb her hair, once she has anointed her glossy tresses.\r\n\r\n[33] Come forth, Athena! A company pleasing to your heart awaits you, the maiden akestoridan<\/em>.[footnote]Frazer translates this as \"daughters of Acestor\u2019s sons.\" However, it is unclear who this Acestor is and who these daughters are. It may be an epithet for Apollo, or refer to a different hero.[\/footnote] And with them, O Athena, is carried the shield of [pb_glossary id=\"1192\"]Diomedes[\/pb_glossary], since this is the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Argive[\/pb_glossary] custom which, in olden days, Eumedes taught them: a priest who found favour with you: who one time, when he knew that the people were plotting and planning death for him, fled with your holy image and lived in the Creion hill \u2013 lived on the hill of Creion and established you, O goddess, on the rugged rocks, whose name is now the Pallantid rocks.\r\n\r\n[42] Come forth, Athena, Sacker of Cities, golden-helmeted, who rejoices in the sounds of horse and shield. Today, you water-carriers, do not dip your pitchers \u2013 today, O Argos, drink from the fountains and not from the river; today, you handmaidens carry your pitchers to [the springs] Physadeia or Amymone, daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"1190\"]Danaus[\/pb_glossary]. For, mingling his waters with gold and with flowers, [pb_glossary id=\"1183\"]Inachus[\/pb_glossary] will come from his pastoral hills, bringing fair water for the Bath of Athena. But beware, O Pelasgian, in case even unwittingly you see the Queen. Whoever sees [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], Keeper of Cities, naked, shall look on Argos for the last time. Lady Athena, come forth, and meanwhile I will say something to these people. The story is not mine but told by others.\r\n\r\n[57] Maidens, in [pb_glossary id=\"4675\"]Thebes[\/pb_glossary] one [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]nymph[\/pb_glossary] of old, the mother of [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary], loved Athena a lot, far beyond all her other companions, and was never apart from her. But when she [Athena] drove her steeds towards ancient Thespiae or towards Coroneia or to Haliartus, passing through the tilled fields of the Boeotians \u2013 or toward Coroneia where the fragrant grove and altars are set by the river Coralius \u2013 often did the goddess set the nymph upon her chariot, and there was no festivity of nymphs nor sweet ordering of dance, where [pb_glossary id=\"1595\"]Chariclo[\/pb_glossary] did not lead.\r\n\r\n[68] Yet many tears awaited her, in the days to come, although she was a companion who pleased the heart of Athena. One day those two undid the buckles of their robes beside the fair-flowing Fountain of the Horse on [pb_glossary id=\"698\"]Helicon[\/pb_glossary] and bathed; and midday was quiet across the whole hill. Those two were bathing and it was the noon hour and a great quiet held that hill. Only [pb_glossary id=\"929\"]Teiresias[\/pb_glossary], on whose cheek the hair was just darkening, still roamed with his hounds at the holy place. And, with a great thirst, he came to the flowing fountain, wretched man! He unwillingly saw that which is not lawful to be seen. And Athena was angered, and said to him: \u201cWhat god, O son of Everes, led you on this tragic way? From now on you will never have the use of your eyes again!\u201d\r\n\r\n[83] She spoke and darkness seized the eyes of the youth. And he stood there speechless; for pain glued his knees and helplessness stopped his voice. But the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]nymph[\/pb_glossary] cried: \u201cWhat have you done to my boy, lady? Is this what the friendship of you goddesses is? You have taken away the eyes of my son. Foolish child! You have seen the breast and body of Athena, but the sun you shall not see again. O unhappy me! O hill, O [pb_glossary id=\"698\"]Helicon[\/pb_glossary], where I may no more come, surely a great price has been exacted for a small thing. Losing a few gazelles and deer, you have taken the eyes of my child.\u201d\r\n\r\n[93] Then the mother clasped her beloved child in both her arms and, wailing the heavy lament of the mournful nightingale, led him away. And the goddess Athena pitied her companion and said to her: \u201cNoble lady, take back all the words that you have spoken in anger. I'm am not the one that made your child blind. For it is no sweet thing for Athena to snatch away the eyes of children. But the laws of Cronius [ [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] ] order thus: Whoever sees any of the immortals, when the god himself does not choose to be seen, looks for a heavy price. Noble lady, the thing that is done can no more be taken back; since the thread of the [pb_glossary id=\"605\"]Fates[\/pb_glossary] spun