Athena

gigatos | November 26, 2022

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Summary

Athena (Mycenaean a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja: “Atana the ruler”), also Athena Pallada (Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ) – in Greek mythology the goddess of wisdom, military strategy and tactics, one of the most revered goddesses of ancient Greece, included among the twelve great Olympian gods, eponym of Athens. In addition, the goddess of knowledge, arts and crafts; maiden warrior, patroness of cities and states, sciences and craftsmanship, intelligence, skill and ingenuity.

Athena is easily distinguished from other ancient Greek goddesses by her unusual appearance. Unlike other female deities, she uses male attributes – she is dressed in armor, holds a spear in her hands; she is also accompanied by sacred animals.

She was called “gray-eyed and fair-haired”; Homer has the epithet γλαυκῶπις (“glaukopis”, sovokaya). The descriptions emphasize her large eyes. Homer describes Athena”s preparation for battle: her armor, aegis, helmet, spear and chariot. Virgil mentions how the Cyclopes in Vulcan”s smithy shredded Pallas” armor and aegis, with scales of snakes and the head of Gorgon on them.

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The Birth of Athena

As it should be in the myths, the birth of the goddess Athena was unusual. The most common version is told in Hesiod”s Theogony: the king of the gods, Zeus, on the advice of Uranus and Gaia, swallowed his first wife, Metida the Wisdom, when she became pregnant in order to prevent her from giving birth after Athena to a son who would have overthrown Zeus. After that he gave birth to the warrior Athena-Tritogenes from his head.

Homer”s poems ignore the myth of Athena”s birth, while later authors add details to the story and localize it. Brief mentions are found in Homer”s hymn to Apollo of Pythias, the writers. At the same time, the sources hardly mention Metida, and Aeschylus emphasizes Athena, who was born without a mother.

The details are as follows: Zeus was foretold by the Moira or by Metida herself. After swallowing the pregnant Metis, Zeus felt a terrible headache after a while. To help her birth, Hephaestus hit Zeus on the head with an axe, and Prometheus took her from Zeus” head (according to a later version, she was born from Zeus” beard). Stesichorus first mentions that Athena appeared from the head of Zeus in full battle armor (panoplia). The armor is also mentioned in Homer”s XXVIII hymn. According to Lycophron, Athena was born to Zeus on the third day.

According to Pindar, when Athena was born, it rained gold on Rhodes. Another interpretation of her birth is also given: according to one Aristocles, Athena was hidden in a cloud and emerged from it thanks to a lightning strike by Zeus, but it happened on Crete. This myth “reflects the idea of the birth of lightning and thunder from a heavy thundercloud” (V.G. Boruchovich).

Parents: Although the version of Athena being born from the head of Zeus from the swallowed Metida is the most common, there are several versions of who her parents were:

Birthplace. There is also disagreement about her birthplace. Aeschylus first records the account that Athena was born at Lake Tritonida in Libya. Herodotus notes that the Ausaeans in Libya consider Athena to be the daughter of Poseidon and the goddess of Lake Tritonida. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, when she was born at Lake Triton, she was met there by the Libyan Heroines. According to Lucan, born from her head, she first visited Libya and was called Tritonida. These accounts are related to the epithets of Athena Tritonia and Tritogenea, found already in Homer.

Time of birth. Athena”s birthday was celebrated during the Panathenaic period (28 Hecatombeon – about August 18). According to the Chronicle of Eusebius, the virgin (Athena) appeared on Lake Triton in the year 237 from Abraham (1780 BC).

The birth of Athena was depicted on the pediment of the Parthenon; in the Spartan temple of Athena the Mededom; in Cleanthes” painting The Birth of Athena and in a painting described by Philostratus.

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Judgment for Attica

Another important mythological story of Athena tells how she obtained dominion over the Greek locality of Attica, whose patroness, with a capital named after her, she was considered in the historical era. The surviving texts of the early epic do not mention the story; a coherent account of the dispute over the possession of the city (according to the version, even the first city on earth) is given by the Mythological Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus (III 14, 1).

According to this myth, Poseidon first came to Attica, struck the ground on the Acropolis with his trident, and a spring of sea water arose, which was shown in historical times at the Erechtheion (according to another legend, he created a horse). He was followed by Athena, who struck the earth with her spear and grew an olive tree (olive). According to the decision of the judges, Athena was declared the winner because her gift was more useful, the city was named after her, while Poseidon became angry and tried to flood the land with the sea, but Zeus forbade him.

According to the references of Callimachus and Nonnus, their judge was Kekrop the serpent, the judges were also called either Cranai or Erysichthon. According to another legend, twelve Olympian gods headed by Zeus were judged, and Kekrop the serpent was a witness.

A later version of the myth is given by Varron. When an olive tree appeared in the city and water appeared elsewhere, King Kekropos sent to Delphi and at the behest of the oracle put the question of the city”s name to the vote: the men cast their votes for Poseidon and the women for Athena, and one woman was outnumbered. Then Poseidon ravaged the land with waves, and the Athenians subjected the women to a triple punishment: they were deprived of the right to vote, none of the children were to take their mother”s name, and no one was to call the women Athenian.

The trial took place on 2 Baedromion (the end of September), a day the Athenians removed from the calendar. “The Chronicle of Eusebius dates the appearance of the olive and the trial to 466 or 483 from Abraham (in Ovid”s account Athena depicts this scene on cloth in her contest with Arachne.

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Athena, Hephaestus and Erichthonius

Although in classical mythology Athena is considered a virgin, there are references to the birth of a child associated with Athena and Hephaestus. Only later sources contain the first part of this story. According to them, Zeus swore to fulfill any wish of Hephaestus (according to Hyginus, as a reward for freeing Hephaestus from his chains, with Poseidon inciting him to ask Athena as his wife; according to Lucian, as a reward for helping in childbirth), and Hephaestus asked Athena as his wife. Zeus could not break his vow, but advised his maiden daughter to defend herself.

According to the main legend (coherently recounted by Pseudo-Apollodorus), Athena came to Hephaestus for a weapon, but he tried to get hold of her and she began to run away. Hephaestus chased the goddess and overtook her in a certain place (later called Hephaestus), but Athena defended herself with a weapon in her hands and wounded him with her spear. Hephaestus spilled seed on Athena”s leg, after which the goddess wiped it with her wool and buried it in the ground (according to a simpler version, he let the seed go straight into the ground), after which Gaia-earth gave birth to a baby.

