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137-528: The tablet was kept in the ancient official depository of the temple of Athena on the western acropolis of Idalion, where it was discovered in 1850 by a farmer from the village of Dali, Cyprus . It was purchased by Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes , who donated it to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in 1862. Today it is kept in the Cabinet des médailles , Paris . However, the script

274-461: A founding myth reported by Pseudo-Apollodorus, Athena competed with Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that Cecrops , the king of Athens, would determine which gift was better. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water spring sprang up; this gave the Athenians access to trade and water. Athens at its height

411-534: A "terrifying warrior goddess" and that both goddesses were closely linked with creation. 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 . Plato notes that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess known as Neith , whom he identifies with Athena. Neith was the ancient Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, who

548-453: A chaste girl who outdid all her fellow athletes in both the palaestra and the race. Out of envy, the other athletes murdered her, but Athena took pity in her and transformed her dead body into a myrtle , a plant thereafter as favoured by her as the olive was. An almost exact story was said about another girl, Elaea , who transformed into an olive, Athena's sacred tree. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca , Athena advised Argos ,

685-466: A cleansing ritual within the Erechtheion , a sanctuary devoted to Athena and Poseidon. Here Athena's statue was undressed, her clothes washed, and body purified. Athena was worshipped at festivals such as Chalceia as Athena Ergane , the patroness of various crafts, especially weaving . She was also the patron of metalworkers and was believed to aid in the forging of armor and weapons. During

822-505: A connection to the Rigvedic god Trita , who was sometimes grouped in a body of three mythological poets. Michael Janda has connected the myth of Trita to the scene in the Iliad in which the "three brothers" Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divide the world between them, receiving the "broad sky", the sea, and the underworld respectively. Janda further connects the myth of Athena being born of

959-551: A just cause and was thought to view war primarily as a means to resolve conflict. The Greeks regarded Athena with much higher esteem than Ares. Athena was especially worshipped in this role during the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia , both of which prominently featured displays of athletic and military prowess. As the patroness of heroes and warriors, Athena was believed to favor those who used cunning and intelligence rather than brute strength. In her aspect as

1096-587: A large quantity of cypress wood. This wood came from a forest dedicated to Apollo and therefore could only be exploited for religious purposes. In the Parthenon's soil is still visible the hole (75.5 cm by 54 cm and 37 cm deep) where the central beam was planted. Around this "mast", a whole frame in the same cypress wood gave shape to the statue. The city had the technique and craftsmen capable of this work with its many marine carpenters. To this reinforcement were fixed, probably nailed, gold plates. It

1233-644: A man injured during the construction of the gateway to the Acropolis . Mechanitis (Μηχανῖτις), meaning skilled in inventing, was one of the epithets of her. At Athens there is the temple of Athena Phratria , as patron of a phratry , in the Ancient Agora of Athens . Athena's epithet Pallas – her most renowned one – is derived either from πάλλω , meaning "to brandish [as a weapon]", or, more likely, from παλλακίς and related words, meaning "youth, young woman". On this topic, Walter Burkert says "she

1370-415: A recognition of her role as enforcer of rules of sexual modesty and ritual mystery. Even beyond recognition, the Athenians allotted the goddess value based on this pureness of virginity, which they upheld as a rudiment of female behavior. Kerényi's study and theory of Athena explains her virginal epithet as a result of her relationship to her father Zeus and a vital, cohesive piece of her character throughout

1507-531: A singular notion about her; and indeed calls her by a still higher title, "divine intelligence" [ θεοῦ νόησις , theoũ nóēsis ], as though he would say: This is she who has the mind of God [ ἁ θεονόα , a theonóa ]. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean "she who knows divine things" [ τὰ θεῖα νοοῦσα , ta theia noousa ] better than others. Nor shall we be far wrong in supposing that the author of it wished to identify this Goddess with moral intelligence [ εν έθει νόεσιν , en éthei nóesin ], and therefore gave her

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1644-409: A statue of Nike , 2 m high. This symbolization of victory itself held a crown of gold laurels, which she was to be about to place on the goddess's head. The column is present in copies where it is necessary for reasons of the balance of terracotta or marble, but its existence for the original statue remains much discussed. The presence of a column could then explain the fact that Athena's sacred snake

1781-445: A symbol of Athenian economic prosperity. Robert Graves was of the opinion that "Poseidon's attempts to take possession of certain cities are political myths", which reflect the conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal religions. Afterwards, Poseidon was so angry over his defeat that he sent one of his sons, Halirrhothius , to cut down the tree. But as he swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him. This

1918-406: A team of craftsmen representing several trades, Phidias supervising all the decoration work of the Parthenon. The location of the workshop where the statue was made is unknown. It could have been on the acropolis, at the eastern end, under what was later to become the old Acropolis museum. However, given the cost of precious materials (gold and ivory), it could also have been installed elsewhere, at

2055-471: A temple at Phrixa in Elis , reportedly built by Clymenus , she was known as Cydonia (Κυδωνία). Pausanias wrote that at Buporthmus there was a sanctuary of Athena Promachorma (Προμαχόρμα), meaning protector of the anchorage . The Greek biographer Plutarch describes Pericles's dedication of a statue to her as Athena Hygieia (Ὑγίεια, "Health") after she inspired, in a dream, his successful treatment of

2192-448: A temple was built to her at Las . In Pergamon, Athena was thought to have been a god of the cosmos and the aspects of it that aided Pergamon and its fate. She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, and emerged full-grown from his forehead. There was an alternate story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena and when she was fully grown she emerged from Zeus' forehead. Being

