Athena

Roman Name: Minerva

    Athena is known as the goddess of wisdom, and also the protector of civilized life, hand crafts and agriculture, and the inventor of the bridle; she first tamed horses so men could use them.

The odd thing about Athena is that no mother bore her. She came out of her father, Zeus’ head full grown, clothed, and in full armor. She was Zeus’ favorite daughter, and he trusted her with his weapon, the thunderbolt.

In the earliest account of her in Homer’s ancient story, The Iliad, she was said to be a fierce battle goddess. After that, she was only war-like only when she is defending her home from enemies.

It is said that Athens was her city, and the owl was her bird. There was a city that Athena and Poseidon both wanted. They decided that the one who could give the best gift to the city would claim it. Poseidon offered a big lake, but the townspeople didn’t find much use of the salty water the God of the Sea had given them. Then Athena gave her gift. Her offering was a tree. They loved it! It gave them everything they would need: food, with the fruit; fuel, with wood for their fires; and also shelter, which they made out of the wood. The city, Athens, in Greece was hers. Another name she went by was Parthenos, and the Parthenon was also named after her.

She was almost always in companion with Nike, the Spirit of Victory.

Contest Against Arachne

Athena also taught the loom, and didn’t mind if her students became better than her, as long as they still showed her respect.

One of her students, a mortal named Arachne, had wonderful skill, even Athena had to admit that. There was one problem, Arachne claimed she hadn’t learned from the gods, and that she was better than Athena was.

When Athena heard about this, she disguised herself as an old woman, and tried to talk some sense into Arachne. Although Arachne didn’t see through the disguise, she didn’t listen to Athena. She wanted to have a looming contest to test her skill against Athena. Hearing that, Athena ripped off her costume, and agreed to the test right then and there.

Athena admitted that she was flawless, after all, she herself had taught her. The tapestry that Athena wove was a picture of Olympus and the Gods looking glorious. In contrast, Arachne wove Zeus and his wives looking really dumb.

Athena then became so mad, that she sentenced Arachne to the rest of her life as a spider.

Have fun, mortal!

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