when you bore him from the beginning; but now, son of Everes, you will take the outcome which is due to you. How many burnt offerings will the daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"910\"]Cadmus[\/pb_glossary] [ [pb_glossary id=\"933\"]Autonoe[\/pb_glossary] ] burn in the days to come? How many will [pb_glossary id=\"959\"]Aristaeus[\/pb_glossary] burn? \u2013 praying that they might see their only son, the young [pb_glossary id=\"934\"]Actaeon[\/pb_glossary], blind. And yet he shall be a companion of the chase to great [pb_glossary id=\"180\"]Artemis[\/pb_glossary]. But neither the chase nor companionship in archery on the hills will save him in that hour, when, though unwillingly, he will see the beautiful bathing of the goddess. No, his own dogs will then devour their former lord. And his mother will gather the bones of her son, spread over all the thickets. She will call you happiest of women and say you have a happy fate, because you received your son home from the hills \u2013 blind. Therefore, O companion, do not lament; for your son \u2013 for your sake \u2013 will gain many other honours from me. For I will make him a seer to be sung of by men from now on, yes, more excellent than any other. He will know the birds \u2013 which is of good omen among all the countless birds that fly, and what birds are of ill-omened flight.[footnote]Referring to the practise of interpreting birds for prophecy, called augury.[\/footnote] Many oracles will he utter to the Boeotians and many to [pb_glossary id=\"910\"]Cadmus[\/pb_glossary], and to the mighty sons of Labdacus in later days. Also I will give him a great staff which will guide his feet as he has need, and I will give him a long life. And he only, when he dies, will walk among the dead having understanding, honoured by the great Leader of Peoples [ [pb_glossary id=\"211\"]Hades[\/pb_glossary] ].\u201d\r\n\r\n[130] So she spoke and bowed her head; and a promise over which [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] bows will be fulfilled; since to Athena only among his daughters had [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] granted that she should have all the things that are his, companions of the Bath, and no mother bore that goddess, but the head of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary]. The head of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Zeus[\/pb_glossary] does not bow in falsehood, and in falsehood his daughter has no part.\r\n\r\n[137] Now comes Athena, indeed. O maidens, whose task it is, receive the goddess with pious greeting and with prayer, and with the voice of gratitude. Hail, goddess, and have Inachian Argos in your keeping! Hail when you drive forth your steeds, and may you drive home again with joy, and preserve all the estate of the [pb_glossary id=\"2276\"]Danaans[\/pb_glossary].\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/CallimachusHymns2.html#5<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/details> \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Fulgentius,\u00a0Mythologies, <\/em>Book 2 (trans. L. G. Whitbread, adapted by L. Zhang and P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Latin mythography, ca. 500 CE<\/h4>\r\n
[content warning for the following source: sexual assault]<\/h5>\r\n
In another story, here told in a Roman version by the much later 5th\/6th century CE writer, Fulgentius, Vulcan (Hephaestus) tries to rape Minerva (Athena). She fends him off, but his semen falls on the ground and from it springs up the half-man\/half-snake, Ericthonius, whom Athena adopts as her own son. She raises him in her temple and he eventually becomes one of the earliest kings of Athens. Fulgentius uses this myth to explain the origin of chariots and chariot racing. He uses an allegorical interpretation of the myth, where Minerva (Athena) stands for wisdom and Vulcan (Hephaestus) stands for rage. You will notice that this version of the myth also contains several etymologies, which are explanations of the origins of words and names.<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[2.11] When [pb_glossary id=\"356\"]Vulcan[\/pb_glossary] made the thunderbolts of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jove[\/pb_glossary], he accepted a promise from [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jove[\/pb_glossary] that he might take anything that he wanted. He asked for Minerva in marriage; [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jove[\/pb_glossary] ordered Minerva to defend her virginity by strength of arms. When they were supposed to enter the marriage bed, [pb_glossary id=\"356\"]Vulcan[\/pb_glossary] in the struggle spilled his seed on the floor, and from it was born [pb_glossary id=\"1599\"]Erichthonius[\/pb_glossary] with the feet of a serpent, for eris<\/em> is the Greek for