2329-460: A temple, but a treasury meant to house the colossal chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos . It is even likely that the statue project preceded the building project. This was an offering from the city to the goddess, but not a statue of worship: there was no priestess of Athena Parthenos . Primary ancient sources about the statue are writings by Pausanias and Pliny the Elder . Pausanias

2466-565: A warrior maiden, Athena was known as Parthenos ( Παρθένος "virgin"), because, like her fellow goddesses Artemis and Hestia , she was believed to remain perpetually a virgin. Athena's most famous temple, the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis , takes its name from this title. According to Karl Kerényi , a scholar of Greek mythology, the name Parthenos is not merely an observation of Athena's virginity, but also

2603-545: A young priestess who served in the temple of Athena in Athens. Poseidon lusted after Medusa, and raped her in the temple of Athena, refusing to allow her vow of chastity to stand in his way. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster with serpents for hair whose gaze would turn any mortal to stone . Athena Parthenos The statue of Athena Parthenos ( Ancient Greek : Παρθένος Ἀθηνᾶ , lit.   'Athena

2740-425: Is Glaukopis ( γλαυκῶπις ), which usually is translated as, "bright-eyed" or "with gleaming eyes". The word is a combination of glaukós ( γλαυκός , meaning "gleaming, silvery", and later, "bluish-green" or "gray") and ṓps ( ὤψ , "eye, face"). The word glaúx ( γλαύξ , "little owl") is from the same root, presumably according to some, because of the bird's own distinctive eyes. Athena

2877-468: Is also the originator of the surname "Parthenos." Early writings mentioned "the statue", "the statue of Athena", "the golden statue of Athena", "the ivory statue of Athena", or simply "the Athena." Since at least the end of the fifth century BCE, however, the patron goddess of the Parthenon has been known as "Athena Parthenos." According to Pausanias and Plutarch , the statue is not by Phidias alone but of

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3014-544: 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 patron and 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

3151-629: Is believed to be dead, but Odysseus lies back to her, employing skillful prevarications to protect himself. Impressed by his resolve and shrewdness, she reveals herself and tells him what he needs to know to win back his kingdom. She disguises him as an elderly beggar so that he will not be recognized by the suitors or Penelope, and helps him to defeat the suitors. Athena also appears to Odysseus's son Telemachus. Her actions lead him to travel around to Odysseus's comrades and ask about his father. He hears stories about some of Odysseus's journey. Athena's push for Telemachus's journey helps him grow into

3288-458: 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

3425-616: Is generally agreed that the cult of Athena preserves some aspects of the Proto-Indo-European transfunctional goddess . 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 , both of whom were often portrayed bearing arms. Classical scholar Charles Penglase notes that Athena resembles Inanna in her role as

3562-400: Is not possible to know if they had been melted (and the moulds preserved, perhaps in case of repair) or hammered ( Sphyrelaton technique). Ivory work was much more difficult, even if the statue of Athena Parthenos was not the first Greek statue to use this imported material. Oppian gives valuable indications of the techniques used. The necessary surfaces (face, arms, and feet) far exceeded

3699-402: Is occasionally referred to as "Tritonia". Another possible meaning may be "triple-born" or "third-born", which may refer to a triad or to her status as the third daughter of Zeus or the fact she was born from Metis, Zeus, and herself; various legends list her as being the first child after Artemis and Apollo, though other legends identify her as Zeus' first child. Several scholars have suggested

3836-463: Is one of the daughters of Erechtheus , one of the Hyacinthides who sacrificed herself to save the city. She would have had a miraculous birth, of the autochthonic type, and was linked to the goddess Athena, mainly by weaving. Pandora was presented in this Athenian myth as a kourotrophic (child carrier therefore a nurse) and a bearer of benefits. From then on, Joan Connelly proposes to read

3973-656: Is the Pallas of Athens, Pallas Athenaie , just as Hera of Argos is Here Argeie ". In later times, after the original meaning of the name had been forgotten, the Greeks invented myths to explain its origins, such as those reported by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus and the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, which claim that Pallas was originally a separate entity, whom Athena had slain in combat. In one version of

4110-418: Is the only decorative element that has not subsequently been copied and reproduced, so it is unknown in its details. It is not even possible to know if it was made of marble or gilded bronze. The presence of this theme (birth of the first woman, plus fatal woman) is quite difficult to reconcile with the representation of the virgin goddess of wisdom. It was perhaps a symbol of both aspects of femininity, or even

4247-608: The Acropolis , dying instantly, but an Attic vase painting shows them being chased by the serpent off the edge of the cliff instead. Erichthonius was one of the most important founding heroes of Athens and the legend of the daughters of Cecrops was a cult myth linked to the rituals of the Arrhephoria festival. Pausanias records that, during the Arrhephoria, two young girls known as the Arrhephoroi , who lived near

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4384-547: The Gorgoneion . In art, she is generally depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear. From her origin as an Aegean palace goddess , Athena was closely associated with the city. 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. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis

4521-537: The Kitians in 478-470 BC. It tells us about the political system and socio-economic conditions during the war. The joint decision by the king and citizens shows the democratic nature of the city, similar to Greek models. It also tells of the most ancient social welfare system known. The tablet is often considered as the most ancient sample of an insurance contract since it encompasses some of the major characteristics of modern insurance contracts Approximately two lines of

4658-664: The Laconian towns of Mantineia and Tegea . The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea was an important religious center of ancient Greece. The geographer Pausanias was informed that the temenos had been founded by Aleus . Athena had a major temple on the Spartan Acropolis , where she was venerated as Poliouchos and Khalkíoikos ("of the Brazen House", often latinized as Chalcioecus ). This epithet may refer to

