[164] Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman;[165][166][160] she initially lies and tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried and that he is believed to be dead,[165] but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself. Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Dewing Greek Numismatic Foundation The qualities that led to victory were found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Those pebbles were called thriai, which was also the collective name of a group of nymphs with prophetic powers. The most renowned sculpture of Athena, the gold and ivory Athena Parthenos that once stood in the Parthenon, included two gorgoneia: one on her aegis and one on her shield. [6] A vestige of that appears in a portrait of Alexander the Great in a fresco from Pompeii dated to the first century BC, which shows the image of the head of a woman on his armor that resembles the Gorgon. [197][134], The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. [141] An almost exact story was said about another girl, Elaea, who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree. READ NEXT: She was known as Athena Parthenos "Athena the Virgin," but in one archaic Attic myth, the god Hephaestus tried and failed to rape her, resulting in Gaia giving birth to Erichthonius, an important Athenian founding hero. [78], The word glax (,[79] "little owl")[80] is from the same root, presumably according to some, because of the bird's own distinctive eyes. [198] Since the Renaissance, however, Western paintings have typically portrayed all three goddesses as completely naked. Athena is associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the symbol of the city of Athens. [24] In the third book of the Odyssey, she takes the form of a sea-eagle. [130], Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis[130] and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering. [210] She is most often represented dressed in armor like a male soldier[209][210][7] and wearing a Corinthian helmet raised high atop her forehead. In the Iliad, Athena was the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personified excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. 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. [61], Athena had a major temple on the Spartan Acropolis,[62][40] where she was venerated as Poliouchos and Khalkoikos ("of the Brazen House", often latinized as Chalcioecus). [63], Athena was known as Atrytone ( "the Unwearying"), Parthenos ( "Virgin"), and Promachos ( "she who fights in front"). Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [94][95][96] The earliest mention is in Book V of the Iliad, when Ares accuses Zeus of being biased in favor of Athena because "autos egeinao" (literally "you fathered her", but probably intended as "you gave birth to her"). [citation needed], In Book XXII of the Iliad, while Achilles is chasing Hector around the walls of Troy, Athena appears to Hector disguised as his brother Deiphobus[204] and persuades him to hold his ground so that they can fight Achilles together. [148][150] Hermes gave him an adamantine scythe to cut off Medusa's head. [178], A myth told by the early third-century BC Hellenistic poet Callimachus in his Hymn 5 begins with Athena bathing in a spring on Mount Helicon at midday with one of her favorite companions, the nymph Chariclo. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. )", "The Theology of the Phnicians from Sanchoniatho", "The Iconography of Athena in Attic Vase-painting from 440370 BC", "Phi Delta Theta International - Symbols", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, "Athena (also Athen and Athenaia) (Roman Minerva)", "The spinner and the poet: Arachne in Ovid's, "Word games: the Linguistic Evidence in Black Athena", "Ekphrasis and the Theme of Artistic Failure in Ovid's Metamorphoses", Classical mythology in western art and literature, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athena&oldid=1142441306, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Articles containing Mycenaean Greek-language text, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 11:27. [210][208] Copies reveal that this statue depicted Athena holding her shield in her left hand with Nike, the winged goddess of victory, standing in her right. from the Gigantomachy Frieze on the Pergamon Altar (early second century BC), Classical mosaic from a villa at Tusculum, 3rd century AD, now at Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican, Athena portrait by Eukleidas on a tetradrachm from Syracuse, Sicily c. 400 BC, Mythological scene with Athena (left) and Herakles (right), on a stone palette of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, India, Atena farnese, Roman copy of a Greek original from Phidias' circle, c. 430 AD, Museo Archeologico, Naples, Athena (2nd century BC) in the art of Gandhara, displayed at the Lahore Museum, Pakistan, Early Christian writers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Firmicus, denigrated Athena as representative of all the things that were detestable about paganism;[215] they condemned her as "immodest and immoral". [125] The statue had special talisman-like properties[125] and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. [191][192][190] Athena's tapestry also depicted the 12 Olympian gods and defeat of mythological figures who challenged their authority. During this period, the priestesses of Athena, or plyntrdes, performed a cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion, a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. [58], Athena was not only the patron goddess of Athens, but also other cities, including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean "she who knows divine things" [ , ta theia noousa] better than others. Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. [21][22] In the "Procession Fresco" at Knossos, which was reconstructed by the Mycenaeans, two rows of figures carrying vessels seem to meet in front of a central figure, which is probably the Minoan precursor to Athena. [139] The ritual was performed in the dead of night[139] and no one, not even the priestess, knew what the objects were. She was thought to have had neither consort nor offspring. [189][190] Athena gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself by assuming the form of an old woman and warning Arachne not to offend the deities. [200][145] Several artistic representations from the early sixth century BC may show Athena and Diomedes,[200] including an early sixth-century BC shield band depicting Athena and an unidentified warrior riding on a chariot, a vase painting of a warrior with his charioteer facing Athena, and an inscribed clay plaque showing Diomedes and Athena riding in a chariot. This article was most recently revised and updated by, From Athena to Zeus: Basics of Greek Mythology, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Athena-Greek-mythology, Roman and Greek Gods - Facts about Athena, Ancient Origins - Athena: Fiercely Feminine Goddess of War and Wisdom, Athena - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Athena - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Athena, in Greek mythology, is widely known as the goddess of wisdom and warfare. [185][190] Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill. Athena was often depicted with an owl, which was considered a symbol of wisdom in both cultures. Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus and the Argive princess Danae, was a Greek hero, king, and slayer of monsters. [136] In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off the Acropolis, dying instantly,[137] but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [237] Pallas Athena is the tutelary goddess of the international social fraternity Phi Delta Theta. The Goddess Athena represents wisdom, justice, and war. [178] The aulos was picked up by the satyr Marsyas, who was later killed by Apollo for his hubris. [226] In the years following the Revolution, artistic representations of Athena proliferated. [199][134] This woman was Helen, who was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. [68][69] The word athyia () signifies a "diver", also some diving bird species (possibly the shearwater) and figuratively, a "ship", so the name must reference Athena teaching the art of shipbuilding or navigation. [134][179] Chariclo's son Tiresias happened to be hunting on the same mountain and came to the spring searching for water. Athena is a goddess born directly from Zeus. The goddess Athena, wearing a helmet. [163] She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus and plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca. She instructs Laertes to throw his spear and to kill Eupeithes, the father of Antinous. Along with Aphrodite and Hera, Athena was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of the Trojan War . [167][166] Impressed by his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself and tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom. (, "This sanctuary had been respected from early days by all the. It is sometimes represented on the statues of Roman emperors, heroes, and warriors, and on cameos and vases. [197] Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple. [101] Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. [222][221][223] Athena is also used as the personification of wisdom in Bartholomeus Spranger's 1591 painting The Triumph of Wisdom or Minerva Victorious over Ignorance. She was known as Polias and Poliouchos (both derived from polis, meaning "city-state"), and her temples were usually located atop the fortified acropolis in the central part of the city. [197][134] After bathing in the spring of Mount Ida where Troy was situated, the goddesses appeared before Paris for his decision. [29] Athena's birth from the head of Zeus may be derived from the earlier Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent into and return from the Underworld. Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from Greek , Atheonawhich the later Greeks rationalised as from the deity's (, thes) mind (, nos). The Twelve Olympians in Greek mythology are the most respected major deities of the Greek pantheon. In Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. 13).[2]. I believe you, I hear you, and I care . [130] Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told in Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC17 AD); in this late variant Hermes falls in love with Herse. [199][134] The other two goddesses were enraged and, as a direct result, sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War. Updates? . In ancient Greek religion, Athena was a goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason. [178] Later, this version of the story became accepted as canonical[178] and the Athenian sculptor Myron created a group of bronze sculptures based on it, which was installed before the western front of the Parthenon in around 440 BC. [207], Athena appears frequently in classical Greek art, including on coins and in paintings on ceramics. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon in a competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. [27][28] The cult of Athena may have also been influenced by those of Near Eastern warrior goddesses such as the East Semitic Ishtar and the Ugaritic Anat,[10] both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms. [49] As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength. [82] It could mean various things, including "Triton-born", perhaps indicating that the homonymous sea-deity was her parent according to some early myths. [208] Athena Polias is also represented in a Neo-Attic relief now held in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,[211] which depicts her holding an owl in her hand[i] and wearing her characteristic Corinthian helmet while resting her shield against a nearby herma. [47][48] Athena was especially worshipped in this role during the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia,[49] both of which prominently featured displays of athletic and military prowess. