Athena: Theoi Greek Mythology Essay

Hunger, whether literal or not, when manifested towards power, has always caused chaos amongst ourselves...even powerful beings like gods and goddesses. It was said that the child of Zeus would be the lord of the heavens; receiving that information, and fearing the consequential power of this offspring, Zeus swallowed his wife, Metis. However, that only delayed the inevitability of Athena’s arrival, not preventing it. After being subjected to mind numbing headaches, Zeus, with the help of Hephaestus, hammered his own head open, resulting in a fully-fledged armor-bearing Athena’s entrance into the world. Athena is one of the most powerful, independent goddess, and often thought to be of even greater importance than Zeus due to her meticulous comprehension of each and every event and later usages of it, her habit of putting other more pressing issues, in front her own, and her values of justice more than mercy.
Athena is very wise, which makes sense, seeing as she is respected as the goddess of wisdom. Her knowledge and braveness in battle played parts of making her Zeus’s favorite daughter. She was the only one out of all the gods and goddesses, bar Zeus, who was allowed to use her father’s lightning bolts. Athena is one of the major goddesses, even the city of Athens, is named after her. The story behind is that she had challenged her uncle, Poseidon, over become the namesake of the capital of Greece, and they presented gifts to the people in order to prove their worth. Poseidon gave the people a salt water fountain, and Athena presented them with the olive tree. The people of the nation preferred her present, resulting in her victory and the olive tree becoming the country’s sacred tree. Athena is one of many things, so she not only just wise but also very strong, reasons that made her very respected among her believers. Sarker2

Athena has endured a large amount of trouble but she has used it as further decisions. She helped Hercules during his 12 labors, by teaching him how to defeat the Stymphalian birds, owing him nothing. Though often times, she was the root of the trouble, as it was during the spark that lit the bonfire that would become the Trojan war. The goddess of chaos, Eris, planted a golden apple, upon it etched, ‘for the fairest.’ Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera squabbled over who the most beautiful was, and not being able to decide who the fairest was, assigned the task to Paris. Paris was promised gifts from each, but in the end, chose to pick Aphrodite. Aphrodite showed him the woman of his dreams, Helen of Troy, a beautiful young married woman from a different country. Athena and Hera’s anger, as well as the fact that Helen was married, sparked the Trojan war, one of the bloodiest of its time. Athena, being one of the few maiden goddesses, has no husband, therefore she has no stronger support from anyone else. But maybe, the most notable attribute about this goddess is how she treats justice!
Athena likes equality. In fact, to say she likes it is an understatement. She is almost infatuated with it- believing that every action that one takes, whether

Show More

Related Documents: Athena: Theoi Greek Mythology Essay

The Animal Within Essay