4795-626: The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus . The temple was dedicated by Alexander the Great and an inscription from the temple declaring his dedication is now held in the British Museum . She was worshipped as Athena Asia in Colchis -- supposedly on an account of a nearby mountain with that name -- from which her worship was believed to have been brought by Castor and Pollux to Laconia , where

4932-897: The National Archaeological Museum of Athens , the Minerva with the necklace of the Louvre Museum or a Roman copy signed Antiochos preserved at the Palazzo Altemps ( Roman National Museum ). A restoration was made by sculptor Pierre-Charles Simart between 1846 and 1855 for the Duke of Luynes . It is exhibited in its castle in Dampierre . A life-size replica was made in 1990 for the Nashville Parthenon by American sculptor Alan LeQuire . On

5069-641: The Trojan war , make Athena instead the daughter of Cronus , a king of Byblos who visited "the inhabitable world" and bequeathed Attica to Athena. In Homer's Iliad , Athena, as a war goddess, inspired and fought alongside the Greek heroes; her aid was synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief god, specifically assigned the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena. Athena's moral and military superiority to Ares derived in part from

5206-400: The archon . Later, between 300 and 295 BCE, the tyrant Lachares allegedly had the gold plates removed to pay his troops. However, the veracity of this gesture is difficult to establish. If Lachares had taken gold permanently, he committed sacrilege. If his gesture was a simple "borrowing" from Athena, the rule was to repay with interest, difficult if the only way to obtain funds was to strip

5343-518: 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". 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

5480-480: The homonymous sea-deity was her parent according to some early myths. One myth relates the foster father relationship of this Triton towards the half-orphan Athena, whom he raised alongside his own daughter Pallas . Kerényi suggests that "Tritogeneia did not mean that she came into the world on any particular river or lake, but that she was born of the water itself; for the name Triton seems to be associated with water generally." In Ovid 's Metamorphoses , Athena

5617-475: The peristyle ) was divided into two rooms. The small one to the west, the "Parthenon" itself (the "virgin room"), housed the treasure of the League of Delos and other offerings. To the east, the "hecatompedos neos " housed the statue of Athena Parthenos . The room was 29.90 m long, or around one hundred Athenian feet , by 19 m wide, with a ceiling height of 12.50 m. The new building was not intended to become

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5754-486: The semen off using a tuft of wool , which she tossed into the dust, impregnating Gaia and causing her to give birth to Erichthonius . Athena adopted Erichthonius as her son and raised him. The Roman mythographer Hyginus records a similar story in which Hephaestus demanded Zeus to let him marry Athena since he was the one who had smashed open Zeus's skull, allowing Athena to be born. Zeus agreed to this and Hephaestus and Athena were married, but, when Hephaestus

5891-472: The solar plexus , an ivory gorgoneion . The goddess' face was also ivory, probably with a neutral expression, as was then the aesthetic rule. However, she may have had her lips ajar, symbolizing the breath of life. Gemstones allowed her eyes to have the Persian colour corresponding to one of Athena's epithets. Long strands of hair escaped from her helmet and descended to the aegis. It was a reinterpretation of

6028-413: The 10th century CE. Another hypothesis is based on the presence of traces of a second base. The statue of Athena Parthenos could then have been replaced, at an indeterminate point in time. Until the edict of Theodosius in 380, the Parthenon retained its pagan religious role. It then seems to have experienced a more or less long period of abandonment. Somewhere between the fifth and the seventh century,

6165-552: The Athenian calendar. 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 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. In

6302-550: The Athenians had sworn not to complete the destroyed temples but to leave them as they were, in memory of the Persian "barbarism". In the succeeding years, however, Athens grew to control much of the region through its domination of the Delian League , a confederation of Greek states originally designed to protect themselves against the Persians. Within 30 years, the league had evolved into an Athenian powerhouse. By 454 BCE,

6439-454: The Athenians sometimes simply called Athena "the Goddess", hē theós (ἡ θεός), certainly an ancient title. After serving as the judge at the trial of Orestes in which he was acquitted of having murdered his mother Clytemnestra , Athena won the epithet Areia (Αρεία). Some have described Athena, along with the goddesses Hestia and Artemis as being asexual, this is mainly supported by

6576-466: The Chthonian powers that would have been present on the acropolis from the beginning, or even Erichthonios himself whom the goddess had raised on her sacred rock. In fact, the monsters (sphinx, gryphons, winged horses, snakes, and gorgonians) that adorn the statue of the deity symbolize these primitive forces she domesticated. The themes chosen to decorate this statue, as well as those that adorned

6713-452: The Delian treasury had been relocated to Athens, where the money was funnelled into an ambitious plan to rebuild the city and its destroyed temples, including the Parthenon . The new Parthenon was erected between 447 and 438 BCE. Pericles chose the sculptor Phidias to supervise the building program with the architects Ictinos and Kallikrates . The sekos (closed part surrounded by

6850-475: The Elder writes that Hera "rejoices" at Athena's birth "as though Athena were her daughter also". 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

6987-518: The Lesser violently tore her away from it and dragged her over to the other captives. Athena was infuriated by this violation of her protection. 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. In Homer 's epic works , Athena's most common epithet

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7124-543: The Linear B Mycenaean expressions a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja and di-u-ja or di-wi-ja ( Diwia , "of Zeus" or, possibly, related to a homonymous goddess ), resulting in a translation "Athena of Zeus" or "divine Athena". Similarly, in the Greek mythology and epic tradition, Athena figures as a daughter of Zeus ( Διός θυγάτηρ ; cfr. Dyeus ). However, the inscription quoted seems to be very similar to " a-ta-nū-tī wa-ya ", quoted as SY Za 1 by Jan Best. Best translates

