Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, olives, weaving, and battle strategy.
Overview[]
She was the daughter of Metis, who was a lover of Zeus, but was a swallowed by the chief god after a prophecy which claimed the son of Metis would overthrow him one day, similar to how he overthrew Cronus.
Athena would be born inside Zeus and cause headaches for the god, until he asked for Hephaestus to spilt his head with an axe, which led to the goddess emerge out of his head, fully clothed in armour. She would become also the chief god's favourite child.
She choose to become a virgin-goddess, much like her sister Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the moon, and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and home, and such Aphrodite and Eros, the gods of love and lust, had no power over her emotions, unlike with the other gods and mortals
As the wise and strategic goddess of war, she was often in conflict with her brother Ares, the chaotic and violent god of war, in which she usually triumphed over him. One notable example was during the Trojan war.
She also got into a feud with the sea-god Poseidon over the city of Athens, as both deities wanted to be the patron of the city. Minerva won the favour of the people, who built a great temple for (the Parthenon). For revenge Poseidon raped one of her priestesses, Medusa, within her temple, tarnishing it. Athena punished Medusa for this, turning her into the gorgon-like monster that would eventually be slain by the hero Perseus.
She was also famous for the tale about confronting the maiden Arachne, an arrogant weaver from Lydia, who boasted about being better than the goddess of crafts and challenged Athena into a weaving-competition. Arachne would always be turned into a spider at the end of this tale, but the reasons varied: some versions of the tale show her actually bestingAthena, who turns her into the spider out of spite, while others have Athena win and turn Arachne into a spider out of punishment.
She was also often known to help heroes, such as her half-brother Heracles, Perseus, Achilles, Bellerophon and Odysseus, during their quests and journeys.
Gallery[]
Pop Culture[]
- Athena is a major recurring character in the Percy Jackson-books by Rick Riordan. In the 2010 film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief she is portrayed by actress Melina Kanakaredes.
- Athena is a recurring character in Xena: Warrior Princess, in which she is portrayed by Paris Jefferson.
- Athena is a Classical Age Greek minor god in the real-time strategy computer game Age of Mythology.
- Pallas Athena is a character in DC Comics, often being connected with the superhero Wonder Woman.
- Athena Parthenos is a character in Marvel Comics, being associated with several other more prominent heroes, such as Hercules or Thor.
- In the universe of SCP Foundation, Athena is appears in SCP-6114, in which she is classified as a SCP-6114-1A.