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BIRTH OF ATHENA
Zeus came to lust after Metis, and chased her in his direct way. Metis tried to escape, going so far as to
change her form many times; she changed into various creatures such as hawks, fish, and serpents.
However, Zeus was both determined and equally proficient at changing form. He continued his pursuit
until she relented.
An oracle of Gaea then prophesied that Metis' first child would be a girl and that her second child
would be a boy that would overthrow Zeus, similarly to what had happened to his father and
grandfather. Zeus took this warning to heart. When he next saw Metis, he initially flattered her and put
her at her ease. Then, with Metis' guards down, Zeus opened his mouth and swallowed her and her
unborn child. This was the end of Metis, but also the beginning of Zeus' wisdom.
After a time, Zeus developed an unbearable headache, which made him scream out of pain so loudly it
could be heard throughout the earth. The other gods came to see what the problem was. Hermes
realized what needed to be done and directed Hephaestus to take a wedge and split open Zeus's skull.
Out of the skull sprang Athena, fully grown and in a full set of armour. Due to the way of her birth, she
became the goddess of intelligence and wisdom.
THE CONTEST FOR ATHENS
Athena and Poseidon vied for control of Athens and its surrounding territory, Attica. The contest took
place on the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the rock with his trident and produced a salt spring or a horse.
Athena brought forth an olive tree from the ground by the touch of her spear and she was proclaimed
the victor. The olive was fundamental to Athenian economy and life.
Angry at losing, Poseidon was appeased and continued to be worshiped in Athens, especially in
conjunction with the Athenian hero ERECHTHEUS [e-rek-thee'us] (see MLS, Chapter 23). In his
lovely temple the ERECHTHEUM [e-rek-thee'um], or ERECHTHEION, on the Acropolis, just across
from the Parthenon, the marks of the blow of his trident supposedly could be seen, and nearby it, the
olive tree that Athena had produced continued to grow.
APOLLO & PYTHON
Python was the earth-dragon of Delphi in Greek mythology, and presided at the oracle of the area. At
that time, the oracle honored the Titan goddess Gaia.
According to a source, when Zeus slept with the goddess Leto, impregnating her with the twin gods
Artemis and Apollo. However, Hera was so angry at her husband's infidelity that she told Python to
hunt Leto, so that she doesn't give birth anywhere that the sun shone. Leto was eventually accepted at
the newly formed island of Delos, where she bore her twins. When Apollo grew up, he wanted to take
revenge and thus pursued the dragon. Python, chased by Apollo, left Mount Parnassus where he lived
and went to the Oracle of Gaea at Delphi. There, Apollo killed the dragon; however, Zeus told him he
needed to redeem himself as he had committed such a sacrilegious act. So, Apollo became the founder
of the Pythian Games, in order to purify himself.
HEPHAESTUS & HERA
Hephaestus was the Greek god of blacksmiths, sculptors, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes; thus, he is
symbolized with a hammer, an anvil and a pair of tongs.
According to Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, he was the son of Zeus and Hera. However,
Hesiod informs us that Hera bore Hephaestus alone. According to an account, after Hephaestus was
born, Hera threw him from Olympus because he was crippled; he fell into the ocean and was raised
by Thetis and Eurynome. Another myth has it that he once tried to protect his mother from Zeus'
advances and as a result, the father of the Gods flung him down from Olympus, which caused his
physical disability; he fell on the island of Lemnos where he became a master craftsman. He was later
accepted back to Olympus, and became the craftsman of the gods, creating majestic armors, shields and
weapons.
He was married to Aphrodite; after he learned his wife had an affair with her brother, Ares, he devised
a plan with which he humiliated both lovers to the other gods.
MINERVA (ATHENA) & ARACHNE
Minerva, the Roman embodiment of Athena the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, was the inventor
and patron deity of weaving and embroidery, skills which women in classical antiquity learned and
practiced in the home. As a goddess, she expected the usual adoration and devotion from those who
worshiped her, especially those gifted in her own spinner’s art. Arachne, a poor country girl, was
known far and wide as a wondrous weaver. However, she was also boastful, claiming even that she was
superior to Minerva. Offended, the goddess dressed up as an old hag and went to Arachne to warn her
against her hubris (immoderate pride). Nothing fazed this girl who only slightly blushed when Minerva
revealed herself. Far from giving credit to the goddess as the source of her skill, and unmindful of the
danger posed by the presence of an angry deity so close by, the foolish girl challenged Minerva to a
yarn duel, a looming Olympics. In Ovid’s tale, when both are finished with their furious fabricating,
Arachne has indeed won the contest—non illud Pallas, non illud carpere Livor / possit opus (“Not
Pallas, not Envy could pluck out a flaw in that work”), says Ovid—having flawlessly detailed the gods
and their improprieties with mortal women, a thinly-veiled ironic affront. Minerva, on the other hand,
had spun pictures of puny mortals turned into various creatures after defying the gods’ warning, an
admonition literally woven into every corner.