Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video,
we’re going to discuss Athena: daughter of Zeus,
goddess of wisdom and war, and one of the most popular and powerful gods in Greek mythology.
Let’s get into it.
Known as Minerva to the Romans, Athena was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods,
and of Metis, one of the Oceanids and a second-generation titan goddess. That said,
Athena’s birth was singular in how unconventional it was. She emerged into the world from a cleft
split in Zeus’ skull, so it was also said that she was the daughter of Zeus alone,
as he was both father and mother to her.
Metis was Zeus’ first wife. Her wisdom was deep, and it was said it surpassed that of every mortal
and all the other gods. Uranus and Gaia came to Zeus while Metis was pregnant. The words of
prophecy had come to them, so they revealed that Metis was destined to bear incredibly powerful
children, first a daughter, wise and strong, then a son, mighty and bold. The reason for them coming
to Zeus with this information was that they didn’t wish the vicious cycle of son supplanting father
to perpetuate another generation. Armed with foreknowledge, Zeus took preemptive action. He
swallowed Metis, thus forestalling any eventuality that entailed him having his throne wrestled away
by a usurper in the future. Unexpectedly, the pregnancy was passed on to Zeus, who, after
some unquantified period of time had elapsed, was struck by an agonising pain in his skull.
The pain was so much that Zeus begged Hephaestus for relief. The smith god clove Zeus’ head with a
powerful blow from his axe, and out sprung Athena, a grown woman, clad in armour, with spear in hand.
Athena had a capacious sphere of influence that included war, wisdom, and crafts. Insofar as war
was concerned, she was diametrically opposed to her brother, Ares. Athena was associated with
the strategic and defensive aspects of war, particularly when war was the only option,
having exhausted other less extreme courses of action. Opportune occasions to invoke her
would have been when battle plans were drawn up or when the defensive of a city was being organised.
Ares, on the other hand, was associated with the wanton aspect of war,
devoid of restraint, like slaughter, aggression, panic, and bloodlust.
As a patroness of crafts and those who plied them,
Athena’s purview encompassed every trade a person could learn, even more masculine crafts
like carpentry and metalworking - giving her some overlap with Hephaestus - though
it was feminine crafts like spinning and weaving she was most strongly connected with.
Athena was one of the 12 Olympians and one of the greatest goddesses in all of Greek mythology;
as such, she was exalted and possessed many appellations beyond that of her true name. Nike
(“Victorious), Parthenos (“Maiden”), Promachos (“Who Fights in the Front Lines”), Ergane (“Maker”
or “Craftswoman”), and Poliouchos (“Protectress of Cities”): She was also known by these names.
Athena was a virgin goddess, though she did have an adopted son, a living monument to
the one occasion she was nearly deflowered. She visited Hephaestus to ask him to forge
her a new set of armour. Hephaestus was stricken with love at first sight, and he pursued her
in his lurching, hobbling gait. He attempted to force himself on Athena after she fell,
but Athena fought him off. At some point in the scuffle, some of Hephaestus seed shot onto
Athena’s thigh. She quickly brushed it off, and It fell to the ground, where, without egg or womb,
it quickened with life. Thus, Erichthonius was born. Athena endeavoured to make him immortal,
so she placed him in a chest with a snake, then gave the chest into the keeping of the daughters
of Cecrops, giving explicit instructions not to open the chest under any circumstances. The allure
of curiosity proved too compulsive to resist. They defied Athena’s injunction and opened the chest.
Inside was a snake entwined with a baby. Depending on the versions, the snake either
killed the sisters or the sisters were driven mad by the sight and killed themselves. Athena
raised Erichthonius in the Acropolis of Athens. Later, Erichthonius became king of Athens, and it
was he who launched the inaugural Panathenaia, which was a festival held in honour of Athena.
Yet another version had Erichthonius as part snake and part man, having a serpent’s coils for legs.
Interestingly, snakes were an animal scared to Athena, as were owls,
which were emblematic of wisdom. Her sacred plant was the olive tree.