Therefore Erichthonius was called both the son of Hephaestus and Gaia and the son of Hephaestus and Athena, and the name has been interpreted from “erion” – wool (or “eris” – strife. In the Chronicle of Eusebius, Erichthonius was identified with Erechtheus, mentioned by Homer, and his birth was dated to 532 from Abraham (1485 BC). Homer in the Iliad mentions Athena raising Erechtheus, born to Gaia, in her temple (II 547-551), and in the Odyssey the house of Erechtheus, which Athena visits (VII 81). The image of Athena fleeing from Hephaestus was in the Spartan temple of Athena the Mededom.

Athena secretly raised Erichthonios, wishing to make him immortal (according to Nonnus, the goddess breast-fed him), and gave him in a chest (or basket) to Pandrosa, daughter of Kekrope (or to three daughters: Aglaure, Herse and Pandrosa), forbidding him to open. The three daughters danced in the meadow in front of the temple of Pallas. Euripides tells us that Athena attached two snakes to Erichthonius; since then, gilded snakes have been worn around the necks of children in Athens. Such an amulet of a pair of dragons is mentioned in the recognition scene in the tragedy Ion.

Pandrosa”s sisters Hersa and Aglavera opened the casket and saw a child wrapped in a dragon (an earlier version, a snake-like baby or a snake baby). They were either killed by the dragon or Athena drove them insane and they hurled themselves from the top of the acropolis into the abyss. After the death of the sisters, Erichthonius was brought up in the temple of Athena. When he grew up, he reigned, erected the xoan of Athena on the acropolis, and instituted the Panathenaia, holding the first procession in honor of Athena on the acropolis. Erichthonius was buried in the sacred precincts of the Temple of Athena Polyades.

According to Euripides” description, in the carpet for the sacred tent of the Athenians at Delphi was woven how a body was “clubbed” in front of the daughters of Kekropos. According to the hypothesis of Pausanias, the serpent depicted near the statue of Athena in the Parthenon is Erichthonius. The myth is also mentioned by Lucian and Pausanias.

Also, according to the version, Athena together with Hephaestus created the first woman, Pandora, who opened the ill-fated vessel, called Pandora”s Box, at the will of Zeus.

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The Invention of the Flute

The myth of the goddess” invention of the flute (avlos) is mentioned by many authors. (In Boeotia Athena, the inventor of the flute, was even revered under the special name Bombileia, that is, Athena “the bee”, “the buzzing one”). Pindar tells us that one of the gorgon Medusa moaned terribly while dying, and the other, Euryale, moaned while looking at her sister, and Athena invented the flute to repeat these sounds. According to Corinna, the goddess taught Apollo to play the flute. Epicharmus mentions that she played the aulos in front of the Dioscours.

According to a more detailed account, Athena made a flute of deer bone and came to the meal of the gods, but Hera and Aphrodite ridiculed her, and she looked at her reflection in the water and saw how ugly her cheeks swelled when playing in the Forest of Eden, or she threw the flute into the waters of the Meander. The discarded flute was picked up by the satyr Marsius. (Pausanias also mentions a statue of Athena beating the strongman Marsius, who picked up the flute). The myth continues with the story that in playing the “Palladian Flute” the satyr was defeated by Apollo and had his skin peeled off. Aristotle gives his interpretation of the myth. In his opinion, the real reason for Athena”s actions is that playing the flute is not related to mental development.

Participating in Gigantomachy

Although according to the earliest mythological scheme the titanomachy took place before Athena was born, later authors, beginning with Euripides, often mixed giants and titans. Athena”s participation in the gigantomachy is a popular story. This battle is localized in the fields of Phlegraeus. Although Athena called Heracles to the aid of the gods in the battle with the giants, she also distinguished herself. Hyginus gives the account that after the death of Epaphus, Zeus, together with Athena, Apollo and Artemis, threw the titans in Tartarus, prompted by Hera.

Other details of the battle with the giants were depicted on the shield of the statue of Athena Parthenos. In Euripides” tragedy Ion the Athenian women discuss this File: Athena, holding the shield with Gorgon on it, stands against Enkeladas. Also, Athena chased a chariot with a pair of horses against Enceladus, and when he turned to flee, she brought down the island of Sicily on him. Pallante Athena peeled off her skin and covered her body with it. Callimachus emphasizes Athena”s care for her horses after the battle

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Trojan War

According to the myths, Athena participates in the judgment of Paris, where she unsuccessfully seduced Paris into a career as a successful general, and in the later events of the Trojan War, where she sided with the Greeks and bestowed special patronage on Odysseus and Diomedes (see below).

The connection between Athena and the Trojan horse that ended the war is extremely close. First, she owns the design of the horse, second, the horse is called an offering to her, and third, she contributes at every turn to the capture of Troy with it. Euripides notes that Ilion is destroyed “by the malice of Palladas.

Thus, Aepeus built the Trojan horse according to her design and with her help. Quintus of Smyrna, in his poem After Homer, details that Aepeus learned his craft from Athena (XII 85), Athena appears to Aepeus in a dream (XII 109-121). In three days, thanks to Athena, the horse was completed (XII 154), and Aepei asks Athena to bless his work (XII 159-163). Later, Aepeus dedicated his tools to the temple of Athena Mindia. (The inhabitants of Metapontus showed in the temple of Athena these iron tools with which Epey built the horse).

In addition, Athena took the form of a messenger and advised Odysseus to hide the Achaean heroes in the horse. Next, the goddess brought the heroes, who were about to enter the horse, food of the gods, so that they would not feel hungry.

When the plan is set in motion, the renegade Sinon tells the Trojans that this gift to Athena will always guard their city instead of palladium. The dedication of the horse to Athena (and even a corresponding inscription on it.

Athena gives bad signs (she rejoices when the Trojans do not believe Laocoon and decide to drag the horse into the city, and sends snakes at Laocoon”s sons. The goddess herself invisibly helped the Trojans drag the horse. Homer mentions that Athena forces Helen away from the Trojan horse. Tryphiodorus describes in more detail that Helen came to the temple of Athena and walked around the horse three times, calling the heroes by name, but Athena, visible only to Helen, appeared and made her leave.

And on the night of the fall of Troy, Pallas sat on the acropolis, glittering with aegis. When the beating began, she cried out and raised the aegis.