strife, and ctonus<\/em> is the name for the earth. Minerva hid him in a basket and entrusted him, with a serpent nearby as guardian, to the two sisters, [pb_glossary id=\"1600\"]Aglaurus[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1601\"]Pandora[\/pb_glossary]. It was he who first invented the chariot. They explained [pb_glossary id=\"356\"]Vulcan[\/pb_glossary] as the fire of rage, and so [pb_glossary id=\"356\"]Vulcan[\/pb_glossary] is named as the heat of desire; he made the lightning for [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jove[\/pb_glossary], that is, he stirred up rage. They chose him to be the husband of Minerva because even rage is somewhat reduced for the wise. She defended her maidenhood by force of arms, that is, all wisdom by strength of mind protects the integrity of its own habits against fury. From where indeed [pb_glossary id=\"1599\"]Erichthonius[\/pb_glossary] was born, for eris<\/em> is the Greek for strife, and tonos<\/em> is not only earth, but can also mean envy, and so Thales of Miletus says: \u201cEnvy is the devourer of worldly fame.\u201d And what else but the strife of envy could the weakening rage of wisdom produce? Wisdom, that is, Minerva, hid it in a basket, that is, concealed it in her heart, for every wise man hides his rage in his heart. Minerva placed a serpent close by as a guardian, that is, destruction, which she entrusted to the two maidens, [pb_glossary id=\"1600\"]Aglaurus[\/pb_glossary] and [pb_glossary id=\"1601\"]Pandora[\/pb_glossary]. For [pb_glossary id=\"1601\"]Pandora[\/pb_glossary] is called the gift of all, and [pb_glossary id=\"1600\"]Aglaurus[\/pb_glossary] is for acouleron<\/em>, that is, the forgetting of sadness. For the wise man entrusts his grief either to that kindheartedness which is the gift of all or to forgetting, as was said of Caesar: \u201cYou who forget nothing except the wrongs done you.\u201d When [pb_glossary id=\"1599\"]Erichthonius[\/pb_glossary] grew up, what is he said to have invented? Nothing less than the racecourse, where there is always the strife of envy, as Virgil says: \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"1599\"]Erichthonius[\/pb_glossary] first dared to join chariots and four horses.\u201d Take note what value there is when chastity is joined to wisdom, for against it even the god of fire could not prevail.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.theoi.com\/Text\/FulgentiusMythologies2.html#11<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n<\/a>Athena and Arachne<\/h2>\r\nAthena, like the other gods, was quick to punish mortals who thought they were equal to the gods, as exemplified by her interactions with Arachne, the talented mortal weaver.\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n<\/a>Ovid,\u00a0Metamorphoses,<\/em> Book 11 (trans. A.S. Kline, adapted by P. Rogak)<\/h3>\r\n
Latin narrative poem, 1st century CE<\/h4>\r\n
[content warning for the following source: mention of sexual assault (103-128), suicide (129-145)]<\/h5>\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn this excerpt from Ovid's\u00a0Metamorphoses<\/em>, the mortal woman Arachne goes head to head with Minerva (Athena) in a weaving contest.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[1-25] \u201cTritonian Minerva had listened to every word, and approved of the Aonian [pb_glossary id=\"348\"]Muses[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s song, and their justified indignation. Then she said, to herself, \u2018To give praise is not enough; let me be praised as well, and do not allow my divine powers to be scorned without inflicting punishment.\u2019 Her thoughts turned to [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary], of Maeonia, whom she had heard would not give her due credit in the art of spinning. The girl was not known for her place of birth, or family, but for her skill. Her father, Idmon of Colophon, dyed the absorbent wool purple, with Phocaean murex. Her mother was dead. She too had been of humble birth, and the father the same. Nevertheless, though she lived in a modest home, in little Hypaepa, [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary] had gained a name for artistry throughout the cities of Lydia.\r\n\r\nRead full text<\/summary>\u201cOften the [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]nymphs[\/pb_glossary] of Mount Tmolus deserted their vine-covered slopes, and the nymphs of the River Pactolus deserted their waves, to examine her wonderful workmanship. It was not only a joy to see the finished cloths, but also to watch them made: so much beauty added to art. Whether at first she was winding the rough yarn into a new ball, or working the stuff with her fingers, teasing out the clouds of wool, repeatedly, drawing them into long equal threads, twirling the slender spindle with practised thumb, or embroidering with her needle, you could see she was taught by [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary]. Yet she denied it, and took offence at the idea of such a teacher. \u2018Compete with me\u2019 she said \u2018I will not disagree at all if I am beaten\u2019.