2. Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas,
is an ancient Greek goddess associated with
wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later
syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva.
Athena was regarded as the protectress of various
cities across Greece, particularly the city of Athens,
from which she most likely received her name. The
Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is dedicated
to her. Her major symbols include owls, olive trees,
snakes, and the Gorgoneion. In art, she is generally
depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear.
4. .
From her origin as an Aegean palace goddess, Athena was
closely associated with the city. She was known as Polias and
Poliouxos, and her temples were usually located atop the
fortified acropolis in the central part of the city. The Parthenon
on the Athenian Acropolis is dedicated to her, along with
numerous other temples and monuments. As the patron of
craft and weaving, Athena was known as Ergane. She was
also a warrior goddess, and was believed to lead soldiers into
battle as Athena Promachos. Her main festival in Athens was
the Panathenaia, which was celebrated during the month of
Hekatombaion in midsummer and was the most important
festival on the Athenian calendar.
6. In Greek mythology, Athena was believed to have been born from the forehead
of her father Zeus. In some versions of the story, Athena has no mother and is
born from Zeus' forehead by parthenogenesis. In others, such as Hesiod's
Theogony, Zeus swallows his wife Metis, who was pregnant with Athena; in this
version, Athena is first born within Zeus and then escapes from his body through
his forehead. In the founding myth of Athens, Athena bested Poseidon in a
competition over patronage of the city by creating the first olive tree. 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. Athena was the patron
goddess of heroic endeavor; she was believed to have helped the heroes
Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, and Jason. Along with Aphrodite and Hera,
Athena was one of the three goddesses whose feud resulted in the beginning of
the Trojan War.
7. She plays an active role in the Iliad, in which she
assists the Achaeans and, in the Odyssey, she is the
divine counselor to Odysseus. In the later writings of
the Roman poet Ovid, Athena was said to have
competed against the mortal Arachne in a weaving
competition, afterward transforming Arachne into the
first spider; Ovid also describes how Athena
transformed her priestess Medusa and the latter's
sisters, Stheno and Euryale, into the Gorgons after
witnessing the young woman being raped by
Poseidon in the goddess's temple. Since the
Renaissance, Athena has become an international
symbol of wisdom, the arts, and classical learning.
Western artists and allegorists have often used
Athena as a symbol of freedom and democracy.