7261-649: 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. The early twentieth-century scholar Martin Persson Nilsson argued that the Minoan snake goddess figurines are early representations of Athena. Nilsson and others have claimed that, in early times, Athena was either an owl herself or a bird goddess in general. In

7398-470: The Virgin';) was a monumental chryselephantine sculpture of the goddess Athena . Attributed to Phidias and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering from the city of Athens to Athena, its tutelary deity . The naos of the Parthenon on the acropolis of Athens was designed exclusively to accommodate it. Many artists and craftsmen worked on the realization of the sculpture, which

7535-475: The aegis as an apology. In another version of the story, Pallas was a Giant ; Athena slew him during the Gigantomachy and flayed off his skin to make her cloak, which she wore as a victory trophy. In an alternative variation of the same myth, Pallas was instead Athena's father, who attempted to assault his own daughter, causing Athena to kill him and take his skin as a trophy. The palladium

7672-462: The aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went 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 the helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, prudent restraint and practical insight, and war. In

7809-436: The ages. This role is expressed in several stories about Athena. Marinus of Neapolis reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from the Parthenon , a beautiful woman appeared in a dream to Proclus , a devotee of Athena, and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to dwell with him. Athena was also credited with creating the pebble-based form of divination. Those pebbles were called thriai , which

7946-492: The arts , and classical learning . Western artists and allegorists have often used Athena as a symbol of freedom and democracy. Athena is associated with the city of Athens . The name of the city in ancient Greek is Ἀθῆναι ( Athȇnai ), a plural toponym , designating the place where—according to myth—she presided over the Athenai , a sisterhood devoted to her worship. In ancient times, scholars argued whether Athena

8083-526: The arts and handicrafts. Athena was known as Atrytone ( Άτρυτώνη "the Unwearying"), Parthenos ( Παρθένος "Virgin"), and Promachos ( Πρόμαχος "she who fights in front"). The epithet Polias (Πολιάς "of the city"), refers to Athena's role as protectress of the city. The epithet Ergane (Εργάνη "the Industrious") pointed her out as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. Burkert notes that

8220-561: The blade to behead Medusa, Athena guided it, allowing the blade to cut the Gorgon's head clean off. According to Pindar's Thirteenth Olympian Ode , Athena helped the hero Bellerophon tame the winged horse Pegasus by giving him a bit . In ancient Greek art , Athena is frequently shown aiding the hero Heracles . She appears in four of the twelve metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia depicting Heracles's Twelve Labors , including

8357-636: The builder of the Argo , the ship on which the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts sailed, and aided in the ship's construction. Pseudo-Apollodorus also records that Athena guided the hero Perseus in his quest to behead Medusa . She and Hermes , the god of travelers, appeared to Perseus after he set off on his quest and gifted him with tools he would need to kill the Gorgon. Athena lent Perseus her polished bronze shield to view Medusa's reflection without becoming petrified himself. Hermes lent Perseus his harpe to behead Medusa with. When Perseus swung

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8494-546: The building was transformed into a church. Sources do not mention the statue at that time; it is therefore not possible to know if it had been destroyed or transported to Constantinople. At least sixty-nine small-scale copies of the statue are known. Very early on, her influence was felt, sometimes very far away. Thus, gold medallions from a tomb in Kul-Oba (Crimea) and preserved in the Hermitage Museum , reproduce

8631-441: The chest, but did not explain to them why or what was in it. Aglauros, and possibly one of the other sisters, opened the chest. Differing reports say that they either found that the child itself was a serpent, that it was guarded by a serpent, that it was guarded by two serpents, or that it had the legs of a serpent. In Pausanias's story, the two sisters were driven mad by the sight of the chest's contents and hurled themselves off

8768-400: The city of Athens more than a year's salary for 10,000 skilled workers, more than a year's pay for 10,000 hoplites or 10,000 rowers in the war fleet. The quantity and cost of ivory are more difficult to determine. It was needed for the face, arms, and feet of the statue, as well as for the gorgon 's head depicted on the goddess's chest. It is less certain that ivory could have been used for

8905-464: The door (9.75 m high and 4.19 m wide) that would have allowed daylight in. The statue measured, according to Pliny the Elder, 26 cubits (about 11.50 m high), probably counting its base. It thus reached less than one and a half meters from the ceiling. She therefore filled the room with her presence. Phidias' idea was apparently to represent the goddess under her "true" aspect, in all her majesty, beauty, magnificence, or even in her real size, since

9042-604: The earliest Linear B archive anywhere. Although Athana potnia is often translated as "Mistress Athena", it could also mean "the Potnia of Athana", or the Lady of Athens . However, any connection to the city of Athens in the Knossos inscription is uncertain. 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 . This could be connected with

9179-536: The entire building, were part of an iconographic and political program of the celebration of the city through its guardian goddess. Athens, at the height of its power in the time of Pericles, evoked here the victory of (its) civilization over chaos, disorder, hybris, and barbarism in general, even beyond the commemoration of its victory in the Median wars . The virtues and piety of the city were read in its offering to its goddess. Its commercial and naval power materialized in

9316-653: The etymological roots of Athena's names to be aether , air , earth , and moon . Athena was originally the Aegean goddess of the palace, who presided over household crafts and protected the king. A single Mycenaean Greek inscription 𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊 a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja appears at Knossos in the Linear B tablets from the Late Minoan II-era "Room of the Chariot Tablets"; these comprise

9453-593: The eve of the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the serpent did not eat the honey cake and the Athenians interpreted it as a sign that Athena herself had abandoned them. Another version of the myth of the Athenian maidens is told in Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD); in this late variant Hermes falls in love with Herse. Herse, Aglaulus, and Pandrosus go to