\r\n\r\n[26-69] \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Minerva took the shape of an old woman: adding grey hair to her temples, and aging her limbs, which she supported with a stick. Then she spoke, to the girl, as follows. \u2018Not everything old age has is to be shunned: knowledge comes with advancing years. Do not reject my advice: seek great fame amongst mortals for your skill in weaving, but give way to the goddess, and ask her forgiveness, rash girl, with a humble voice: she will forgive if you will ask.\u2019 [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary] looked fiercely at her and left the work she was on: scarcely restraining her hands, and with dark anger in her face. Pallas, disguised it is true, received this answer. \u2018Weak-minded and worn out by tedious old age you come here and having lived too long destroys you. Let your daughter-in-law if you have one, let your daughter if you have one, listen to your voice. I have wisdom enough of my own. You think your advice is never heeded: that is my feeling too. Why does she not come herself? Why does she shirk this contest?\u2019\r\n\r\n\u201cThe goddess said \u2018She is here!\u2019 and, relinquishing the old woman\u2019s form, revealed [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Minerva. The [pb_glossary id=\"217\"]nymphs[\/pb_glossary] and the Phrygian women worshipped her godhead: the girl alone remained unafraid, yet she did blush, like how the sky is accustomed to redden when [pb_glossary id=\"215\"]Aurora[\/pb_glossary] first stirs, and, after a while, to whiten at the sun from the east. She is stubborn in her attempt, and rushes on to her fate, eager for a worthless prize. Now, [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jupiter[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s daughter does not refuse, and does not give warning, or delay the contest a moment. Immediately they both position themselves, in separate places, and stretch out the fine threads for the warp over twin frames. The frame is fastened to the cross-beam; the threads of the warp separated with the reed; the thread of the weft is inserted between, in the pointed shuttles that their fingers have readied; and, drawn through the warp, the threads of the weft are beaten into place, struck by the comb\u2019s notched teeth. They each work quickly, and, with their clothes gathered in tight, under their breasts, apply skillful arms, their zeal not making it seem like work. There, shades of purple, dyed in Tyrian bronze vessels, are woven into the cloth, and also lighter colours, shading off gradually. The threads that touch seem the same, but the extremes are distant, as when, often, after a rainstorm, the expanse of the sky, struck by the sunlight, is stained by a rainbow in one vast arch, in which a thousand separate colours shine, but the eye itself still cannot see the transitions. There are inserted lasting threads of gold, and an ancient tale is spun in the web.\r\n\r\n[70-102] \u201c[pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] Athena depicts the hill of [pb_glossary id=\"179\"]Mars[\/pb_glossary], and the court of the [pb_glossary id=\"4702\"]Aeropagus[\/pb_glossary], in [pb_glossary id=\"1585\"]Cecrops[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s [pb_glossary id=\"4669\"]Athens[\/pb_glossary], and the old dispute between [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Neptune[\/pb_glossary] and herself, as to who had the right to the city and its name. There the twelve gods sit in great majesty, on their high thrones, with [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jupiter[\/pb_glossary] in the middle. She weaves the gods with their familiar attributes. The image of [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jupiter[\/pb_glossary] is a royal one. There she portrays the ocean god, standing and striking the rough stone, with his long trident, and seawater flowing from the centre of the shattered rock, a token of his claim to the city. She gives herself a shield, a sharp pointed spear, and a helmet for her head, while the [pb_glossary id=\"168\"]aegis[\/pb_glossary] protects her chest. She shows an olive-tree with a pale trunk, thick with fruit, born from the earth at a blow from her spear, the gods marveling: and [pb_glossary id=\"1037\"]Victory[\/pb_glossary] crowns the work.