Image of Athena at http://www.greekmyth.com/. Permission via email (mythman@mythman.com) February 2001.

Birth of Athena

Athena wasn’t born like all the goddesses. She was born a special way. We don’t know exactly who Athena’s mother is but we might think it is Metis. Her father was Zeus. There is a thing that some gods did to their wives. The first child that the wife had would be a girl. The girl would grow up and be a goddess. The second child would be a boy. If the boy grew up he would kill his father. This is how Zeus’s father died (Cronus) and his grandfather (Uranus). So when Zeus caught Metis off guard, he opened his mouth and swallowed her. From the day on, Zeus had terrible headaches. Then these headaches stopped when Hephaestus snuck behind Zeus with an axe and sliced Zeus’s head open. Then Athena came flying out of his head full grown and in armor. Zeus did not die because he quickly pushed his head back together. Even though Athena gave Zeus many headaches, Athena was Zeus’s favorite daughter. If you think about it Athena was small to be able to come out of Zeus’s head. Athena also always had in her right hand she was holding either an owl or Nike another goddesses.

Image of Temple of Athena at http://www.greekmyth.com/. Permission via email (mythman@mythman.com) February 2001.

Teaching and Creating

You would think that a thought up goddess could not invent anything. Well some of the Greeks think that Athena invented the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. Most Greek people think that she invented the chariot for the Olympics. The Greeks think that she invented the flute to calm her down when she was stressed out. She also might have invented the flute so that she can listen to the wind blow when it is not blowing. She also invented the trumpet for about the same reason but to hear the sounds of battle. Athena invented the pot to put her food in and to help her teach some things. She invented the ship for when she went to war at sea. We don’t know why she invented the yoke, the plow, and the rake.

Athena was the first person to teach science of numbers, all ancient women’s arts for example cooking, weaving, and spinning. She also taught men how to fight in war so that she could win. We don’t know why she chose to teach people about these things but she did.

Battle

Athena did not like to go to war but if she did she would. This is why she was called the goddess of war. She was allowed to use her father’s weapons like the thunderbolt. Most people/gods did not fight her because when Perseus killed Medusa Athena placed Medusa’s head on her chest shield.

Medusa was one of the most furious gods/people. That is why so many people died from her or did not go near her. For how small she was she was one of the bravest warriors. She taught men to fight in war so that she did not have to fight all the time. In fact when the Typhon was attacking Olympus she stood her ground and did not let them destroy the city. This was a big victory for Athena because Typhon had the biggest and deadliest army back then. During this war she accidentally killed her best friend. After this war she was called "Queen of Heaven", this means in English "Athena". Athena also took part in the Trojan War. After all of the wars that she fought she was then a city was named after her called "Athens".

Image of Medusa at http://www.greekmyth.com/. Permission via email (mythman@mythman.com) February 2001.

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