Athena: Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy

 

The Greek Goddess, Athena, is said to be the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva would be the Roman Goddess who would be a counterpart to Athena in comparison.

Athena can be seen in many ancient tales as a sort of “hero companion”. She was often seen accompanying heroes of different legends on their quests. It would make sense for her to accompany them considering she is the Goddess of wisdom. Heroes of Greek Mythology typically had something to prove. Who better to raise their chances of survival?

Though Athena appears before Zeus, she is most often known as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead. “[47] The story of her birth comes in several versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, but he immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire,[48] even Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, after lying with Metis, Zeus “put her away inside his own belly”; he “swallowed her down all of a sudden”.[49] He was too late: Metis had already conceived.

 

Eventually Zeus experienced an enormous headache; Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus’ head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys. Athena leaped from Zeus’ head, fully grown and armed, with a shout — “and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear, and Mother Gaia…” (Pindar, Seventh Olympian Ode). Plato, in the Laws, attributes the cult of Athena to the culture of Crete, introduced, he thought, from Libya during the dawn of Greek culture. Classical myths thereafter note that Hera was so annoyed at Zeus for having produced a child that she conceived and bore Hephaestus by herself. “ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena )

        It is undetermined whether Athena is the sister or the daughter of Zeus.

       

Genealogy of the Olympians in Greek mythology

Uranus Gaia Oceanus Hyperion Coeus Crius Iapetus Mnemosyne Cronus Rhea Tethys Theia Phoebe Themis Zeus Hera Hestia Demeter Hades Poseidon Ares Hephaestus Hebe Eileithyia Enyo Eris Metis Maia Leto Semele Aphrodite Athena Hermes Apollo Artemis Dionysus

 

Personally, I believe the interpretations of Athena vary drastically. She does not seem to have a very well specified personality. Personally, she is most often portrayed as sort of elite and… well… stuck up. I tend to think of her personality similar to that of Annabeth from Percy Jackson: Lightening Thief. Annabeth was not very well liked by some people because of her mildly aggressive and sort of overwhelming entitlement and skill. It was said that she behaved that was because she was Athena’s daughter. Granted, they could have manipulated her personality a little. The few moments they actually showed Athena in the movie, she was actually polite, yet very silent. Another factor that gives me a mild bias towards Athena’s personality is her constant bickering with Poseidon. Now, Poseidon is well known for his… temper. It is well known that Athena and Poseidon hate each other. No one would be able to withstand such an intense and deep rooted rivalry with someone like Poseidon without being strong-headed.

        Athena appears to be a strong-willed, dominant, assertive, leader type. She is a very powerful figure of Greek Mythology. She seems to be most related to the Big Three: Zeus, Posedon, Hades, in power. I believe that Athena is a strong figure and I honestly like her sort of.. combative personality.