Athena made many, many appearances throughout Greek mythology, featuring more prominently
than most other gods. One of the reasons for this was that she often helped heroes in their
quests. Heroes like Perseus, Hercules, and Odysseus were all helped by her.
In Perseus’ quest to slay Medusa, Athena was, along with Hermes, present throughout, filling the
roles of guide, adviser, and bestower of gifts. After a fruitless search for the whereabouts
of the Gorgons, even the vaguest trail or the remotest inkling escaped Perseus. The completion
of his quest must have seemed an impossibility. Unbeknownst to him, though, divine succor was not
far off. Before the hooks of despair could truly sink into his flesh and lay him low,
Hermes miraculously appeared before him, not unlike how a fairy godmother would appear before a
prince or princess as if manifested by their need. Later in the story, once among the Hyperboreans,
a mythical people that dwelt in the far north, Perseus was showered with many magical gifts.
Chief among these was Athena’s own shield. It was so burnished that it reflected the world’s image,
granting Perseus sight of his surroundings without directly looking at them,
allowing him to navigate the Gorgons’ lair without risking Medusa’s gaze. Athena accompanied Perseus,
pointing out which of the three gorgons was Medusa, and she even guided Perseus’ arm as
his sword arced through the air and landed its decapitating blow. As a token of his thanks,
Perseus gave Athena Medusa’s head, which Athena then affixed to her breastplate.
Hercules was helped by Athena on several occasions. In his sixth labour, which was
to kill the Stymphalian birds, a monstrous flock of man-eating birds that could fire their feathers
as projectiles, Athena gave Hercules a pair of noisy, clapping instruments, known as krotala,
which he used to scare the birds from the trees they roosted in so that he could shoot them from
the sky once they took flight. Hercules’ 12th and final labour was to subdue Cerberus, the great
hound that guarded the entrance to the underworld, carry the beast beyond death’s domain to the land
of the living, and then present him to his cousin Eurystheus. To do this, Hercules first needed
Hades’ approval, as abducting Cerberus without its master’s approval would incite the wrath of
one of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology. This is where Athena comes in. She guided Hercules
through the subterranean labyrinth that was the underworld and brought him to Hades’ palace.
Of all the heroes in Greek mythology, none was more similar to Athena in mind and manner than
Odysseus, wise, cunning, and intelligent as he was. Athena’s fingerprints were all over the
Odyssey, and if it weren’t for her, Odysseus never would have made it home after the Trojan War;
and if, by some miracle, he did, his wife would have already capitulated to the advances of one
of the many suitors trying to claim her hand in marriage. To highlight all the ways and all
the times Athena helped Odysseus and his family throughout the Odyssey would derail this video,
but here’s a succinct summary of her exploits as Odysseus’ benefactor: she supplicated Zeus
on Odysseus behalf, explaining that the hero, harrowed and humbled, deserved to make it home.
(You see, Odysseus’ troubles really began after he blinded the cyclops Polyphemus, who was Poseidon’s
son. This turned Poseidon against Odysseus for the remainder of his journey home, which became an
interminable and intractable affair with Poseidon lurking in the depths and trying to rain down ruin
upon Odysseus at every turn.) Athena disguised herself as a man and instructed Telemachus,
Odysseus son, to sail forth from Ithaca, to Sparta and Pylos, to find news of his father’s
whereabouts; and, near the end of the story, when Odysseus finally makes it to the shores of Ithaca,
Athena transformed Odysseus into an old man so that he could approach
incognito and launch a surprise attack against the gaggle of suitors trying to marry his wife.
Though Athena’s support was a boon to many heroes in need, and doubtless many heroes would have
faltered and failed had Athena not intervened, she didn’t always play the role of divine
protector. There are several instances in which Athena’s wrath rears its head, as was the case
with Arachne and with Medusa. Similarly, a few of her relationships with other gods - specifically,
Ares and Poseidon - were also less than copasetic. Let’s take a quick look at each of these in turn.
Arachne was a weaver of prodigious skill. As her prowess grew and her renown spread,
so did her pride, which swelled until it became her downfall, as was the case for so many
characters in Greek mythology. Arachne boasted that her skills surpassed those of even Athena.
