Mythman's Major Olympian Gods
ALL ABOUT THE GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS

ATHENA - GODDESS OF WISDOM

LATIN - MINERVA

Alyana's Athena
Athena by Alyana
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Athena
ATHENA
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BIRTH OF ATHENA

ATHENA PAGE ONE

Athena remains one of the most fascinating and influential deities of all the Olympian gods and goddesses. The great Athena was the first to teach the science of numbers and all ancient women's arts, such as cooking, weaving and spinning.

She was also the goddess of wisdom and war, but, unlike the god of war Ares, she took no pleasure from battle, preferring instead to settle conflict through mediation.

But that's not to say she wasn't one tough goddess! Her mercy was great and if ever it came to her to cast a deciding vote in a criminal trial, she usually chose to liberate the accused.

But don't mess with Athena! When Athena was moved to engage in battle she never lost, even against Ares himself, for she was a far superior strategist and tactician than he; generals and wise captains always approach her for advice.

She bears no arms in times of peace and will usually borrow weapons from Zeus when needed. She alone was permitted to use his fearsome Aegis, and his devastating thunderbolts.

It's suggested in the Palasgian myths that Athena was born beside Lake Tritonis in Lybia, and her father has been variously identified as Poseidon, Itonus or Zeus, king of the Olympian gods.

The most widely accepted version holds that Athena is Zeus’ daughter and his favorite child, and she is often described as "gray-eyed" or "flashing-eyed."

In popular myth, and in accounts related by her own priests, she is said to have no mother, because she sprang full grown and in full armor from her father's head.

This is not entirely true however. Athena’s mother was Metis; Zeus came to lust after her, and wasted no time in pursuing her in his very direct way.

Metis wanted absolutely nothing to do with Zeus, because she knew how wild the king of the Olympians was in his youth. She tried to escape as best she could, going so far as to change her form many times, turning into various creatures such as hawks, fish, and serpents.

But Zeus was both determined and equally proficient at changing form. Refusing to be denied he continued his pursuit until exhausted, finally she relented.

An Oracle of Gaea (Mother Earth) then prophesied that Metis' first child would be a girl, but her second child would be a boy that would overthrow Zeus as had happened to his father (Cronus) and his grandfather (Uranus).

Zeus took this warning to heart. When he next saw Metis the sly god flattered her and put her at ease, then with Metis off guard Zeus suddenly opened his mouth and swallowed her.

This was the end of Metis but, possibly the beginning of Zeus's wisdom, for many claim that Zeus really had no brains until he swallowed his first wife.

After a time Zeus developed the mother of all headaches. He howled so loudly it could be heard throughout the heavens and on earth.

The other gods came to see what the problem was. The clever Olympian messenger god Hermes realized what needed to be done and directed the smiths god, Hephaestus, to take an axe and split open Zeus's skull.

Other sources claim that it was the Titan Prometheus who rendered the blow, and mention the river Triton as the location of the "birth", and that Hermes and/or a man named Palamaon assisted Zeus with the "delivery".

Out of the skull sprang Athena, full grown and in a full set of armor, shouting a war cry so ferocious that it froze the blood of mortal men as it rang across the heavens and on earth.

The very ancient Greeks believed that men were solely responsible for conception of a child, and the woman’s only role was to carry it until it was born, that's why in the myth Metis is not given any credit for Athena's birth.

But at least she smartened Zeus up a bit! Let's check out some fantastic stories involving the great Athena...

ATHENA CONTINUES ON PAGE TWO
LOTS MORE STORIES AND A TON OF PIX
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