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Athena
Goddess of Intelligence, Warfare, and Women’s Crafts
I begin to sing about Pallas Athena,
city-guardian, who with Ares is
concerned about the deeds of war –
the din of fighting and battles and
the sacking of cities; she also
protects the people as they leave
and return.
Homeric Hymn to Athena
Athena’s mother is Metis, a Titan,
whose name means “Cleverness” or
“Wisdom.”Metis is a special kind of
intelligence, sometimes defined as
“cunning intelligence.”
It was prophesied that Metis would give
birth to a son mightier than his father.
But Zeus had already gotten her
pregnant by then. So, he swallowed
her.
In contrast to Cronus or Uranus, Zeus’s attempt to hold
back progress worked out.
He incorporated Cunning Intelligence into his own
personality, and Athena was born from his head.
Athena’s
birth from
Zeus’s head
represents
her
association
with wisdom
and
intellect.
Her armor shows her association with warfare as essential
to her character.
Athena’s birth from the threatening Metis symbolized the
end of challenges to Zeus’s rule. The favorite daughter is
the perfect support for a powerful father.
Zeus with his
thunderbolt is the
epitome of
strength and
authority
The iconography
of Athena and
her spear (now
missing) shows
echoes of Zeus’s
position and
power.
bronze dedication from Dodona
bronze dedication from Athens
As holder of the aegis,
Athena shared Zeus’s
power and was a
fearsome enforcer of
divine right. (Here she
uses it to threaten a
giant in an
gigantomachy.)
“I am wholly for the
male . . . and entirely
on the father’s side.”
Athena, in Aeschylus’ Oresteia
Athena, Zeus’s favorite
“Athena’s special
powers of military
prowess and wisdom
derived from her
special relationship
to Zeus, and
symbolize the
magnitude and
beneficence of
female potency
when submitted to
benign male
control.” (Marilyn
A. Katz)
Warrior goddess
This temple pediment from the island of Aegina shows
Athena overseeing a battle.
Patron deity of Athens
As Athena Parthenos (the
virgin Athena), the
goddess was worshipped at
the city’s greatest temple,
the Parthenon, and at the
Panathenaic festival every
four years.
As Athena Polias (the City
goddess) she represented
the cool-headed counsel
and warfare that defended
the city.
“The Mourning Athena”
Athena stands before a stele
commemorating the war dead of
Athens.
She represents the thoughtful side
of warfare: reasoned decisions
made in the interest of justice,
willingness to risk one’s life or die
for one’s country.
Ares combines warfare and
brutality, Athena combines
warfare and consciousness of its
necessities and consequences.
The Acropolis of
Athens
•Parthenon (with
decorative friezes)
•Altar for sacrifice
•Erechtheum (with
the primal olive tree)
•Statue of Athena
Promachos
•Temple of Athena
Nike
The Cult Statue at Athens
For the acropolis at Athens, the
sculptor Pheidias built a
chryselephantine statue which almost
rivaled the one of Zeus at Olympia.
It was famous throughout the ancient
world and was often copied by
sculptors for private buyers (as here).
Attributes:
•armor
•Nike
•aegis
•chthonic serpent
•representations
of battles; real and
symbolic victories
Parthenon Frieze
The Parthenon Frieze shows the robe woven by Athenian
women dedicated to the goddess at the Panathenaia
Parthenon Frieze
Women carry stools in the procession
Parthenon Frieze
Marshals direct young girls in the ceremonial procession
(emphasizing male supervision of female symbolic roles)
Parthenon Frieze
Girls carry vessels to aid in the ritual libations
Panathenaic Games
The Panathenaia was also
celebrated, every four years,
with athletic games. The
winners received vases full of
olive oil as one of their prizes.
This vase shows a wrestling
scene, and Victory (Nike)
crowning one of the athletes.
Athena’s Owl
Athena was assocaited with
owls.
As in our culture, owls were
regarded as wise, as well as
otherworldly and a little
frightening.
Athena’s owl connection may
hearken back to the days of a
more “unified” goddess with
power over life and death, or
to Minoan goddesses.
Coins
Athenian drachmae
As a city patron, Athena
was commemorated on
many coins.
Coin of Julius Caesar, showing the
palladium
Coin of Athens’ enemy, Syracuse
Women’s Crafts
Strangely for such a malecentered deity, Athena was
goddess of women’s crafts. Or
was it strange?
Women’s intelligence was
symbolized by the craft and
intricacy of weaving:
•Penelope deceiving the suitors
•Philomela “tells” Procne her
plight
Women spoke through their
crafts . . .
Feminine
representations
This Roman Minerva
from the 1st c. CE shows a
softer side of the goddess,
appropriate for women’s
crafts.
Even the aegis looks like a
pretty mellow garment!
Arachne
Ovid tells the story of
Athena and Arachne.
It is the old folklore motif of
humans challenging the
gods. The Greek word is
hubris.
Athena punishes Arachne by
turning her into a spider.
The myth has moral and
etiological lessons, and a
focus on the problem of
feminine pride.
Companion of Heroes
Athenian vase, 5c BCE
Etruscan mirror, 4 c BCE
She is friend and helper to
Heracles
She offers a
sacrificing hero wine
for his libation
She helps Perseus kill
Medusa
She helps Jason
build the Argo
I sing of Pallas
Athena . . . Hail,
goddess, and grant
to us happiness
and good fortune!
Homeric Hymn to
Athena
finis