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Kids learn about the goddess Athena of Greek Mythology including her symbols, special powers, war strategy, birth, patron of Athens, helping heroes, legend of Arachne, and fun facts.

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ATHENA, THE GODDESS OF WISDOM | Draw My Life

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Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that of the Minoans, was largely military, so that Athena, while retaining her earlier domestic functions, became a goddess of war.

She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, so that she emerged full-grown from his forehead. There was an alternative story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena, so that Athena finally emerged from Zeus. Being the favourite child of Zeus, she had great power.

Athena's association with the acropolises of various Greek cities probably stemmed from the location of the kings' palaces there. She was thought to have had neither consort nor offspring. She may not have been described as a virgin originally, but virginity was attributed to her very early and was the basis for the interpretation of her epithets Pallas and Parthenos. As a war goddess Athena could not be dominated by other goddesses, such as Aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated.

In Homer's Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspires and fights alongside the Greek heroes; her aid is synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigns the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derives in part from the fact that she represents the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represents mere blood lust. Her superiority also derives in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and from the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena is the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personifies excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. The qualities that lead to victory are found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wears when she goes to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Athena appears in Homer's Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources portray her similarly as helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint and practical insight, as well as of war.

In post- Mycenaean times the city, especially its citadel, replaced the palace as Athena's domain. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. Her emergence there as city goddess, Athena Polias ("Athena, Guardian of the City"), accompanied the ancient city-state's transition from monarchy to democracy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city's own symbol, and with the snake. Her birth and her contest with Poseidon, the sea god, for the suzerainty of the city were depicted on the pediments of the Parthenon, and the great festival of the Panathenaea, in July, was a celebration of her birthday. She was also worshipped in many other cities, notably in Sparta.

Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. She was particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. That she ultimately became allegorized to personify wisdom and righteousness was a natural development of her patronage of skill.

Athena was customarily portrayed wearing body armour and a helmet and carrying a shield and a lance. Two Athenians, the sculptor Phidias and the playwright Aeschylus, contributed significantly to the cultural dissemination of Athena's image. She inspired three of Phidias's sculptural masterpieces, including the massive chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos once housed in the Parthenon; and in Aeschylus's dramatic tragedy Eumenides she founded the Areopagus (Athens's aristocratic council), and, by breaking a deadlock of the judges in favour of Orestes, the defendant, she set the precedent that a tied vote signified acquittal.

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Athena | Goddess, Myths, Symbols, Facts, & Roman Name

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Athena, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. Representing the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, Athena was superior to Ares, the god of war, who represented mere blood lust.

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Metamorphoses Project:

Tracing Mythology Through Time And Place

Athena--Goddess of Wisdom

Laurie Parrish, Lynette Delp, Alex Klinkhardt, Stephanie Palmer.

Part 1

Different Greek versions of the myth:
Birth Although many versions of Athena's birth exist, we chose the version by Apollodorus. In his story, Athena springs from Zeus' head when Hephaestus splits his head open with an axe.
Gift Athena gave Athens the gift of an olive tree which was said to have civilized the Meditterrean. This version by Apollodorus explains the contest between Athena and Poseidon, the winner of which would be able to name the city now known as Athens.

Rape of Athena Hephaestus tries to rape Athena and her son, Ericthonius, is born of Hephaestus' fallen seed. This account is by Apollodorus from Vol.2.91.

Golden Apple When Strife threw the golden apple to Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, the goddesses made Paris chose which one got to keep the apple. The account is by Apollodorus from Vol.2.173.

Hymns This hymn is dedicated to Athena. It tells briefly of how she is the sacker of cities and saves the people who go out to war. It is from Homeric Hymns #11 by Homer.

Analysis of the hero/divinity in antiquity:

Always divinity is a totality, a whole world in its perfection. this applies also to the supreme Gods, Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, the bearers of the highest ideals. None of them represents a single virtue, none is to be encountered in only one direction of teeming life; each desires to fill, shape, and illumine the whole compass of human existence with his peculiar spirit.

Otto. Homeric Gods, page 160

The gods and goddesses in Greek mythology are often portrayed as lustful, deceitful, and vengeful; in short, they seem to be human. In fact, the ancients did, indeed, create these mythical figures to account for human behavior. The Greeks personified these traits into such figures as Discord and Envy. Many other characteristics, both good and bad, were also made into deities. The goddess Athena represented wisdom, the evil side of battle, and feminism. Athena, as a human, can appear to have a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality. Each raconteur of Athena explains her slightly differently, which results in seemingly contradictory tales.
These tales often change from person to person because each storyteller wants to show off his or her talent by elaborating on each story. One example of this contradiction in stories is that of Athena's birth. Apollodorus' version of her birth is that Zeus pursued Metis, but she changed into many shapes in order to avoid his embraces. Zeus, however, would not let up, and Metis eventually relented. When he found out that his lover was pregnant, Zeus swallowed her, following the advice of Earth, who had warned him of Metis' bearing a child more powerful than he. Zeus kept Metis in his body until after she gave birth. Hephaestus then took an axe, split Zeus' head open, and Athena leaped out fully armored. One symbol of her birth is male dominance because there was no woman involved. Immortality means there will not be any transfer of power to future generations; therefore, it is a stable form of government. "If the Gods are to provide us with a model of eternity, there has to be a point at which they stop behaving like humans and therefore stop yielding power to their sons. Athena's birth and her virginity stand as signs that this point has been reached" (Blundell 22).