\r\n\r\nThen she adds four scenes of contest in the four corners, each with miniature figures, in their own clear colours, so that her rival might learn, from the examples quoted, what prize she might expect, for her outrageous daring. One corner shows Thracian Mount Rhodope and Mount Haemus, now icy peaks, once mortal beings who ascribed the names of the highest gods to themselves. A second corner shows the miserable fate of the queen of the Pygmies: how [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Juno[\/pb_glossary], having overcome her in a contest, ordered her to become a crane and make war on her own people. Also she pictures Antigone, whom Queen [pb_glossary id=\"185\"]Juno[\/pb_glossary] turned into a bird for having dared to compete with [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jupiter[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s great consort: neither her father [pb_glossary id=\"1428\"]Laomedon[\/pb_glossary], nor her city [pb_glossary id=\"4673\"]Ilium[\/pb_glossary] were of any use to her, but taking wing as a white stork she applauds herself with clattering beak. The only corner left shows Cinyras, bereaved: and he is seen weeping as he clasps the stone steps of the temple that were once his daughters\u2019 limbs. Minerva surrounded the outer edges with the olive wreaths of peace (this was the last part) and so ended her work with emblems of her own tree.\r\n\r\n[103-128] \u201cThe Maeonian girl depicts [pb_glossary id=\"1423\"]Europa[\/pb_glossary] deceived by the form of the bull: you would have thought it a real bull and real waves. She is seen looking back to the shore she has left, and calling to her companions, displaying fear at the touch of the surging water, and drawing up her shrinking feet. Also [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary] showed Asterie, held by the eagle, struggling, and [pb_glossary id=\"1605\"]Leda[\/pb_glossary] lying beneath the swan\u2019s wings. She added [pb_glossary id=\"172\"]Jupiter[\/pb_glossary] who, hidden in the form of a satyr, filled [pb_glossary id=\"4601\"]Antiope[\/pb_glossary], daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"4606\"]Nycteus[\/pb_glossary] with twin offspring; who, as [pb_glossary id=\"1230\"]Amphitryon[\/pb_glossary], was charmed by you, [pb_glossary id=\"1199\"]Alcmene[\/pb_glossary], of Tiryns; by [pb_glossary id=\"1143\"]Danae[\/pb_glossary], as a golden shower; by [pb_glossary id=\"2330\"]Aegina[\/pb_glossary], daughter of [pb_glossary id=\"2331\"]Asopus[\/pb_glossary], as a flame; by Mnemosyne, as a shepherd; by [pb_glossary id=\"353\"]Proserpine[\/pb_glossary], [pb_glossary id=\"351\"]Ceres[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s daughter, as a spotted snake.\r\n\r\nShe wove you, [pb_glossary id=\"182\"]Neptune[\/pb_glossary], also, changed to a fierce bull for Canace, [pb_glossary id=\"782\"]Aeolus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s daughter. In [pb_glossary id=\"2059\"]Enipeus[\/pb_glossary]\u2019 form you conceived the [pb_glossary id=\"1606\"]Aloadae[\/pb_glossary], and deceived Theophane as a ram. The golden-haired, gentlest, mother of the cornfields [ [pb_glossary id=\"351\"]Demeter[\/pb_glossary] ], knew you as a horse. The snake-haired mother [ [pb_glossary id=\"1155\"]Medusa[\/pb_glossary] ] of the winged horse [ [pb_glossary id=\"1157\"]Pegasus[\/pb_glossary] ], knew you as a winged bird. Melantho knew you as a dolphin. She gave all these their own aspects, and the aspects of the place. Here is [pb_glossary id=\"946\"]Phoebus[\/pb_glossary] like a countryman, and she shows him now with the wings of a hawk, and now in a lion\u2019s skin, and how as a shepherd he tricked Isse, Macareus\u2019s daughter. She showed how [pb_glossary id=\"370\"]Bacchus[\/pb_glossary] ensnared Erigone with delusive grapes, and how [pb_glossary id=\"169\"]Saturn[\/pb_glossary] as the double of a horse conceived [pb_glossary id=\"1416\"]Chiron[\/pb_glossary]. The outer edge of the web, surrounded by a narrow border, had flowers interwoven with entangled ivy.\r\n\r\n[129-145] \u201cNeither [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary] nor [pb_glossary id=\"338\"]Envy[\/pb_glossary] itself could fault that work. The golden-haired warrior goddess was grieved by its success, and tore the tapestry, embroidered with the gods\u2019 crimes, and as she held her shuttle made of boxwood from Mount Cytorus, she struck Idmonian [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary], three or four times, on the forehead. The unfortunate girl could not bear it, and courageously slipped a noose around her neck: [pb_glossary id=\"888\"]Pallas[\/pb_glossary], in pity, lifted her, as she hung there, and said these words, \u2018Live on then, and yet hang, condemned one, but, in case you are careless in the future, this same condition is declared, in punishment, against your descendants, to the last generation!\u2019 Departing after saying this, she sprinkled her with the juice of [pb_glossary id=\"814\"]Hecate[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s herb, and immediately at the touch of this dark poison, [pb_glossary id=\"1604\"]Arachne[\/pb_glossary]\u2019s hair fell out. With it went her nose and ears, her head shrank to the smallest size, and her whole body became tiny. Her slender fingers stuck to her sides as legs, the rest is belly, from which she still spins a thread, and, as a spider, weaves her ancient web.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTaken from: https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Latin\/Metamorph6.php<\/a>\r\n