9590-482: The fact that cult statue held there may have been made of bronze, that the walls of the temple itself may have been made of bronze, or that Athena was the patron of metal-workers. Bells made of terracotta and bronze were used in Sparta as part of Athena's cult. An Ionic-style temple to Athena Polias was built at Priene in the fourth century BC. It was designed by Pytheos of Priene , the same architect who designed

9727-552: The fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, To Aphrodite , where Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses. Athena was sometimes given the epithet Hippia (Ἵππια "of the horses", "equestrian"), referring to her invention of the bit , bridle , chariot , and wagon . The Greek geographer Pausanias mentions in his Guide to Greece that the temple of Athena Chalinitis ("the bridler") in Corinth

9864-510: The fact that she represented the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represented mere blood lust. Her superiority also derived in part from the vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and the patriotism of Homer's predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena was the divine form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personified excellence in close combat, victory, and glory. The qualities that led to victory were found on

10001-552: The favorite child of Zeus, she had great power. In the classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was regarded as the favorite child of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. The story of her birth comes in several versions. 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"). She

10138-400: The first part of the poem, however, she largely is confined to aiding him only from afar , mainly by implanting thoughts in his head during his journey home from Troy. Her guiding actions reinforce her role as the "protectress of heroes", or, as mythologian Walter Friedrich Otto dubbed her, the "goddess of nearness", due to her mentoring and motherly probing. It is not until he washes up on

10275-534: The first, in which she passively watches him slay the Nemean lion , and the tenth, in which she is shown actively helping him hold up the sky. She is presented as his "stern ally", but also the "gentle ... acknowledger of his achievements". Artistic depictions of Heracles's apotheosis show Athena driving him to Mount Olympus in her chariot and presenting him to Zeus for his deification. In Aeschylus 's tragedy Orestes , Athena intervenes to save Orestes from

10412-443: The foot of the sacred rock, far from the comings and goings of the main site and its dust. The statue was likely made of "spare parts", perhaps first mounted in the workshop, then dismantled, moved to the Parthenon, after its completion, and installed in its final place. The remaining accounts make it possible to estimate the cost of the work at 704 talents , or the equivalent of 200 Triremes (the city's naval power base). However,

10549-554: The god of the sun, stopped his chariot in the sky. Pindar, in his "Seventh Olympian Ode", states that she "cried aloud with a mighty shout" and that "the Sky and mother Earth shuddered before her". Hesiod states that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having given birth to a child on his own that she conceived and bore Hephaestus by herself , but in Imagines 2. 27 (trans. Fairbanks), the third-century AD Greek rhetorician Philostratus

10686-431: The goddess was "made-up", using red pigment on her cheeks and lips as well as on her nails. It is also very unlikely that the gold was left as is; it would likely have been inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones that reflected the light. The statue must have been completed in 438 BCE when it was consecrated and installed in the Parthenon. Gold and ivory that had not been used were then offered for sale. The statue

10823-548: The goddess. The Parthenon was ravaged by a fire at an indeterminate date in late antiquity, causing serious damage. The roof collapsed. The Doric columns of the naos were replaced by columns from the Hellenistic stoas of the Roman agora . The statue was damaged but restored. It may have been transported to Constantinople with the Chryselephantine statue of Zeus of Olympia where it could still have been in

10960-426: The gods were considered proportionally much greater than humans. Only the pedestal of the statue has been preserved. It is a parallelepiped in poros measuring 8.065 by 4.10 m (26 ft 5.5 in by 13 ft 5.4 in) and 1.30 to 1.50 m (4 ft 3 in to 4 ft 11 in) high. On the front of this base, a carved plaque evoked the birth of Pandora in the presence of twenty gods. It

11097-406: The gold plates were probably directly nailed to the frame, the more fragile ivory was certainly fixed more delicately with dowels or glued with fish glue . The joints between ivory plates would most certainly have been masked in the drop shadows and by jewellery (bracelets and necklace). The ivory then had to be polished, most often with squatine skins (type of shark). Finally, the ivory was painted:

11234-409: The ground. This posture seems to have been chosen more for technical reasons of balance and volume of the lower manikin than for aesthetic reasons. The bust, on the other hand, does not seem to have been affected by the imbalance of the lower body, it would have been very straight and frontal. Over her peplos, she bore at the breast the aegis lined with snakes and within its centre, at the level of

11371-429: The growing role of women in Athens in the fifth century BCE. Other interpretations are proposed. Helios and Selene framed the scene; it is, therefore, possible to see it as a form of calendar. Pandora can also be read as a warning that with the gods, nothing was ever taken for granted . Thus, the triumphant Athens of Pericles mastered modern techniques, just as the first men had mastered fire. They had thus unbalanced

11508-442: The hand of Phidias himself. The inside of the shield, less visible, was painted with a gigantomachy . The three fights represented on the statue (centauromachy, gigantomachy, and amazonomachy) were also found on the carved decoration of the Parthenon. The southern metopes are decorated with a centauromachy, those in the east with a gigantomachy, and those in the west with an amazonomachy. The snake (δράκων), perhaps represented

11645-520: The head (i. e. the uppermost part) of Zeus, understanding Trito- (which perhaps originally meant "the third") as another word for "the sky". 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. Triton's mother, Amphitrite ). Yet another possible meaning is mentioned in Diogenes Laertius ' biography of Democritus , that Athena

11782-502: The head of the statue. During Roman times, small copies were mass-produced, sometimes simplifying the decor. The Athena of Varvákeion is one of the most famous examples. Sometimes, only the decoration was reproduced, mainly that of the outside of the shield, apparently in the form of decorative plates for export. Among the most famous ancient copies are the Lenormant Athena and therefore the Athena of Varvakeion preserved in