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to the temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. [229] The Great Seal of California bears the image of Athena kneeling next to a brown grizzly bear. 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. [117] Although Agamemnon attempted to placate her anger with sacrifices, Athena sent a storm at Cape Kaphereos to destroy almost the entire Greek fleet and scatter all of the surviving ships across the Aegean. Hurt by the girl's betrayal, Athena transformed her into the small insect bearing her name, the ant. [99][100][98][101] In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because Metis had already conceived. Many of these scenes are symbolic, representing Athenian triumph over Persia. In the Iliad when Zeus sends Apollo to revive the wounded Hector, Apollo, holding the aegis, charges the Achaeans, pushing them back to their ships drawn up on the shore. Rank. [106][12][121][122] In an alternative variation of the same myth, Pallas was instead Athena's father,[106][12] who attempted to assault his own daughter,[123] causing Athena to kill him and take his skin as a trophy. [194], The myth of the Judgement of Paris is mentioned briefly in the Iliad,[195] but is described in depth in an epitome of the Cypria, a lost poem of the Epic Cycle,[196] which records that all the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). [citation needed] Athena deflects his blow with her aegis, a powerful shield that even Zeus's thunderbolt and lightning cannot blast through. [44], As Athena Promachos, she was believed to lead soldiers into battle. [220][221] Andrea Mantegna's 1502 painting Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue uses Athena as the personification of Graeco-Roman learning chasing the vices of medievalism from the garden of modern scholarship. Her half-brother Apollo however, angered and spiteful at the practitioners of an art rival to his own, complained to their father Zeus about it, with the pretext that many people took to casting pebbles, but few actually were true prophets. [148][150] According to Pindar's Thirteenth Olympian Ode, Athena helped the hero Bellerophon tame the winged horse Pegasus by giving him a bit. The Douris cup shows that the aegis was represented exactly as the skin of the great serpent, with its scales clearly delineated. It's been a long time since I wrote a Greek mythology article. Introduction Hi! [99][100][98][101] After learning that Metis was pregnant, however, he became afraid that the unborn offspring would try to overthrow him, because Gaia and Ouranos had prophesied that Metis would bear children wiser than their father. [50], In her aspect as a warrior maiden, Athena was known as Parthenos ( "virgin"),[45][52][53] because, like her fellow goddesses Artemis and Hestia, she was believed to remain perpetually a virgin. She was also a warrior goddess, and was believed to lead soldiers into battle as Athena Promachos. Her head appears on the $50 1915-S Panama-Pacific commemorative coin. [37][38], In her aspect of Athena Polias, Athena was venerated as the goddess of the city and the protectress of the citadel. [62] An Ionic-style temple to Athena Polias was built at Priene in the fourth century BC. 1332x850 Wallpaper bird, God, helmet, spear, shield, goddess, Athena, greek mythology images for desktop, section - download Download 1920x1200 Free Norse Wallpaper Downloads, [100+] Norse Wallpapers for FREE | Wallpapers.com [191][190][192] Finally, losing her temper, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle. Pallas Athena was the virgin goddess of war, wisdom, crafts, and the patron deity of the great city of Athens. The Greek aigis, has many meanings including:[3], The original meaning may have been the first, and Zeus Aigiokhos = "Zeus who holds the aegis" may have originally meant "Sky/Heaven, who holds the thunderstorm". Aside from Athena, the Twelve Olympians include Greek gods and goddesses Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Hestia. The second-century AD Christian apologist Justin Martyr takes issue with those pagans who erect at springs images of Kore, whom he interprets as Athena: "They said that Athena was the daughter of Zeus not from intercourse, but when the god had in mind the making of a world through a word (logos) his first thought was Athena. [216] Some even viewed the Virgin Mary as a warrior maiden, much like Athena Parthenos;[216] one anecdote tells that the Virgin Mary once appeared upon the walls of Constantinople when it was under siege by the Avars, clutching a spear and urging the people to fight. When the Olympian deities overtook the older deities of Greece and she was born of Metis (inside Zeus who had swallowed the goddess) and "re-born" through the head of Zeus fully clothed, Athena already wore her typical garments. [196] She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word (kallisti, "for the fairest"), which she threw among the goddesses. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, was known by a number of attributes and symbols. A virgin, she had no children of her own but occasionally befriended or adopted others. [161][146][162] It is not until he washes up on the shore of the island of the Phaeacians, where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena arrives personally to provide more tangible assistance. [211][7][209] Her shield bears at its centre the aegis with the head of the gorgon (gorgoneion) in the center and snakes around the edge. [127] Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree. John Tzetzes says[10] that aegis was the skin of the monstrous giant Pallas whom Athena overcame and whose name she attached to her own. Occasionally, another god used ite.g., Apollo in the Iliad, where it provoked terror. In others, such as Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus swallows his consort Metis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through his