Other Myths

According to the myths, Athena

Plato notes that both the class of artisans and warriors are under Athena”s patronage.

This multiplicity of functions is played up by Ovid, describing Achilles on Skyros in a maiden”s dress and behind the wool and saying, “Pallada waits for you, but not on this path.

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Athena”s Inventions

Athena was considered the founder of

Athena the Virgin

The reference “Parthenos” to the maiden Pallada is often found in texts. Sophocles calls her Athena the Maiden, mistress of the horses. Callimachus cites the expression “The virgin shall give birth” as an example of an impossible event, while Rian sneers at the character: as if Athena had made a wife. Gregory the Nazianzin emphasizes the paradox: “Athena is again a maiden and gives birth to a dragon.

The monstrous Typhon plans to give Athena to Ephialtes as his wife, making Nika fear for Athena”s virginity.

The Argos girls sacrificed their hair to her before marriage. Athena”s virgin priestesses are mentioned in some places

According to Nonnu, Abra, in anguish of childbirth, wishes that Athena herself would give birth. And Athena nurtures with her milk the son of Avra and Dionysus, Jacchus, as Erechthea-Erichthonya did earlier.

Athena, Motherhood and Marriage

Nevertheless, Athena also patronized married women. The women of Elis prayed to Athena to become pregnant.

Athena helped Penelope postpone the day of her new wedding. In the Odyssey, Athena bestows intelligence on Penelope (II 116) and gives her sweet dreams (I 360, XVI 451, XIX 604, XXI 358). When Penelope asks Athena for Odysseus (IV 762-767), the goddess sends the ghost of Iftima to her to reassure her (IV 796-838). Athena compels Penelope to show herself to her suitors (XVIII 158), puts Penelope to sleep for a time and gives her beauty (XVIII 188-196). Athena inspires Penelope with the idea of arranging a contest (XXI 1).

Avga was the priestess of Athena Aleia of Tegea, who was seduced by Hercules, and she planted a child in the sacred section of the temple of Athena (or hid it in the temple), which either caused the land to cease to bear fruit, and the oracles proclaimed that the temple contained the unholy.

When her father decides to expel Avgas, she turns to Athena for help, and the goddess recalls Hercules. Through Athena”s care, the box with Avgas and Telephus is carried across the sea.

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Athena and Music

Athena danced a battle dance with a spear and in her armor, or just after she was born.

Polyene tells the legend of how Proclus and Temenus Heraclides fought the Eurystheides for Sparta and offered a sacrifice to Athena, and they were aided in the battle by the flute players. The fluteists have been leading the Laconians ever since. The flutists in the Spartan army are mentioned by Thucydides.

The trumpet (Salpinga) is an epithet of Athena. The epigrams dedicate a trumpet to Athena.

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Athena and the Ships

Already in Homer, Athena appears as the patroness of shipbuilding and navigation. In one of the author”s comparisons, the nameless ship-builder is called Athena”s apprentice. Homer also notes that earlier Athena patronized the architect Phereclus, who was building a ship for Paris (according to Collufus, the goddess did not approve his work).

On the instructions of Athena, the architect Argus of Thespia created the ship Argo. Apollonius calls this ship the creation of Athena of Eton. On the prow Athena mounted a piece of the trunk of a Dodonian oak tree, which could divine. After completing the voyage, the ship Argo was placed by Athena”s will in the sky.

Danaeus, on Athena”s advice, built a 50-oar ship with two bows, on which he fled with his daughters.

Athena sends a fair wind to Telemachus, the Achaeans returning from Lemnos. The image of the face of Pallas was on Athenian ships.

Athena the Artisan

The art of the work is noted by Homer, who calls her the mentor of a master metalworker. Daedalus learned his art from Athena. The poet Alexander of Aetolia states that the statue of Aphrodite is the work of Athena herself.

Hesiod points out her connection with the artisan carpenters. She helps the potters. Solon refers to the craftsman as knowing “the work of Athena. Epigrams speak of the dedication to Athena of the tools of the carpenter”s trade.

Athena teaches the arts to the daughters of Pandareus, and she also teaches the craftsmanship to Eurinus, the daughter of Nysa, as well as crafts in general to the girls.

It is also said that she, along with Hephaestus, taught the people crafts, and she and Hephaestus, in turn, were taught by the kiklops.

In later texts, Athena is considered the inventor of crafts and arts.

Arath notes that it takes “the craft of Athena” to make the simplest celestial globe.

Athena the Weaver

Homer mentions that Athena made her own clothes and taught the Theacians the art of weaving. Hesiod says that Athena made a dress for Pandora. Apollonius of Rhodes describes in detail the images on the cloak given to Jason by Athena Etonida, without mentioning whether the goddess wove it herself.

According to Corinna, Athena taught weaving to Metiochus and Menippa, daughters of Orion. In Ovid the weavers of Miniades are “apprehended by Pallada” and her labor, unwilling to worship Dionysus. Seneca mentions the “Palladine work” of the maids who made Hercules” garments, as well as Phaedra, who abandoned “the craft of Pallas.

Athena patronizes the art of weaving, but Plato emphasizes that her mentor in this art is Erot. The ancient statue of Athena at Eryphrae depicted her with a spinning wheel in each hand.

The spinning wheel is a gift of Athena. The weaving loom is called Athena”s occupation, and the weavers are called servants of “Athena”s cause. A popular subject of epigrams is the dedication to Athena of the tools of the weaving trade; the dedication of weavers to the temple of Athena the Forthcoming. Propertius mentions “the Eurypilian weaving of Athena of Cos.

The poetess Moiro of Byzantium (3rd century BC) told the legend of how a certain Alkinoa of Corinth hired a weaver, Nikandra, but did not pay her for her work, she begged Athena, and Alkinoa fell in love with a Samosso Xanthus, left her family, and then threw herself into the sea

Marcian Capella interprets Hesiod”s account, explaining that Athena-Tritonia endowed the Soul with clothing, that is, with a body. The philosopher Proclus notes that “the guardian of weaving turns out to be one of the demonesses of Athena”s kind, and Athena herself is sung as the one who weaves the arrangement of intelligent species in some other, demiurgic sense.

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Athena the Healer

It is said that Asclepius received the blood of the Gorgon from Athena, with the help of which he raised the dead. According to Euripides, Athena gave Erichthony at birth two drops of Gorgon”s blood, which he gave in a golden ring to Erechtheus, and the latter to Creusa (one drop is healing, the other poisonous).

Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles and indicated a herb to cure his slave who had fallen from the roof of the acropolis Propylaeum under construction, the herb was called Parthenius, and Pericles erected a statue of Athena of Hygiea. The base of the statue of Athena of Hygiea by the sculptor Pyrrhus was found on the acropolis. The altar of Athena of Hygiea was in the demesne of Acharna.

Alexander the Great, when he recovered, arranged competitions in honor of Asclepius and Athena. The goddess Hygiea was called the daughter of Asclepius and Athena Hygiea. Athena, who resembled the statue of Phidias, appeared to the sick orator Elias Aristides in a dream and gave him an enema of Attic honey, after which he recovered.

In ancient Greek mythology, the theme of the goddess”s assistance to various heroes is consecrated in great detail. It is she who helps most of them in performing their feats.

Others killed by Athena:

Gorgon Medusa

According to the most famous story, Perseus killed Medusa at the request of Polydectes. According to other stories, Gorgon suffered because she wanted to compete with Athena in beauty. According to Ovid, Poseidon raped the beautiful-haired Medusa in the temple of Athena, and Athena turned her hair into a snake. According to the version cited by Euripides, Gorgon was born of the Earth and killed by Athena during the gigantomachy. Euemer also wrote that Medusa was killed by Athena.

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Yodama

Jodama, the priestess of the temple of Athena of Ithonia, went into the fence of the temple one night, where she saw Athena with Medusa”s head on her robes and turned into stone. According to another version, Jodama was the sister of Athena, whom she accidentally killed.

Tiresias

The story of his blinding is detailed in Callimachus” V hymn “On the washing of Pallas”. The nymph Chariklo was Athena”s favorite, and one day they were bathing together at a spring on Helicon (55-74). Tiresias saw the goddess against her will and went blind (75-118), and Athena gave him the ability to understand the language of birds (i.e., a prophetic gift), as well as a dogwood staff and the ability to remain sane in Hades (119-132).

This tale is also recalled by Propertius and Nonnus.

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Ajax Telamonides

Athena is extremely unkind to both Ajaxes, which is one indication of the split image here.

In the Iliad, Athena never helps Ajax Telamonides, unlike the other heroes. In Sophocles, Calhant tells Teukra of the reasons for Athena”s anger toward Ajax: before he went on the march, he declared that he did not need the gods” help; and when Athena cheered the Achaeans by shouting, Ajax declared that he did not need her help.

Because of Athena”s anger, Agamemnon and Menelaus refuse Ajax and give Odysseus Achilles” weapon. Athena then strikes Ajax with madness, then brings his mind back and he sees the slaughtered cattle, after which he throws himself on the sword.

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Ajax Oiled.

When Troy fell, Cassandra embraced the xoan of Athena, but Ajax tore it off, and Athena wreaked havoc in anger. As Lycophron”s poem says, Hellas will erect cenotaphs for the misdeed of one man to ten thousand men who will break on the rocks, for Athena decides to send up a storm against the Greek fleet.

On Kipsel”s chest was a picture of Ajax pulling Cassandra away from the statue of Athena. The collapsed idol of Athena is mentioned by Sophocles. Cassandra”s rape itself is emphasized by later authors. According to Ovid”s expression, Ajax “kidnapped the maiden from the Maiden.”

Homer mentions that during the contest Athena causes Ajax Ailidus to slip and fall into a pile of dung.

His death is best described in a poem by Quintus of Smyrna. Athena becomes angry with Ajax Aeolides (XIV 454-459) and turns to Zeus (XIV 460-481), who gives her his weapons (XIV 482-490). Athena arms herself (491-501) and sends Iris to Aeolus to make a storm at the Capherean Rocks (Athena Atritona (“Unforgiving”) destroys Ajax”s ship with a feather and rejoices as she looks at the dying Achaeans (573-593), but Ajax escapes to perish at the trident of Poseidon. Athena”s use of Zeus” perunus specifically is unique, but is well recorded by the sources (although Homer mentions only the storm).

Lycophron says in detail that the oracle informed the Locrae that they must propitiate Athena in Ilion by sending two virgins within a thousand years. Everyone in Ilion would wait for the virgins with a stone, a sword, or an axe, and they must enter the city at night, lest they be seen and killed.

Arachne

This myth is unknown to classical Greek sources. It is alluded to by Virgil and detailed by Ovid in Book VI of the Metamorphoses.

Arachne boasts of her weaving skills. Athena takes the form of an old woman and offers Arachne to compete. Although Arachne”s work was in no way inferior to Athena”s, she tore the fabric and hit Arachne in the forehead with a shuttle and she hanged herself, after which Athena turned her into a spider.

Zeus and Athena

Athena sits beside Zeus, repeatedly the lord of the gods sends her to do his bidding, but often Athena herself advises Zeus. She asks Zeus not to destroy the Achaeans.

In the Iliad there is a trace of father-daughter antagonism that later disappears. It is mentioned that Athena was once an ally of Hera and Poseidon against Zeus. When Athena, together with Hera, intends to help the Achaeans, Iris, sent by Zeus, stops them, calling Athena a psyca.

In the Odyssey, Athena asks Zeus for the hero (I 44-93), and Zeus sends Hermes to Calypso to return Odysseus to his homeland (V 5). In one of the epic texts, Athena acts as Zeus” envoy to Chiron.

During the campaign of Xerxes against Hellas, the Delphic oracle predicted that Athena could not appease the wrath of Zeus. Euripides mentions that Zeus defeated the giants in Athena”s chariot. According to one version, Zeus gave his goatskin (aegis) to Athena.

Several statues of Athena stood in the sanctuaries of Zeus.

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Athena and Hera

In the Iliad, Athena is marked by a special closeness to Hera (IV 21, VIII 457), which is explained by their common failure at the trial of Paris. In the post-epic texts the connection between Athena and Hera is dissolved.

Hera and Athena condemn Troy to destruction. Hera and Athena rejoice together after the capture of Troy.

In Statius” Thebaid, Hera goes to Athens to propitiate Pallas, and with Pallas” permission, Hera leads the Argive mothers to Athens. Together Hera and Athena appear in the poem by Valerius Flaccus.

Statues of Athena were placed in the temples of Hera.

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Athena and Aphrodite

Their rivalry is known from the judgment of Paris.