11919-406: The initial a-ta-nū-tī , which is recurrent in line beginnings, as "I have given". A Mycenean fresco depicts two women extending their hands towards a central figure, who is covered by an enormous figure-eight shield; this may depict the warrior-goddess with her palladium , or her palladium in an aniconic representation. In the " Procession Fresco " at Knossos , which was reconstructed by

12056-512: The korai hairstyle, the archaic statues of young women abundantly dedicated to the goddess on the acropolis of Athens. The helmet was of the Attic type , with paragnathides (pieces protecting the cheeks) raised and decorated with gryphons . The top of the helmet had three crests: a sphinx in the centre, surrounded on each side by a winged horse. The visor was decorated with protomes . The edge of her sandals (" Etruscan " type), about 20 cm high,

12193-403: The late fifth century BC, the role of goddess of philosophy became a major aspect of Athena's cult . As Athena Promachos , she was believed to lead soldiers into battle. Athena represented the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother Ares , the patron of violence, bloodlust, and slaughter—"the raw force of war". Athena was believed to only support those fighting for

12330-585: The machine from side to side, ankles, pitch, clay and other things as shocking to the eye, not to mention an infinity of flies or shrews", as Lucian describes in Dream or the Rooster, XXIV.18. According to sources in 438 BCE (from the consecration of the statue) or in 432 BCE (just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War ), Phidias was accused of diverting part of the precious metals used to make

12467-418: The man role, that his father once held. She also plays a role in ending the resultant feud against the suitors' relatives. She instructs Laertes to throw his spear and to kill Eupeithes , the father of Antinous . The Gorgoneion appears to have originated as an apotropaic symbol intended to ward off evil. In a late myth invented to explain the origins of the Gorgon, Medusa is described as having been

12604-448: The materials used: gold and ivory, very expensive, from far away. Ivory, a fragile material and subject to desiccation, was maintained with oiled water that was left available in a basin at the foot of the statue. The oil layer left a protective film preventing evaporation and giving shine to the ivory. The luxury of the statue contrasted with its interior filled, like all chryselephantine statues, with "levers, corners, nails that cross

12741-433: The myth, Pallas was the daughter of the sea-god Triton , and she and Athena were childhood friends. Zeus one day watched Athena and Pallas have a friendly sparring match. Not wanting his daughter to lose, Zeus flapped his aegis to distract Pallas, whom Athena accidentally impaled. Distraught over what she had done, Athena took the name Pallas for herself as a sign of her grief and tribute to her friend and Zeus gave her

12878-419: The name Etheonoe; which, however, either he or his successors have altered into what they thought a nicer form, and called her Athena. Thus, Plato believed that Athena's name was derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα , Atheonóa —which the later Greeks rationalised as from the deity's ( θεός , theós ) mind ( νοῦς , noũs ). The second-century AD orator Aelius Aristides attempted to derive natural symbols from

13015-418: The old order and had been punished (with a woman made by Hephaistus , god of fire and techniques). Athens, therefore, had to avoid falling into hubris . More optimistically, Pandora's myth could be a reminder that even deep in the difficulties, hope can always be reborn. Finally, far from Pandora described by Hesiod and quoted by Pausanias to evoke the decoration of the base, there is an Athenian Pandora. She

13152-483: The outside with an amazonomachy. This was the most visible, therefore the most described and copied decorative element. In the centre was again a gorgoneion that must have looked like the Rondanini Medusa since it is strongly inspired by it. He was surrounded by about thirty fighters. Theseus commanded the Greek troops, so the Athenians. In front of them, Amazons were attacking the Acropolis as indicated by

13289-452: The passage of young women into marriage. These cults were portals of a uniform socialization, even beyond mainland Greece. Athena was frequently equated with Aphaea , a local goddess of the island of Aegina , originally from Crete and also associated with Artemis and the nymph Britomartis . In Arcadia , she was assimilated with the ancient goddess Alea and worshiped as Athena Alea . Sanctuaries dedicated to Athena Alea were located in

13426-419: The pebbles useless. Apollo's words became the basis of an ancient Greek idiom. Athena was not only the patron goddess of Athens, but also other cities, including Pergamon , Argos , Sparta , Gortyn , Lindos , and Larisa . The various cults of Athena were all branches of her panhellenic cult and often proctored various initiation rites of Grecian youth, such as the passage into citizenship by young men or

13563-571: The priestess, knew what the objects were. The serpent in the story may be the same one depicted coiled at Athena's feet in Pheidias's famous statue of the Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon. Many of the surviving sculptures of Athena show this serpent. Herodotus records that a serpent lived in a crevice on the north side of the summit of the Athenian Acropolis and that the Athenians left a honey cake for it each month as an offering. On

13700-497: The rendering of snake scales. On an inscription of 440-439 BCE there is recorded the purchase of an unknown amount of elephant ivory for the sum of 24 talents and 743 silver drachmas . However, it is difficult to know if this constituted all the necessary material. The statue was mounted on a rot-proof wooden frame, probably cypress. A decree of the Athenians thanks the people of the Eteocarpathians for providing them with

13837-420: The scene as the apotheosis of Athenian Pandora, and not as the birth of the "Hesiodic" Pandora. The Athena wore a half-open peplos on the right side, as was the rule for female representations in the first half of the fifth century BCE. However, her posture was new (in the canon that Polykleitos would then develop for his athlete statues): the left leg was a little bent, the knee forward, the heel not posing on

13974-428: The second century AD, makes Metis Zeus's unwilling sexual partner, rather than his wife. According to this version of the story, Metis transformed into many different shapes in effort to escape Zeus, but Zeus successfully raped her and swallowed her. After swallowing Metis, Zeus took six more wives in succession until he married his seventh and present wife, Hera . Then Zeus experienced an enormous headache. He

