Athena

Athena in Ancient Greek pottery, picture by Marie-Lan Nguyen

### Siblings

Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus, Persephone, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Hebe, Heracles

### Other relatives

Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia (aunts and uncles)

### Counterparts

Minerva, Menrva, Anat, Al-Lat, Inanna, Neith, Isis, Durga, Saraswati, Brigantia

**Athena**, also known **Athene**, was the Greek goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare, as well as the patron goddess of the city of Athens.

## Myths

### Birth of Athena

Athena was generally seen as the child of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Metis, the titaness of memory. As Zeus feared their children would usurp him, similar to how he had usurped his own father Cronus, who in turn had usurped his Ouranos, he swallowed the pregnant Metis, hoping to avoid this fate. Despite being swallowed, Metis managed to give birth to Athena, who was born as a fully-armoured, adult woman and emerged from Zeus' head. She would become the favourite daughter of the king of the gods, and the protector of the different crafts and arts, as well as wisdom and philosophy.

### Athena and Athens

She chose to become a virgin goddess, and thus had never any lovers or direct children. Despite this, she served as a parental figure Erichthonius of Athens, who was spawned when Hephaestus tried to rape Athena, but his seed instead hid the ground (the Earth goddess Gaia) and impregnated her instead.

Athena became the patron of the city of Athens after defeating her uncle Poseidon in a competition.

### Relationship with humans

She had a varied relationships with humans: she often assisted the many of heroes of antiquity, like her half-brother Heracles and Odysseys, and the sided with achaeans (or greeks) during the Trojan war and she refused to aid the trojans despite them worshipping her through an ancient cult-statue called the Palladium. She was also a jealous goddess known to punish arrogant mortals, such as in the tale of the maiden Arachne, a weaver who claimed to be greater in her craft than the goddess, by turning her into a spider.

### Symbols of Athena

Her symbols were owl (Athena was also known as *glaukopis* or bright-eyed due to this) as well as the spear, helmet and Aegis, an armour made of the skin of the defeated titan or giant Pallas.

## Pop Culture

* Athena serves as a supporting character in Rick Riordan's *Percy Jackson*-books, in which she serves as mother of the main character Annbeth Chase. In the movie adaptation of *Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief* she is portrayed by actress Melina Kanakaredes.
* Athena appears as Athena Parthenos within the Marvel-comics, while in DC comics she is known as Pallas Athena.
* Athena appears as a recurring character in the TV-shows *Young Hercules*, *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* and *Xena: Warrior Princess*, in which she is portrayed by the actresses Amanda Lister, Jane Fullerton-Smith and Paris Jefferson.
* Athena appears as recurring character in the *God of War*-videos games, in which she is voiced by the actresses Carole Ruggier and Erin Torpey.
* Within the universe of the SCP-Foundation, Athena, or at least a manifestation of her, appears in SCP-6114-1A in SCP-6144. Other deities that associated with the article are Hathor and Tapio.

## References

1. ↑ Castrén, Paavo and Leena Pietilä-Castrén. *Antiikin käsikirja*
2. ↑ Graf, Fritz, *Athena* (p.116), in Toorn, Karel van der; Bob Becking; Pieter W. van der Horst. *Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible*
3. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
4. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
5. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
6. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
7. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*