According to the Iliad, Athena calls Diomedes to battle Aphrodite (V 131-132), and the hero wounds the goddess (V 334-343), after which Athena mocks Aphrodite on Olympus (V 420-430). During the “battle of the gods” Athena herself beats Aphrodite (XXI 416-433).

According to the Homeric hymn, Aphrodite cannot entice Athena, who loves war and crafts. In the tragedy Res, Athena takes the form of Aphrodite and deceptively encourages Paris (in Homer the gods never take the form of each other).

An epigram by Hermodorus (3rd century B.C.) compares the statues of Aphrodite of Cnidus and Athena Parthenos, condemning the choice of Paris. A pair of anonymous epigrams of the Palatine Anthology illustrate the opposition between Athena and Aphrodite, describing a weaver who became a hetaera and a hetaera who became a weaver. Nonn includes in the poem Leo”s song about the contest between Athena and Aphrodite: Aphrodite took up the craft of weaving, but without success, and the gods dissuaded her. At Nonna”s Athena persuaded Zeus to return Aphrodite to Hephaestus.

Athena and Poseidon

The rivalry and opposition between Poseidon and Athena is expressed quite clearly in the myths. Athena and Poseidon argued not only for Athens, but also for Tresen in the reign of Alpheus, and Zeus ordered them to possess the city together, and its ancient coins depicted the trident and the head of Athena.

The Athenian Booth became a priest of Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus.

Euripides notes that Poseidon, who defended Troy, is defeated by Athena and leaves Troy (in Homer, by contrast, Poseidon is the enemy of the Trojans).

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Athena and Ares

The rivalry and enmity between Athena and Ares are repeatedly recounted in the epic, with Athena winning several times and Ares never winning.

In the Iliad she first takes Ares out of the battle (V 29-36) and then, with the help of Diomedes, defeats him (V 855-867), covering herself with the helmet of Hades and becoming invisible even to Ares (V 845). She keeps Ares on Olympus (XV 123-142), and during the “battle of the gods” she stands up against Ares (XX 69) and defeats him again, reflecting Ares with his spear and slaying Ares with a throw of a block (XXI 392-414).

Athena deflects Ares” spear from Hercules in the poem The Shield of Hercules. According to the Telegonia, during the War of the Brigs and Thespians, Athena engages Ares in battle, supporting Odysseus. In Sophocles there is an appeal to Athena, the guardian of Thebes, and a call to banish Ares.

In the poem by Quintus of Smyrna, Athena appears at Troy to fight Ares, but Zeus stops them and she returns to Athens; then Ares opposes Athena a second time and again Zeus stops them. In the poem Nonna, Ares wishes to fight Athena and Hephaestus, and in the battle of the gods Athena defeats Ares.

According to the philosopher Proclus, Homer”s “battle of the gods” involves not the gods, but their emanations-demons in a material inexistence; Athena and Ares fight as an intellectual arrangement of life with necessity.

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Athena and Hephaestus

Hephaestus and Athena are close by their connection to the craft. Hephaestus helps in the birth of Athena, but tries unsuccessfully to take her as his wife. Some of the objects that Athena gives to the heroes are made by Hephaestus.

According to Plato, in ancient times the warrior class settled around the sanctuary of Athena and Hephaestus.

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Athena and Dionysus

The connection between Athena and Dionysus is absent from Homer and appears in the Orphic poems. According to them, Athena stole the heart of the elder Dionysus and received the name of Pallas from its throbbing. The philosopher Proclus interprets this to mean that when Dionysus was torn apart, his mind, thanks to Athena”s providence, retained its indivisibility (the heart in the archaic view is the receptacle of the mind).

One red-figure vase depicts Athena receiving the infant Dionysus from the hands of the nymph Dirka.

In the poem Nonna, Athena in the form of Orontes appears in a dream to Deriadeus, urging him to fight Dionysus. Zeus convinces Athena to help Dionysus in the battle, later she inspires the retreating Dionysus to return to the battle at Zeus” command. Finally, Athena in the form of Morray appears to Deriadeus and accuses him of cowardice, he engages Dionysus and dies, which ends the Indian campaign.

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Athena and Apollo

Although Pindar mentions that Apollo defended Troy from Athena Polyades, but their antagonism is not expressed, and in the Iliad Athena makes an agreement with Apollo

The temple of Apollo at Delphi was built by Hephaestus and Athena. Aristono”s paean to Apollo tells us that when Apollo cleansed himself of his shed blood, Athena persuaded Gaia and Themis, and Apollo, “taking Athena”s suggestion”, went to Pytho, why he honors the temple of Athena. Ovid cites Apollo”s kindred love for Athena. Athena is on the same side as him in Aeschylus” Eumenides.

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Athena and other deities

The connection with Hermes is small. Athena and Hermes once cleansed the Danaids of filth at the behest of Zeus.

In the version of the myth recounted by Ovid, when Hermes falls in love with Hersa, Athena appears to Envy and orders her to poison Aglaure with her poison, and soon Hermes turns Aglaure, envious of Hersa, into stone.

Athena once played with Persephone and gathered flowers with her. According to Euripides, Athena “of brass” and Artemis helped Demeter look for her daughter. The Eleusinian goddess Demeter hardly overlaps with Athena.

Several times Athena the warrior is mentioned in a pair with Artemis the huntress as a striking opposition of virgins with different functions. Ovid notes that both Athena and Artemis left Aphrodite and Eros.

On the throne of Apollo in Amicles was depicted Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis leading Hyacinth and Polyboea to heaven.

Athena and Nika the Victory were sometimes depicted side by side. According to the Arcadians, Nika is the daughter of Pallantes and was brought up with Athena. In one of the epigrams, Nika is called the daughter of Athena.

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Objects under her patronage

Athens enjoyed the patronage of Athens:

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Athena and Snakes

Completely or half serpentine were the Athenian kings Kekropus and Erichthonius, closely associated with Athena.

Athena turned Medusa Gorgon”s hair into snakes and then placed them on her aegis. Pindar mentions “ten thousand snakes” on the aegis of Pallas. The Latin poets also speak of the serpents of Pallas).

The snakes that killed Laocoontus and his sons crawl to the temple of Athena of Ilion and take refuge at her feet under her shield.

The Emperor Domitian was supposed to be called the offspring of Minerva; Apollonius of Tiana ironically recalled that she had given birth to the Athenians to the dragon.