Translated by A. S. Kline \u00a9\u00a0Copyright<\/a> 2000 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/a>Art and Symbolism<\/h1>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_752\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1696\"]
![\"Athena](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Andokides_Painter_ARV_3_1_Herakles_Apollon_tripod_-_wrestlers_07-scaled.jpg\")
Athena, red-figure amphora, ca. 525 BCE (Altes Museum, Berlin)[\/caption]\r\nIn Greek art, Athena was particularly popular in objects produced in the region of Attica. She was usually represented as a young woman wearing a long chiton and a helmet. She could also be depicted wielding a spear, a shield, or both.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_760\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1592\"]
![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/01\/Douris_cup_Jason_Vatican_16545.jpg\")
Athena watching as Jason is spat out of the dragon, red-figure kylix, ca. 480 BCE (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican City)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn vase paintings, sculptures, and coins, one of her most recognizable attributes is the aegis, a magic garment usually represented as a shield or scaled mantle with snakes as tassels draped over the chest of the goddess. At the centre of it sat the severed head of the gorgon Medusa, whose gaze could turn living things into stone.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_700\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1686\"]![\"An](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/DP226805-scaled-e1609440660417.jpg\")
Owl, red-figure skyphos, 5th century BCE (Metropolitan Museum, New York)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAthena's sacred bird was the owl, which was frequently depicted accompanying her, or as a stand-in for her. Famously, Athenian coins had the head of Athena on one side, and an owl on the other.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_701\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]![\"Side](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/ATTICA_Athens._Circa_510_to_500-490_BC-300x170.jpg\")
Head of Athena and an owl, Attic coin, ca. 500 BCE[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_702\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]![\"Side](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Tetradrachme_athenien_representant_Athena-300x156.jpg\")
Head of Athena and an owl, Attic coin, ca. 410 BCE[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAnother Athenian figure who was represented alongside the goddess was Erichthonios, a human-snake hybrid boy whom she had adopted and raised.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_743\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1204\"]![\"Gaia](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/erychthonios.jpg\")
Gaia gives the baby Ericthonios to Athena, red-figure kylix, ca. 440 BCE (Altes Museum, Berlin)[\/caption]\r\nOlive trees were sacred to Athena, who was said to have created the first one during her contest with Poseidon for the city of Athens. This scene was often represented in art with the goddess standing next to a newly sprouted olive tree, and it was carved on the western pediment of the Parthenon.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_489\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]
![\"In](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/11\/Reconstruction_of_the_west_pediment_of_the_Parthenon_1-scaled.jpg\")
Poseidon and Athena competing for Athens, West Pediment of the Parthenon, ca. 447 BCE (Acropolis Museum, Athens)[\/caption]\r\nThe other pediment of the temple featured another one of Athena's best-known myths, that of her birth from the head of Zeus. This scene generally shows Athena coming out as a fully armoured adult in the presence of other deities. On the following amphora, Athena can be seen standing atop Zeus' head.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_747\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1536\"]
![\"Zeus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/ag-obj-26132-001-pub-print-lg-1-e1609440092795.png\")
