Athene

(aThena) Greek Daughter of Zeus and Metis. One of the most important Olympian gods. Identified with Minerva by the Romans. Athene was a deity of many different functions and attributes. On the one hand, she was a goddess of war, the female counterpart of Ares. However, she Athene The goddess Athena hovers behind Prometheus as the Titan passes fire to humans, an act for which he was later punished. The scene was painted in 1802 by Jean-Simon Berthélemy (1743-1811) in a ceiling mural in the Louvre in Paris. (Photograph by Marie-Lan Nyugen. Used under a Creative Commons license.) was also associated with peace and compassion. She was a patron of the arts and crafts, especially spinning and weaving (see Arachne); a patron of cities, notably Athens, which was named after her; and a goddess of wisdom. The cult of Athene went back to the Cretan civilization, which predated that of classical Greece by about 1,500 years. In Crete and Mycenae, she was an Earth goddess. However, the Athenians firmly claimed her as their own, and dedicated the Parthenon, the temple on the Acropolis in Athens, to her. Athens acknowledged Athene as the ancestor of their first king, Erichthonius (1). Athene appears in innumerable myths, but none better displays her unique intellectual qualities than her role in the odyssey as the constant friend and adviser of the clever and imaginative Odysseus. She also offered help to heroes, such as Jason and Diomedes (1). Other myths associated with Athene include those of Bellerophon; Perseus and the Medusa; Argus and the ship Argo; Cadmus and the dragon's teeth; and heroes Heracles, Diomedes (2), and Tydeus. The Birth of Athene There are many different stories about the birth and parentage of Athene. In the most familiar story, she sprang fully armed from the head of Zeus when Hephaestus split it open with an ax. Zeus had previously swallowed his consort, Metis, on learning that she would soon bear a child who would rule the gods. Metis was renowned for her wisdom. The myth may be a way of saying that when Zeus came to power he absorbed wisdom (Metis), and from this wisdom came the knowledge from which the arts (Athene) developed. This myth in some tellings develops the story of Zeus having violent headaches that made him howl with pain and rage. Hermes found him on the banks of the Triton River and summoned Hephaestus to help relieve his pain. In Crete, they said that the goddess Athene had been hidden in a cloud and that by striking the cloud with his head, Zeus had caused Athene to emerge. This event was supposed to have happened beside a stream called the Triton. According to the Pelasgians (prehistoric peoples inhabiting Mediterranean lands), Athene was born beside the lake or river Triton, and nurtured by three Nymphs. As a girl, Athene accidentally killed her playmate, Pallas. In a token of her grief, Athene set the nymph's name before her own, and is often known as Pallas Athene. This legend probably dates to pre-Hellenic times. Athene and Poseidon In this myth, Athene challenges the sea god Poseidon over who should reign over Athens. Zeus judged Athene the winner because she bestowed upon Athens the olive tree, while Poseidon produced only a salty stream. The rivalry for the possession of Athens may have been a folk memory of the collision between new people (migrants) with their new gods, and the ancient people (symbolized by Athene, Earth goddess). The triumph of the ancient Earth Mother figure over the male god Poseidon shows that the myth goes back to archaic times, long before the Hellenes (Greeks) and other migrants arrived on the peninsula (the Peloponnesus), bringing with them a belief in dominant male gods.