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Athena and the Birds

In Homer”s poems, Athena takes an ornithomorphic form four times. There are at least four myths in which Athena transforms female characters into birds.

In the Iliad, Athena sits on an oak tree like a hawk, but in the Odyssey she turns into a bird and flies away after a conversation with Telemachus; after a conversation with Nestorius she turns into an eagle and flies away; after a conversation with Odysseus she turns into a swallow and sits on a crossbar near the ceiling.

It is known that Athena granted Tiresias the ability to understand the language of birds.

The rock of Athena Ephia (the duck-billed duck) was located in Megarides. According to Hesychius, Athena is worshipped by the Megarians in this form because she turned into a duck-weasel and hid Kekrop under her wings and took him to Megara.

The owl is a sign of service to Pallas; the owl is “the clawed bird of Minerva. There was a well-known proverb “carrying owls to Athens.

The story of the transformation of Nyctimene, daughter of the king of Lesbos, who lay down with her father, into an owl is told by Ovid.

The poet Bey expounded the myth that the children of Eumelas of Meropis on Kos did not want to offer sacrifices to Athena and did not visit the sacred grove of Athena and Artemis. Athena in the guise of a girl and other gods appeared at their home. When Meropidas began to mock Athena, she turned her into an owl.

Athena turned Coroneus” daughter, who was pursued by Poseidon, into a crow. Later this crow, who informed Athena of the violation of the prohibition by the daughters of Kekropes, was severely punished by being deprived of her voice. Lucretius notes that crows do not fly into the place near the temple on the Athenian acropolis, but, contrary to the accounts of the poets, not because of the wrath of the goddess, but because of the natural properties of the area. A statue from Corona (a city in Elyda) depicted Athena with a crow in her hand.

Daedalus threw his nephew, jealous of him, from the stronghold of Athena, and she turned the boy into a partridge.

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Veneration in Greece

Athena was worshipped throughout the region. Besides Athens, several acropolises were dedicated to her – Argos, Sparta, Megara, Troy, Tresenes, Epidaurus-Limera, Phenaeus, Leuctra, Corona, Skepsis, Acragantus, and even before the Achaeans came, in the ancient period. Aelius Aristides notes that she lords over the cremains of the cities and the heads of the people.

In Attica, Athena was the chief deity of the country and city of Athens, the patroness of the Athenians.

In ancient Greece, the third, thirteenth, and twenty-third days of the month were dedicated to Athena.

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Sacrifices to Athena

Myth mentions that the oldest sacrifices to Athena were made in Rhodes and in Athens – Heliades offered them at once, but without fire, and Kekrop – with a burning fire, but later.

In the poems of Homer two sacrifices to Athena are described in detail, in addition to the simpler form of offering wine to her. According to Song VI of the Iliad, the Trojan women perform a sacrifice led by the priestess Theano, offering her the garment of Sidonian work (VI 88-95, 269-279, 379-380, 384-385), but Athena rejects the sacrifice (VI 293-311).

In Song III of the Odyssey, Nestor describes in detail the sacrifice to the goddess of a young unaccustomed heifer with gilded horns, at which Athena herself is invisibly present. In the Iliad, Nestor remembers sacrificing a young heifer to Athena, and Diomedes promises her a similar sacrifice.

Such a sacrifice is mentioned several times in other epic texts. According to Ovid, Perseus sacrifices a heifer to Athena before his marriage to Andromeda. Nonnus, imitating Homer, describes in detail how Cadmus sacrifices the heifer that led him to Athena Oncaya. In Euripides, Athena notes that Heracles once worthily offered her the “sacrifice of the heifer”. Heracles, having taken Echalea by storm, also sacrificed a bull, who knew no fair, to Athena (in Sophocles Heracles sacrifices only to Zeus, but not to Athena). In Ovid”s account, Achilles sacrificed a heifer to Athena, defeating Cyclus.

In the following period animal sacrifices are mentioned rarely and outside Greece proper, the most famous being the Panathenaic ritual, reminiscent of Homer”s description of the Trojan offering. Euripides mentions the making during the Athenian feast of Athena”s peplos with scenes of titanomachy. The importance of this ritual is noted by Proclus.

The Persian king Xerxes sacrificed 1,000 bulls to Athena of Ilion (480 BC). Alexander the Great in Bactria slaughtered sacrificial animals to Athena and Nike. The Macedonian king Perseus sacrificed 100 large animals to Athena Alcideme (171 BC).

The most frequent sources record the sacrifices to Athena of Ilion:

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Priestesses and Maids of Athena

The first priestess of Athena was called Kalifissa. There are several myths about the terrible fate of Athena”s priestesses and maidservants: Hersa and Aglavera are killed, Jodama is turned to stone. Avga Athena, however, helps. The priestesses were also Pandrosa, Theano and Theba (one of the daughters of Leucippus, kidnapped by the Dioscurs). The high priestesses of Lysimachus I (5th-4th centuries BC) and Lysimachus II (3rd century BC) are also known.

Some details of the Athenian cult are known. The priestess of Athena Polyades does not eat Attic cheese. Athena Polyades is served by the Harrefour girls (there are two of them, and they are replaced after the performance of the rite). During the feast they carry through the underground passage on their heads what the priestess of Athena gives them and take another instead. The carrying in baskets of shrines to the temples of Pallas is mentioned by Ovid. In the sanctuary of Athena Polyades, an unquenchable lamp burned and was filled with oil once a year.

In the temple of Athena of Eton, a woman lays fire on the altar every day, proclaiming the name of Jodama.

Seneca mentions the round dance at the altars of Pallas involving Dejanira, as well as Augus, who began the round dance of Pallas.

The sculptor Demetrius created a statue of Lysimachus, who was a priestess of Athena for 64 years.

Herodotus mentions a priestess of Athena among the Pedasians (Caria) who sometimes grew a beard.

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Dedication of Weapons

Trophies were often dedicated to the temples of Athens:

The epigrams mention dedications to the temple of Athena of the shield.

Groves of Athens

Groves were not often dedicated to Athena, although Homer already mentions a sacred poplar grove of Athena on the island of the Theacians. Sacred olive trees made up the grove of Academus in Athens. The grove of Athena at Tiphorea (Phocis) is also known.

