Who is Athena? In ancient Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of organized warfare, military strategy and wisdom.

Long ago, many centuries ago, the ancient Greeks lived on our beautiful planet. They were engaged in a variety of things: they established the basic laws of economic activity, revered the beauty of the body, invented the standards of world art, and at their leisure they organized the Olympic Games, in which the strongest had to win. The ancient Greeks believed in very different things, and in the literal sense of the word - the ancient pantheon is so diverse that there are not many people in the world who can offhand list at least half

There were titans and gods, heroes and nymphs, sphinxes and sirens in their picture of the world, not to mention the cyclops and other more extravagant creatures, whose names are not so deeply and firmly embedded in the memory of mankind.

In the same article, we will find out who Athena is.

Variety of interpretations

Since, unfortunately, not a single ancient Greek has survived to this day, researchers have to build their theories on archaeological finds, written monuments and other historical heritage. Perhaps this is the reason for the variety of interpretations regarding who Athena is.

The most common point of view is the positioning of this representative of the Greek pantheon as It is this understanding of the goddess that we are taught in educational institutions and popular publications like I Know the World. In fact, everything is much broader, more diverse and more interesting, which will be discussed in this article. So, let's get down to business: who is Athena?

Mysterious Birth of a Goddess

Nothing is ever simple in anything - everything is shrouded in some kind of mystery, mystery and full of surprises. The birth of this Greek goddess is far from an exception. Let's start with the fact that there is simply no consensus on this matter. In this respect, everything depends on the time frame of the interpreter. According to early reports, the Greek triumphantly left the head of Zeus himself, causing him simply unbearable pain. Later historians turned out to be somewhat more merciful and, according to their interpretation, the place where this representative of the pantheon came from was the beard of the Thunderer.

In any case, the birth of the goddess can be regarded as another confirmation that the ancient Greeks liked everything unusual: either they appeared from the foam of the sea goddess, or crawled out of their heads ...

Why is it so

According to the most common interpretation, the story of the goddess Athena begins with the desire of the supreme god to maintain his position and prevent his own son from overthrowing the throne. That is why, according to the myth, Zeus swallowed Metis, who was pregnant at that time. And everything would be fine if the unexpected did not happen. Soon, the Thunderer began to experience unbearable pain, and in order to alleviate this suffering, Hephaestus had to hit the head of the pantheon with an ax on the head. The same Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, the patroness of cities and entire states, skill, ingenuity and dexterity, triumphantly emerged from the hole that had formed.

Significance in the mythological picture of the world

At first glance, it may seem that this representative of the ancient Greek pantheon is not one of the key figures, but this opinion can safely be called erroneous. The goddess of war is one of the twelve main representatives of Olympus. According to some myths, it was Athena who remained in Greece when everyone else fled to Egypt. Many researchers associate the subsequent name of the country's capital in her honor with this.

Appearance

Since this is the goddess of war, outwardly she is significantly different from the rest. First of all, it should be noted that she is traditionally depicted in male armor and with a shield, which cannot be said even about Artemis, whose invariable attributes are considered to be a bow and a quiver with arrows.

As for more characteristic features, in the testimonies that have survived to this day, Athena is called “owl-eyed”, gray-eyed and fair-haired, so we can say that the goddess had something in common with Slavic girls.

If we talk about the symbols of this representative of the Olympic pantheon, then traditionally an owl or a snake is depicted in this regard as the oldest symbols of wisdom.

Since ancient times, the olive branch has also been considered an invariable attribute of this goddess, which is still associated with Greece in the world consciousness.

Feminist Goddess?

Despite the fact that far from all written monuments have preserved references to the participation of Athena in gigantomachy, they still exist and there is no getting away from this. According to the texts of Gigin, the overthrow of the titans in Tartarus is partly the merit of this goddess. According to this myth, Athena was able to accomplish this feat thanks to the help of Zeus, Artemis, and Apollo.

Despite the fact that the birth of the goddess of war, according to the main myths, was after the battle of the titans, there is other evidence of her participation in this event of a literally global scale. An example is the shield of the statue, which depicts other details of the battle.

Trojan horse connection

Oddly enough, the name of this Olympic warrior is also associated with this war. In general, Athena is a goddess, the myths about which are quite diverse. So, according to the available monuments of writing, it was she who came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a Trojan horse. There is also evidence that this manipulation was done in her honor.

Who is Athena in this story? This is not only the author of the Trojan horse idea. This is also the goddess who managed to save the Achaeans from starvation at a time when they needed to sit in anticipation of action. According to the plot of the myth, Athena brought them the food of the gods so that they would not die of hunger.

She secretly helped to drag the horse into the besieged city and gave signs in the form of snakes and earthquakes when someone objected to this.

inventions

Few places mention this, but it is this representative of the Greek pantheon who owns the idea of ​​the state, the invention of the chariot and even the ship. Most household items like ceramic pots or a plow were invented by Athena. She is generally considered the patroness of artisans. According to some myths, it was this goddess who at one time taught the Phoenicians weaving, and the spinning wheel is mentioned in many sources as a gift from Athena.

She also patronized many heroes and exceptionally just wars, which is what differed from Ares, for whom the battles themselves were the goal and patronage in them brought him exceptional pleasure.