Athena: Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War Strategy

The Story of Athena

Athena had one of the strangest births in all of Greek mythology. Her mother was Metis, a Titaness known for her wisdom and the first wife of Zeus. When Zeus learned that Metis would bear a child powerful enough to rival him, he swallowed her whole while she was pregnant.

Not long after, Zeus was struck by a splitting headache. Hephaestus, or in some tellings Prometheus, cracked open his skull with an axe, and out sprang Athena, fully grown and dressed in shining armor, giving a mighty war cry. From that moment she was her father's favorite child, the only one he trusted with his thunderbolt and his aegis.

Athena became the goddess of wisdom, strategy and skilled work. Unlike her brother Ares, who loved the bloodshed of battle, she stood for clever planning and the defense of the city. She was also the patron of weaving, pottery and many other crafts, and the Greeks credited her with inventing the bridle, the flute and the plow.

Athena never married and remained a maiden goddess forever, which is why she was called Parthenos. She had no children of her own, but she took the hero Erichthonius under her care, and he grew up to become an early king of Athens. Her closest bonds were with the heroes she guided, including Heracles, Perseus, Jason and above all Odysseus, whose cleverness matched her own.

Her most famous victory was the contest with Poseidon for the city that would bear her name. She planted the first olive tree on the Acropolis, a gift of food, oil and wealth, and the people chose her. During the Trojan War she fought fiercely on the side of the Greeks, and afterward she spent years helping Odysseus find his way home to Ithaca.

Athens honored her above all other gods. The Parthenon on the Acropolis was built as her temple and once held a towering statue of the goddess in gold and ivory. Every year the Athenians celebrated the Panathenaia, and every four years they held a grand version with games and a procession that carried a new woven robe up to her ancient statue.

Athena remains a symbol of wisdom, learning and justice to this day. The Romans worshipped her as Minerva, and her owl still appears as an emblem of knowledge around the world. Her city, Athens, has carried her name for thousands of years, and her temple still crowns its skyline.