forehead. Perseus used this shield to see Medusa's reflection in order to fight her without looking at . It established their descent from earlier deities considered to remain powerful. "[111] According to a version of the story in a scholium on the Iliad (found nowhere else), when Zeus swallowed Metis, she was pregnant with Athena by the Cyclops Brontes. Nor shall we be far wrong in supposing that the author of it wished to identify this Goddess with moral intelligence [ , en thei nesin], and therefore gave her the name Etheonoe; which, however, either he or his successors have altered into what they thought a nicer form, and called her Athena. [90], She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, and emerged full-grown from his forehead. [18] A sign series a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja appears in the still undeciphered corpus of Linear A tablets, written in the unclassified Minoan language. Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. [130] On the eve of the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake[130] and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them. [172] Athena's push for Telemachos's journey helps him grow into the man role, that his father once held. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Her materialistic symbols include her spear, the distaff and a goatskin shield called the aegis. In the classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was regarded as the favorite child of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. [32] Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. [197] Hera tried to bribe Paris with power over all Asia and Europe,[197][134] and Athena offered fame and glory in battle,[197][134] but Aphrodite promised Paris that, if he were to choose her as the fairest, she would let him marry the most beautiful woman on earth. [5][7] The name of the city in ancient Greek is (Athnai), a plural toponym, designating the place whereaccording to mythshe presided over the Athenai, a sisterhood devoted to her worship. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. For other uses, see, Goddess of wisdom, warfare, and handicraft, Cult statue of Athena with the face of the Carpegna type (late 1st century BC to early 1st century AD), from the Piazza dell'Emporio, Rome, Bust of the Velletri Pallas type, copy after a votive statue of Kresilas in Athens (, In other traditions, Athena's father is sometimes listed as Zeus by himself or, "The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athena; they are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them." Athena, also known as Pallas Athena or the Virgin Athena, is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek mythology. [citation needed] Aphrodite, who was a lover of Ares, came down from Olympus to carry Ares away but was struck by Athena's golden spear and fell. Athena, like the other characters in Homer's epic, comes from a rich and vivid cultural tapestry of ancient Greek myth. "[25], It is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of the Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess. [213], During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Athena was used as a symbol for female rulers. 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. The daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and the Titaness Metis. [134][180][181] Chariclo intervened on her son's behalf and begged Athena to have mercy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the citys own symbol, and with the snake. [46] Burkert notes that the Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess", h thes ( ), certainly an ancient title. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess Envy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. [88] In Janda's analysis of Indo-European mythology, this heavenly sphere is also associated with the mythological body of water surrounding the inhabited world (cfr. She is also associated with the olive tree and owl because of her wisdom. "Athene's garments and aegis were borrowed by the Greeks from the Libyan women, who are dressed in exactly the same way, except that their leather garments are fringed with thongs, not serpents."[11]. [195] Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess, Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, "Detail of a cup in the Faina collection", "Marinus of Samaria, The Life of Proclus or Concerning Happiness", "Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.34.8", "Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.34.9", "Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, BOOK IX, Chapter 7. She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [168][166][160] She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope,[169][166] and helps him to defeat the suitors. Triton's mother, Amphitrite). "It produced a sound as from myriad roaring dragons (Iliad, 4.17) and was borne by Athena in battle and among them went bright-eyed Athene, holding the precious aegis which is ageless and immortal: a hundred tassels of pure gold hang fluttering from it, tight-woven each of them, and each the worth of a hundred oxen."[2]. Athena's Introduction Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. [70] In a temple at Phrixa in Elis, reportedly built by Clymenus, she was known as Cydonia (). In Greek mythology [ edit] Athena's aegis, with Gorgon, here resembles the skin of the serpent who guards the golden fleece (regurgitating Jason); cup by Douris, early fifth century BC ( Vatican Museums) The aegis of Athena is referred to in several places in the Iliad. [76] The word is a combination of glauks (, meaning "gleaming, silvery", and later, "bluish-green" or "gray")[77] and ps (, "eye, face"). Robert Graves in The Greek Myths (1955) asserts that the aegis in its Libyan sense had been a shamanic pouch containing various ritual objects, bearing the device of a monstrous serpent-haired visage with tusk-like teeth and a protruding tongue which was meant to frighten away the uninitiated.