14111-554: The shore of the island of the Phaeacians , where Nausicaa is washing her clothes that Athena arrives personally to provide more tangible assistance. She appears in Nausicaa's dreams to ensure that the princess rescues Odysseus and plays a role in his eventual escort to Ithaca. Athena appears to Odysseus upon his arrival, disguised as a herdsman; she initially lies and tells him that Penelope, his wife, has remarried and that he

14248-425: The size of elephant tusks. However, these are made up of thin layers of superimposed ivory that can be "unrolled like a roll of papyrus". The next problem was to give shape to these long blades. It was the work of specialists able to soften the material and then mould it . The ivory plates thus created had the flexibility of the wax plates used for moulding bronze statues, a technique that Phidias mastered perfectly. If

14385-509: The statue base were decorated, mainly with the snake and gorgon motif . The statue was lost at an unknown date sometime in the first millennium . Several replicas and works were inspired by the original. In 480 BCE , the Persians ransacked the Acropolis of Athens, including the pre-Parthenon , which was under construction at the time. After their victories in Salamis and Plataea ,

14522-403: The statue of Athena Parthenos , which was also sacrilege in itself since gold belonged to the goddess. Arrested, he would have escaped, which was interpreted as an admission of guilt. He reportedly fled to Olympia where he made the Chryselephantine statue of Zeus and where he died. For historians, an accusation against Phidias would then have been a way for Pericles' political opponents to attack

14659-415: The statue was considered an ultimate financial reserve, the gold decorating it could be melted down if necessary. According to the various ancient authors , the weight of gold used was between 40 and 50 talents, or between 1 and 1.3 tons of gold. By way of comparison, the annual toll of the "allies" of the League of Delos at the time amounted to 28 talents. On another note, this gold would have represented for

14796-403: The steep scenery. According to Plutarch , Phidias represented himself among the Athenians, in the centre at the top, as a bald old man preparing to throw the stone held with two hands above his head. He would also have included Pericles, right next to him, on the right, armed with a spear. This gesture, which was criticized for him, is however proof that this relief-carved decoration was indeed by

14933-413: The temple of Athena Polias, would be given hidden objects by the priestess of Athena , which they would carry on their heads down a natural underground passage. They would leave the objects they had been given at the bottom of the passage and take another set of hidden objects, which they would carry on their heads back up to the temple. The ritual was performed in the dead of night and no one, not even

15070-490: The temple to offer sacrifices to Athena. Hermes demands help from Aglaulus to seduce Herse. Aglaulus demands money in exchange. Hermes gives her the money the sisters have already offered to Athena. As punishment for Aglaulus's greed, Athena asks the goddess Envy to make Aglaulus jealous of Herse. When Hermes arrives to seduce Herse, Aglaulus stands in his way instead of helping him as she had agreed. He turns her to stone. Athena gave her favour to an Attic girl named Myrsine ,

15207-469: The text state as follows: Below is the Greek translation, associated with the Cypriot characters. Face A, line 3 starts with Cypriot character ro (looks like a 'loop of rope, open end down'; the loop is the character's top half), and line 4 starts with Cypriot ma (an 'X', with a small upside-down-karat in the top crux): Athena Athena or Athene , often given the epithet Pallas ,

15344-411: The theories of the ancient Athenians and his etymological speculations: That is a graver matter, and there, my friend, the modern interpreters of Homer may, I think, assist in explaining the view of the ancients. Most of these in their explanations of the poet, assert that he meant by Athena "mind" [ νοῦς , noũs ] and "intelligence" [ διάνοια , diánoia ], and the maker of names appears to have had

15481-429: The third and second millennia". The "Black Athena" hypothesis stirred up widespread controversy near the end of the twentieth century, but it has now been widely rejected by modern scholars. Athena was also the goddess of peace. In a similar manner to her patronage of various activities and Greek cities, Athena was thought to be a "protector of heroes" and a "patron of art" and various local traditions related to

15618-493: The third book of the Odyssey , she takes the form of a sea-eagle . Proponents of this view argue that she dropped her prophylactic owl mask before she lost her wings. "Athena, by the time she appears in art," Jane Ellen Harrison remarks, "has completely shed her animal form, has reduced the shapes she once wore of snake and bird to attributes, but occasionally in black-figure vase-paintings she still appears with wings." It

15755-474: The wrath of the Erinyes and presides over his trial for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra . When half the jury votes to acquit and the other half votes to convict , Athena casts the deciding vote to acquit Orestes and declares that, from then on, whenever a jury is tied, the defendant shall always be acquitted. In The Odyssey , Odysseus ' cunning and shrewd nature quickly wins Athena's favour. For

15892-640: Was Athena." 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. The Etymologicum Magnum instead deems Athena the daughter of the Daktyl Itonos . Fragments attributed by the Christian Eusebius of Caesarea to the semi-legendary Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon , which Eusebius thought had been written before

16029-570: Was a goddess called Mykene, whose sisterhood was known as Mykenai , whereas at Thebes an analogous deity was called Thebe, and the city was known under the plural form Thebai (or Thebes, in English, where the 's' is the plural formation). The name Athenai is likely of Pre-Greek origin because it contains the presumably Pre-Greek morpheme *-ān- . In his dialogue Cratylus , the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–347 BC) gives some rather imaginative etymologies of Athena's name, based on

16166-546: Was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis —but the water was salty and undrinkable. In an alternative version of the myth from Vergil 's Georgics , Poseidon instead gave the Athenians the first horse. Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree . Cecrops accepted this gift and declared Athena the patron goddess of Athens. The olive tree brought wood, oil, and food, and became