Hesiod, on the other hand, told of Zeus and Metis as husband and wife. Metis, the wisest of all gods and mortals, became pregnant with a daughter. The goddesses Earth and Heaven told Zeus that Metis would give birth to a girl equal to her father in strength and as wise in understanding and a boy who would eventually take his father's throne. Upon hearing this, Zeus tricked Metis and put her into his belly so the son could not be born. The third version is by Herodotus, who claimed that Athena was the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake. Athena became angry at her father and gave herself to Zeus, who in turn made her his own daughter.

The versions of Athena's birth are not the only metamorphosizing aspects of her character; her duties have also evolved over time. At first, she was simply a protectress of Mycenean royal palaces, and the goddess of war. She then took on the added responsibility of the protectress of the new city-states in Greece. Later, she was worshipped for her contributions to civic peace, technical arts and women's crafts (e.g. weaving). Finally, she reached her highest point of power and respect when she became the "official" goddess of wisdom, giving her the power to interfere in almost any situation.

Athena is also portrayed as having an in-depth personality rather than just acting as an icon of her strengths, which include war strategies, wisdom, and her pride in feminism.

"Athena is a fearsome queen who brings...

the noise of war and, tireless, leads the host...

she who loves shouts, and battling and fights."

(Hesiod's Theogany, 925-26)

To Athena, war is not simply an excuse to kill people or act out agression. War is a battle of wits, whoever has the best strategy wins. The best example of this can be found in Homer's The Odyssey, in which Athena tells the Greeks to build a huge wooden horse and give it to the Trojans. The horse was labled as a gift from Athena, and the message to the Trojans was that if they brought it inside their gates, they would win the war. Another view Athena has on war is that it is a means to obtain peace; war settles arguments once and for all, instead of letting tensions boil beneath the surface. Her shield is more than just protection from enemy weapons, it represents a halt in war by not letting it occur. However, Athena very seldomly sides with the losing side in a war. She always supports the winners, and is not well known for fair play; for an example, refer to theIliad, Book 22, lines 224-305. Here, Athena pretends to be Hector's brother, luring him in closer so Achilles will have an even easier time killing him!
Athena is quite skillful and creative, not just in war strategy, but also in weaving and spinning. This is probably one of her most feminine characteristics. She loves to show off these talents and is actually quite vain. For example, in the weaving contest she had with Arachne, Arachne clearly made the superior piece of art. Athena could not handle being "beaten", and so her vain pride drove her to turn Arachne into a spider, forever weaving.

Athena is also the original feminist, eternally remaining a virgin. She does not need a man to be happy, and avoids all intimate contact with males. She is, on the other hand, a bit awkward in situations dealing with sex and love; she feels that those types of emotions only complicate matters. Thus, she remains quite content alone with her warrior instincts yet feminine with regards to other parts of her life -- spinning and weaving, for example. Also, the fact that she is a virgin is mediated somewhat by her acting as a foster mother to the child, Erichthonius, who was born from Hephesatsus' seed when he tried to rape her. While she isn't a mother in the sense that she bore the child, it takes away from her masculine aspects by showing her maternal instincts.

Athena's personality is a very dualistic one. At times she exhibits a very masculine aura; at others, she is the vision of feminine loveliness. Her attitiude changes almost daily, depending on certain situations. She uses her wisdom to decide how she should react in a situation. Athena's duties are where she has earned her fame. Weaving and warfare are the areas where she excels above all others, except in the case of poor Arachne. As the goddess of wisdom, Athena displays her wisdom through various ways, especially in war, thinking out carefully who should win and then aiding them. But she is often confusing in how she can change her mind half way through, a characteristic that she is female. In all of these ways; her personality, duties, and wisdom, spread through endless tales, Athena became a three-dimensional character, forever changing as humans still do today.

Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece. Harvard University Press. Cambridge.1995.pp.22.

Go to Part Two

Last updated 4 September 97
spalmer@cornellcollege.edu

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Metamorphoses Project: Tracing Mythology Through Time And Place Athena--Goddess of Wisdom Laurie Parrish, Lynette Delp, Alex Klinkhardt, Stephanie Palmer. Birth Although many versions of Athena's birth exist, we chose the version by Apollodorus. In his story, Athena springs from Zeus' head when Hephaestus splits his head open with an axe.Gift Athena gave Athens the gift of an olive tree which was said to have civilized the Meditterrean.