Poetry mentions the grove of Athena and Artemis on Cosa and the grove near the temple of Athena on Lemnos, where (in Statius” account) the Lemnian women swear to kill the men. Virgil speaks of the “Palladian groves” with an olive.

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The olive as a symbol of Athena

The connection between Athena and the olive tree is a constant motif in poetry. A poem about the olive-laurus dispute was written by Callimachus. Later Euhemerists argued that she domesticated the olive tree. According to Nonnus” description, Athena laments the olive tree, remembering the nymph Moria.

In Athens, the olive in the sanctuary of Erechtheus, considered “the one” planted by Athena during the dispute with Poseidon, was burned by the Persians in 480 BC, but it sprouted immediately after the fire. Those Athenians who cut down the sacred olives were judged by the council of the Areopagus and could be sentenced to death.

According to the Orphics, Athena once crowned the Curetes with an olive branch. A wreath of olive branches was given to the winner of the games, the winners of the gymnastic contests and horse races were given olive oil from the sacred olives. Jason raises an olive branch, asking the Lemnian women for a truce.

Pliny tells us that there was a wild olive tree in the square in Megara, to which warriors attached their weapons, dedicating them to the goddess. The oracle predicted that the city would perish when “the tree produced weapons,” which happened when the Megarians tried to prune the sprawling tree. Thus the olive tree became the “tree of destiny.

Summer gave birth to children under the “Palladian tree” and the palm tree. Dionysus gave the daughters of Ani the ability to turn everything into “Athena berries. Diodorus attributes to the Egyptians the claim that it was Hermes, not Athena, who invented the olive.

The Neoplatonist Porphyry interprets the symbolism of the olive mentioned by Homer:

Being ever-flowering, the olive has some properties most convenient to indicate the paths of the soul in the cosmos to which the cave is dedicated. In summer, the white side of the leaves turns upward, while in winter the lighter parts turn in the opposite direction. When, in prayer and supplication, the flowering olive branches are stretched out, it is hoped that the darkness of danger will be turned into light. The olive, by nature ever-flowering, bears fruit that rewards labor. This is why it is dedicated to Athena. Winners of the competition are given a wreath of olive leaves. The olive branches serve those who resort to entreaty. Thus the cosmos is governed by the eternal and ever-flowering wisdom of intellectual nature, from which the victorious reward of life”s athletes and the healing of many burdens are given.

Celebrations

Holidays in other cities:

Herodotus also mentions the national feast in honor of Athena of Sais and the feast of “Athena” among the Ausaeans in Libya, where girls fight among themselves. Two Roman feasts of Minerva are described by Ovid in the Fasts.

Proclus connects Athena”s dressing in the ashes with her victory over the giants. He writes:

Of course, the crushing of the giants is the most accurate visual image describing the unity that pervades everything. For this goddess, who is said to bring intelligence and unity to everything subordinate, private and material, dominates this subordinate and ensures in it the superiority of the reflective over the irrational, of the immaterial over the material, and of the unified over the plural. Hence, the peplos is a symbol of the power of Athena, detached from intracosmic things; through this power she made an alliance with her father and together with him she crushed the giants.

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Apparitions of Athena

They are repeatedly mentioned in the epic, but later recounted by sources with a considerable amount of skepticism and even contempt for human credulity.

When the tyrant Pisistratus returned to the city, the goddess Athena was represented by a tall and beautiful woman, Fia, who stood in armor on his chariot. Later the Athenians arranged the “sacred marriage” of Demetrius Poliorketes with Athena, and he and the hetaera Lamia reclined on her bed.

According to the account of Polyana, there was a statue of Athena in Thebes with a shield lying in front of her knees and a spear in her right hand. At night Epaminondas brought a craftsman who made the goddess hold the shield by the hilt and passed it off as an omen.

During the Gauls” attack on Delphi, it was said that Apollo, Athena, and Artemis were seen defending the city.

According to another account by Polienus, in 241 BC the priestess of Athena from Pellena in Achaea, fully armed and with a helmet, showed herself to the enemies of the Etolians, which extremely frightened them. Plutarch gives two other versions: either it was the girl with the helmet from the temple of Artemis, or the priestess carried the idol of Artemis and frightened the enemies.

Pompey Trogus recounted the legend that during the siege of Massilia by the Gauls, Athena appeared at night to the king of the Gauls, Catamarand, who was horrified to lift the siege. Aelius Aristides asserts that he heard a hymn to Athena in a dream sent from the goddess herself.

Already in the fifth century, when the statue of Athena Parthenos “was stolen by those who touch and untouchable,” a beautiful-looking woman appeared to the philosopher Proclus in a dream and informed him that “the Mistress Athena pleased to stay with you.”

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Temples

According to Homer, her temple was in Ilion.

A Critique of the Veneration of Athena

Clement of Alexandria mockingly quotes some lines of Homer about Athena, who counts her among the “demons. Clement mocks the fact that Athena lit Odysseus” way as a maid and served as a lamp in the mysteries of the marriage union.

Tertullian points out that the goddess did not protect Athens from Xerxes. In his opinion, “Erichthonius, son of Minerva and Vulcan, though from the seed that fell to the earth, is the spawn of Satan, moreover Satan himself, not a serpent.

Arnobius, referring to the mythographers” data on the plurality of Athens, satirically depicts the dispute between the five Athenians over a single sacrifice.

According to Lactantius, she was a mortal woman who invented the arts, for which she was worshipped by men. The same euhemeristic interpretation is adopted by Jerome in the Chronicle and by Augustine, who attributes the birth from Zeus” head to the fables.

The etymology of the name “Athena” due to the pre-Greek origin of her image is unclear.

In modern Russian the form close to the Byzantine pronunciation (with an “i”) is fixed: in the classical era it was pronounced approximately Athena. In Homer, in addition to a number of epithets, the form Athenaia, that is, “Athenian,” is often found.

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Epithets

Athena had many different epithets, both related to her functions and toponymic. The most common were the following:

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The plurality of Athens

According to Kotta”s speech, there were five:

In the Roman pantheon Athena corresponds to Minerva.

The ancient zoomorphic past of Athena is indicated by her attributes – snake and owl, as well as epithets (sovokaya, etc.). The chthonic wisdom of Athena has its origin in the image of the goddess with serpents of the Cretan-Mycenaean period.

