Athena she was an important goddess present in the religiosity of Ancient Greece. She was considered the goddess of wisdom, but she also had a strong relationship with crafts and manual skills. She was the patron goddess of one of the most important cities in Greece:Athens. She was the daughter of Zeus and was born out of her father's head.
This deity was considered by the Greeks as a warrior, described as a goddess who wore armor and wielded a shield and a spear . She was part of the Trojan War and didn't allow mortals to disrespect her. In honor of Athena, a 12 meter statue was built and maintained in the temple called the Parthenon, located in Athens.
See also: Persephone — the Greek goddess who was kidnapped by Hades and turned into the goddess of the underworld
About Athena
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Athena became known as the goddess of wisdom.
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She had a strong relationship with manual skills, among which weaving stands out.
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she was marked for helping Perseus kill the gorgon Medusa, who had a hideous face for having been punished by the goddess.
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She was the daughter of Zeus and was born from her father's head.
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she was the patron goddess of Athens, although she was of great importance to other Greek cities.
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A statue of her was built in Athens, inside the Parthenon, one of the temples erected in her honor.
Who was Athena?
Athena was an important deity of the ancient Greeks, considered thegoddess of wisdom, defensive warfare, arts and crafts , among other attributes. Regarding crafts, she was considered the protective goddess of actions such as agriculture, navigation, spinning and weaving.
She was also considered a goddess warrior , a characteristic evidenced by the way she was portrayed — always wearing armor and armed with a shield and a spear. Athena was also marked in mythology for having remained a virgin, without having relations with men or gods.
This attribute of Athena was reinforced in an epithet given to her:Partheno . This goddess also had other epithets that reinforced her characteristics, qualities and abilities. Athena Agorea referred to her position as protector of the assemblies, Athena Nice referred to the quality of a victorious goddess and Athena Promac if referred to her prowess in defensive wars.
As the goddess of crafts, Athena had was strongly associated with craft and a other actions performed manually , such as the act of sewing clothes. On one occasion, Athena's skill as a weaver was challenged by a mortal named Arachne, who invited her to a contest that would elect the best weaver. Athena, enraged by the challenge, decided to turn Arachne into a spider.
Greek mythology makes it clear that Athena did not like to be disrespected, as happened in this episode. Another situation narrated in Greek myths refers to Medusa, supposedly a beautiful woman who was allegedly raped by Poseidon inside the temple of Athena. The goddess would have decided topunish Medusa for having had intercourse with Poseidon, transforms it n do in g orgone , a monstrous being known for its ferocity.
The Greeks attributed to Athena a strong relationship with war, but this needs to be clarified, as they understood that the goddess corresponded to war defensive . Therefore, Athena had nothing to do with offensive warfare. She was also marked by possessing Medusa's head as an adornment for her shield.
In Greek mythology, Athena played an important role in different myths, as:
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helped Perseus in his quest to kill Medusa;
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helped Heracles during his 12 labors;
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she favored Achilles in his fight against Hector during the Trojan War, being on the side of the Greeks.
Athena was the patron goddess of one of the main cities of Ancient Greece, the city of Athens. Among the Romans, Athena was known as Minerva .
Login also :Dionysus — the Greek god of wine and parties
Origin of Athena
Greek mythology tells that Athena would be the daughter of Zeus and Metis , the first wife of this Greek god. One of the versions about the birth of Athena says that Metis would have become pregnant by Zeus, but he would have been warned by Gaia to be careful, because the son Metis was expecting could dethrone Zeus, just as he had done with his father, Cronos.
the middle with an axe.a the split head of Zeus would have been born after Hephaestus The goddess then felt. he headache that a Some myths say that Zeus asked for his head to be opened, such .of Zeus only In another version, Athena is named as a daughter light Athena, who was born from the head of Zeus. to even so she managed to give However, complete. why devourZeus decided to deceive Métis,
Read also m: Hera — the goddess known as the queen of the gods for being married to Zeus
Worship of Athena
Historians do not know exactly where the goddess Athena came from, but it is known that in the 8th century BC. the cult to her was already established and popular in Greece. Numerous possibilities are debated, and there are experts who theorize that the cult of her may have derived from a Minoan goddess, while others point to possible eastern origins for Athena.
As you can see, thename of Athena was given in reference to this goddess . Therefore, it is emphasized that Athena was a very important goddess for the Greeks, especially for Athens, a Greek city that had the goddess Athena as its patron. One of the main buildings in Athens, the Parthenon , was built in the 5th century BC. by Pericles as a tribute to the divinity.
The Parthenon stood out for having a large statue of Athena coming at 12 meters tall. In Athens there was also another temple in her honor, but dedicated to Athena Nice. It is important to mention that this goddess was also of great importance to other Greek cities, such as Sparta and Argos.
In addition, a number of festivals were held as a form of celebrate it . Among them may be mentioned Panathenaias and Plintheria. The importance of Athena was so great that in Athens even women could get involved in the worship of the goddess, and their freedom was very limited in that city, being limited to their homes.