The insolence of these words found their way to Athena’s ear, so she disguised herself
as an old woman and challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. Athena’s design included a
depiction of her triumph over Poseidon when she became the patron goddess of Athens,
and it also included several scenes of impudent mortals punished for challenging the gods.
Arachne’s design was a collection of vignettes showcasing the ignoble actions of the gods.
Though Arachne was persistently impertinent, in skill she was without peer. Her work was perfect,
and the fact that it was perfected infuriated Athena. The goddess flew into a rage,
first destroying Arachne’s work, then attacking Arachne, repeatedly striking her head. Arachne
was so overcome with shame that she hanged herself, but death would be no escape for her.
Athena cursed her, transforming her into a spider, doomed to spin and weave forever.
There are many versions of Medusa’s myth, especially her origin. The oldest account
has her born a Gorgon, one of three sisters spawned from a union between Phorcys and Ceto,
two primeval sea gods. However, other accounts have Medusa begin life as a beautiful woman.
The sight of her stirred Poseidon’s loins, and so the Lord of the Sea took Medusa against
her will on the floor of one of Athena’s temples. As Athena was a virgin goddess,
copulation on the hallowed ground of her temple was an egregious desecration. Though
Poseidon was the transgressor, it was Medusa, the victim, who suffered the brunt of Athena’s wrath.
Cursed by the goddess, Medusa’s beauty was traded for the monstrous appearance of a Gorgon,
a creature so hideous and terrifying that the mere sight of it turned people to stone.
In addition to mortal women, Athena also found herself at odds with other gods.
One of Athena’s most important myths is the story of how she became the patron deity of
Athens. Both she and Poseidon were vying for the right of patronage. The matter ended up being
decided by the Athenian people. Each god bestowed Athens with a gift, and whoever's gift was judged
to be of greater worth would win the contest. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident,
and from the stone a saltwater spring began to flow, symbolic of naval power. Athena produced
a miracle of her own, causing an olive tree to spring from the ground. The Tree was judged to
be the more valuable gift, and the olive became a perennial pillar of the Athenian economy.
Another of Athena’s rivalries was that she had with her brother Ares. Both gods of war and each
associated with an aspect of warfare antithetical to the other, they were natural opponents. Enmity
between them was certainly at its highest during the Trojan War. They each championed opposite
sides. Ares sided with the Trojans, and Athena sided with the Greeks. The reason they ended
up as enemies in this conflict is baked into how the war was started in the first place.
Paris, a prince of Troy, was appointed as judge to decide which of three goddesses - Hera,
Athena, and Aphrodite - was the most beautiful. He chose Aphrodite. As Paris was a prince of Troy,
Aphrodite sided with the Trojans, and because Ares and Aphrodite were lovers,
Ares sided with the Trojans, too. The opposite happened for Hera and Athena.
Both of them felt scorned and spurned by Paris’ arbitration, so they sided with the Greeks. Over
the course of the war, Ares and Athena fought each other twice, with Athena scoring decided
victories in both encounters. The first has Athena ride with Diomedes in his chariot,
allowing the Greek hero to bury his spear’s tip in Ares’ bowels. The second has Athena
and Ares square off against each other. Athena dodges Ares’ attack, then responds by picking
up a boulder off the ground and hurling it at her brother. She scores a direct hit,
smashing Ares in the head, who crumples to the ground in a heap of limbs and armour.
To wrap up this video, we’re going to cover another time Athena went head-to-head
with an opponent with god-like power. During the Gigantomachy, which was the
war between the gods and the giants, Athena distinguished herself as a formidable warrior.
The giants were the progeny of Gaia, who was impregnated by the droplets of blood
that fell to the earth after Uranus, the personification of the sky, was castrated.
Gaia was infuriated that some of her children - this time the titans - were imprisoned once again,
so she created the giants, a fierce and frightening race, to assail Mt. Olympus.
In Apollodorus’ account, Athena was one of the few gods said to have killed more than
one giant. Here’s the passage: “Athene hurled the island of Sicily on Enceladus as he fled;
and she flayed Pallas and used his skin to protect her own body during the right.”
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