Birth of Athena, black-figure Amphora, ca. 560 BCE (Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_754\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"2560\"]![\"Zeus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Reconstruction_of_the_east_pediment_of_the_Parthenon_2-scaled.jpg\")
Athena newly born from the head of Zeus, reconstruction of the east pediment of the Parthenon, ca. 438 BCE (Acropolis Museum, Athens)[\/caption]\r\nAthena was also often represented killing Enkelados during the Gigantomachy<\/a> or helping various heroes, such as Heracles<\/a> and Perseus.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_707\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1905\"]
![\"Heracles](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Athena_Herakles_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2648.jpg\")
Athena and Herakles, red-figure kylix, ca. 480 BCE (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_745\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"725\"]![\"Perseus](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/DSC00401_-_Tempio_C_di_Selinunte_-_Perseo_e_Medusa_-_Sec._VI_a.C._-_Foto_G._DallOrto_crop-e1609535562816.jpg\")
Perseus beheading Medusa, Greek relief from Selinunte (Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonio Salinas, Palermo)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\nOne of the most famous sculptures of Athena was created by Pheidias around 447 BCE for the Parthenon. The statue, made of gold and ivory over a wooden frame, depicted the victorious goddess. She wore a three-crested helmet (which most representations of the goddess after this point replicated), held a winged Nike in her right hand, and shield and spear (or just the shield) in her left. This artwork was reportedly 11.5 metres (37 ft 9 in) tall. Although the original statue is lost, its appearance has been reconstructed on the basis of literary accounts and depictions on other media, such as coins and later copies.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_748\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]
![\"Side](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Athena_Parthenos_on_coin_from_Athens.jpg\")
Head of Athena and Athena Parthenos, Athenian coin, ca. 264 BCE[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_705\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"535\"]![\"Athena](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/NAMA_Athena_Varvakeion-535x1024.jpg\")
Copy of Pheidias' Athena Parthenos statue, marble statue, 3rd century CE (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n<\/a>Minerva<\/h1>\r\n
Minerva was originally an indigenous Italic goddess of war worshipped by the Etruscans. She was sometimes depicted as the bearer of the lightning bolt.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_758\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1370\"]
![\"Winged](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2021\/01\/Bronze_mirror_with_Menrva.jpg\")
Minerva, tracing of a bronze mirror, 3rd century BCE (Staatliche Antikensammlung, Berlin)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\nHowever, many of Minerva's attributes in art were the same as her Greek counterpart, Athena. Like Athena, Minerva was represented fully armed with her aegis, helmet, shield, and spear, and accompanied by her owl.<\/p>\r\n
The goddess was also a member of the Capitoline Triad alongside Jupiter and Juno, indicating that she was one of the most revered deities of Rome's pantheon.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_718\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1844\"]
![\"Athena,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Athena-Schale_Hildesheimer_Silberfund-scaled-e1609108326318.jpg\")
Minerva, silver bowl, 1st century BCE (Antikensammlung, Berlin)[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nMedia Attributions and Footnotes<\/h1>","rendered":"
![\"Athena,](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greekromanmyth\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1141\/2020\/12\/Theseus_Athena_Amphitrite_Louvre_G104.jpg\")
Athena with Theseus (left) and Amphitrite (right), red-figure kylix, ca. 500 BCE (Louvre Museum, Paris)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n<\/a>Origins<\/h1>\n
- Fulgentius,\u00a0Mythologies<\/em>, 2.11<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena and Arachne<\/a>\r\n
- Callimachus, Hymn 5, \"The Bath of Pallas\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homer,\u00a0Iliad,\u00a0<\/em>5.711-909<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAthena as Patron of Athens<\/a>\r\n
- Homeric Hymn 11, \"To Athena\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t
- Homeric Hymn 28, \"To Athena\"<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_764\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1552\"]