16303-499: Was a statue of Athena that was said to have stood in her temple on the Trojan Acropolis. Athena was said to have carved the statue herself in the likeness of her dead friend Pallas. The statue had special talisman-like properties and it was thought that, as long as it was in the city, Troy could never fall. When the Greeks captured Troy, Cassandra , the daughter of Priam , clung to the palladium for protection, but Ajax

16440-424: Was about to consummate the union, Athena vanished from the bridal bed, causing him to ejaculate on the floor, thus impregnating Gaia with Erichthonius. The geographer Pausanias records that Athena placed the infant Erichthonius into a small chest ( cista ), which she entrusted to the care of the three daughters of Cecrops : Herse , Pandrosos , and Aglauros of Athens. She warned the three sisters not to open

16577-750: Was also associated with weaving; her worship began during the Egyptian Pre-Dynastic period. In Greek mythology, Athena was reported to have visited mythological sites in North Africa, including Libya's Triton River and the Phlegraean plain . Based on these similarities, the Sinologist Martin Bernal created the " Black Athena " hypothesis, which claimed that Neith was brought to Greece from Egypt, along with "an enormous number of features of civilization and culture in

16714-406: Was also the collective name of a group of nymphs with prophetic powers. 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. Zeus, sympathizing with Apollo's grievances, discredited the pebble divination by rendering

16851-675: Was associated with the owl from very early on; in archaic images, she is frequently depicted with an owl perched on her hand. Through its association with Athena, the owl evolved into the national mascot of the Athenians and eventually became a symbol of wisdom. In the Iliad (4.514), the Odyssey (3.378), the Homeric Hymns , and in Hesiod 's Theogony , Athena is also given the curious epithet Tritogeneia (Τριτογένεια), whose significance remains unclear. It could mean various things, including "Triton-born", perhaps indicating that

16988-538: Was believed to have aided 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 . 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

17125-555: Was called "Tritogeneia" because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her. In her aspect of Athena Polias , Athena was venerated as the goddess of the city and the protectress of the citadel. In Athens, the Plynteria , or "Feast of the Bath", was observed every year at the end of the month of Thargelion . The festival lasted for five days. During this period, the priestesses of Athena, or plyntrídes , performed

17262-421: Was decorated with a painted or carved centauromachy , the sources do not allow a conclusive answer. Her belt was two snakes tied. Athena also wore jewellery: a pendant on each ear, snake-shaped bracelets on each wrist and biceps, and a necklace. The left hand held her shield and spear. At her feet on the left side, her sacred snake nestled. In her right hand, perhaps leaning on a column to support her, she held

17399-414: 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. In the version recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony , Zeus married the goddess Metis , who is described as the "wisest among gods and mortal men", and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. After learning that Metis

17536-412: Was in such pain that he ordered someone (either Prometheus , Hephaestus , Hermes , Ares , or Palaemon, depending on the sources examined) to cleave his head open with the labrys , the double-headed Minoan axe . Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed. The "First Homeric Hymn to Athena" states in lines 9–16 that the gods were awestruck by Athena's appearance and even Helios ,

17673-498: Was installed in the main room of the Parthenon to the east. Behind her and on her sides, Doric columns supported the roof and offered her the setting of a canopy. In front of her, a large basin filled with water played several roles: it was used to maintain a sufficient degree of humidity in the room (to conserve ivory) and it also had to reflect the external light and illuminate the work. It was suggested that there could have been windows (probably 3 m high and 2.5 m wide) on each side of

17810-528: Was located near the tomb of Medea 's children. Other epithets include Ageleia , Itonia and Aethyia , under which she was worshiped in Megara . She was worshipped as Assesia in Assesos . The word aíthyia ( αἴθυια ) 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. In

17947-496: Was named after Athens or Athens after Athena. Now scholars generally agree that the goddess takes her name from the city; the ending - ene is common in names of locations, but rare for personal names. Testimonies from different cities in ancient Greece attest that similar city goddesses were worshipped in other cities and, like Athena, took their names from the cities where they were worshipped. For example, in Mycenae there

18084-467: Was not deciphered until after the 1870 discovery of the Idalion bilingual . It is of exceptional importance for the history of the Cypriot kingdoms. It is engraved on both sides with a long inscription recording a contract entered into by 'the king and the city' and gives a reward to a family of physicians who provided free health services for the casualties when the city was besieged by the Persians and

18221-454: Was placed to her left (where it partially hid the shield decoration), rather than to her right, its usual place. If this column were present, it could also have been the first example of a Corinthian capital , then developed by the two architects on their temple of Apollo in Bassae . The shield with a diameter of 4.8 to 5 m (15 ft 9 in to 16 ft 5 in) was decorated on

18358-477: 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. In order to prevent this, Zeus tricked Metis into letting him swallow her, but it was too late because Metis had already conceived. A later account of the story from the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, written in

18495-445: Was probably built around a core of cypress wood, and then paneled with gold and ivory plates. At about 11.50 meters high, the statue reflected the established aesthetic canon of the severe style ( clothing ) while adopting the innovations of the high classical ( leg position ). She was helmeted and held a large round shield and spear, placed on the ground to her left, next to her sacred snake. Clothes, jewellery, accessories, and even

18632-542: 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,

18769-626: Was supposedly the origin of calling Athena's sacred olive tree moria , for Halirrhotius's attempt at revenge proved fatal ( moros in Greek). Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the Areopagus ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event. Pseudo-Apollodorus records an archaic legend, which claims that Hephaestus once attempted to rape Athena, but she pushed him away, causing him to ejaculate on her thigh. Athena wiped

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