According to the concept developed in detail by Martin Nilsson, the Minoan “goddess with a shield” depicted on the Larnaca of Milato as well as on other monuments whose symbol was a shield in the form of an eight, was the predecessor of Athena. According to I. M. Diakonov, the single image of the warrior-maiden was divided among the Greeks into three: Athena the warrior and handmaiden, Artemis the hunter and Aphrodite the goddess of sexual passion.

The myth of the birth of Athena by Metida (whose name is translated as “thought”) and Zeus belongs to the late period of Greek mythology, the time of the classical canon. Graves suggests that before this she was the parthenogenic daughter of one Metida. The appearance of the swallowed Athena from Zeus” head is depicted from the perspective of patriarchal period mythology, in which the male organizer was especially prominent. Athena turns into the obedient mouthpiece of Zeus and is deliberately deprived of her past. As Losev points out, Athena becomes like a direct continuation of Zeus, the executor of his plans and will, his thought realized in action. As time passes, the motherhood of Metide becomes more and more abstract, even symbolic, and Athena begins to be considered the offspring of Zeus alone and assumes the functions of divine wisdom, just as Zeus took them from Metide.

According to Graves, Athena”s rejection of Poseidon”s father points to the change of the supreme deity in Athens that took place in antiquity. On the contrary, A. I. Zaitsev suggests that the version with Athena”s motherless birth by Zeus is more ancient, and Hesiod”s account of Metida”s swallowing is more recent. Vilamovits suggested (based on the fact that the word κορυφη means both the vertex of Zeus in the myth and the mountain top) that the original idea was that Athena was born from a mountain top.

Athena is one of the most important figures in the Olympic pantheon. She is equal in importance to Zeus and sometimes surpasses him. This is rooted in the most ancient period of the development of Greek mythology, the matriarchy. While acquiring new functions of military power, the goddess retained her matriarchal independence (maiden and protector of chastity).

Athena has many cosmic traits (she keeps Zeus” lightning, was born with golden rain, etc.). She was thought of as destiny and the Great Mother-Goddess, the parent and destroyer of all living things.

Plato”s dialogue recounts a myth composed by Protagoras, according to which Prometheus stole not only fire from Hephaestus, but also the arts of Athena, and gave them to man. Proclus interprets this myth, pointing out that Athena illuminates souls with the ability to know and think.

Democritus called one of his ethical writings “Tritogeny. According to him, Athena as thinking is called Tritogeny, for “out of thinking are born three faculties: to make right decisions, to speak infallibly, and to act as one ought.

Antisphenes wrote the book Athena, or Of Telemachus. Metrodorus of Lampsacus regarded Athena as an allegory of art (technet).

According to Stoic doctrine, the god is also called Athena, since his leading origin extends through the ether. Stoic Diogenes of Babylon wrote a work “On Athena,” where he attributed her birth to the realm of natural science. The Stoics called the moon Artemis, Athena, and other names of female deities. Granius Flaccus attributed the identification of Athena with the Moon to Aristotle.

The Christian apologist Justin mentions a certain concept according to which Athena is the daughter or first thought (protenoia) of Zeus.

Plotinus recalls Athena seldom: “If anyone can turn to himself or himself, or in a good hour led by Athena, he will see both God and himself and the universe…” Porphyry understands Athena as a symbol of reason and believes that the art of medicine derives from her.

According to the Neoplatonist Sallustius, Athena is the guardian god in a triad with Hestia and Ares, for she has heavy armor, but Athena is also in the realm of the ether.

Julian in his speech “To the King-Sun” discusses Athena Pronoia (the Provider), pointing out that she “came from Helios – the whole from the whole, continuing to be in him”, she is the perfect thought of Helios, she cosmifies matter which lies below her, but to people she gives the benefits of wisdom, intelligence and demiurgic arts, and her wisdom is the basis of political communication. Selene is the demiurge of the near-earth and perceived Quirin when he was sent down to Earth by Athena, the Mistress of Providence.

Proclus says much about Athena in his Commentary on the Timaeus: she is “pure”, “unmixed”, “wisdom”, “bearer of light”, “savior”, introducing partial intelligence into the holistic wisdom of Zeus, “worker” in the demiurgic activity of her father, creator of “beautiful works”, possessor of “intelligent beauty”, “summit and unity” of demiurgic wisdom.

In Plato”s Theology, Proclus considers the three Athenians (of the intelligent gods, the guiding gods, and the free gods):

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In ancient literature

The XI and XXVIII hymns of Homer, V hymn of Callimachus, XXXII Orphic hymn, VII hymn of Proclus and prose “Hymn to Athena” by Elias Aristides are dedicated to her. Actor in tragedies by Aeschylus “The Eumenides”, Sophocles “Aeunte”, Euripides “Ion”, “The Beggars”, “The Trojans”, “Iphigenia in Tauris”, Pseudo-Euripides “Res”.

In Romanized Mythography

According to Diodorus” retelling of Dionysius Scythobrachion”s work, which has no exact parallels in other sources, Athena was born from a land near the river Triton in Libya. Ammon instructed Athena to guard the child Dionysus.

Athena was a maiden, distinguished in the art of war and killed the monster Aegis. Aegis was begotten by Gaia, spewed fire and scorched the land in Phrygia and many forests as far as India, and Athena killed her and pulled her skin over her chest. Enraged by Aegis” death, Gaia sent giants against the gods, but they were defeated by Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, and the other gods.

Athena created an army of Amazons and commanded them during the battle with the Titans. Together with Zeus and Dionysus she participated in other wars.

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Famous images of Athena

This subsection lists statues of importance to art history, a more complete list is contained in the article Temples and Statues of Athena

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Image in Modern Times

In Western European painting Athena was less popular than Aphrodite and Venus (Botticelli”s Pallada and Centaur, Cranach”s Judgment of Paris, Rubens, etc.). She was depicted mainly in works of allegorical character, multi-figure compositions (e.g. “Minerva conquers the Unseen” by Rubens, etc.). “Minerva conquers ignorance” by B. Spranger, “Victory of virtue over sin” by A. Mantegna.) Minerva is depicted together with Mars-Ares (Minerva and Mars by Tintoretto, Veronese). In sculpture – rarely (Sansovino).

Supposedly, Diego Velázquez”s famous mystery painting, The Spinners, illustrates the myth of Athena and Arachne.

In music

The few allegorical operas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries:

In contemporary music:

The asteroid (881) Athena, discovered in 1917, is named after Athena.

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Research

From recent research:

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