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Neal Stephenson


Athena ("protectress" - also transliterated Athene), associated by the Romans with their goddess Minerva (Etruscan equivalent: Menrva), was born of one of the many liaisons of Zeus with the goddesses of Mount Olympus. She was associated with owls, the aegis and the goddess Nike, her constant companion.


Together with Phevos, Athena is a mascot of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.


After pitying Orestes and giving him a trial on the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra (which he won), Athena won the epithet "Athena Areia" in her role as judge.

Athena was often associated with the local Aeginian goddess, Aphaea. She had the epithet "Athena Ergane" as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. She was often referred to with the epithet "Athena Pallas". Pallas was also a different god, sometimes thought of as Athena's father. Pallas tried to rape her in one story. She killed him and turned his skin into the aegis. With the epithet "Athena Parthenos" ("virgin"), Athena was worshipped at the Parthenon. With the epithet "Athena Polias" ("of the city"), Athena was the protectress of Athens and the Acropolis.

Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of thought, but immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus transformed Metis into a fly and swallowed her immediately after lying with her. He was already too late: Metis immediately conceived a child. Metis immediately began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palamoan (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus's head with an axe at the river Triton. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown, armed, and armored, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience.

Athena was patron of the crafts, wisdom and battle. Unlike Ares, who was hot-headed in battle (as well as cowardly), Athena's domain was strategy and tactics. She took the side of the Greeks in the war against Troy. Following the Trojan War, Athena assisted Odysseus on his journey home (Odysseus had angered Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus, the Cyclops).

According to Apollodorus, Hephaestus attempted to rape Athena but was unsuccesful. His semen fell on the ground, impregnating athene. Athene didn't want the infant Erichthonius, so she gave the baby to Gia. Alternatively, Hephaestus wanted Athena to marry him but she disappeared on his bridal bed; he ejaculated onto the ground instead. Athena gave three sisters, Herse, Pandrosus and Aglaulus the baby in a small box and warned them to never open it. Aglaulus and Herse opened the box which contained the infant and future-king, Erichthonius. The sight caused Herse and Aglaulus to go insane and they threw themselves off the Acropolis.

An alternative version of the same story is that, while Athena was gone bring a mountain from Pallena to use in the Acropolis, the sisters, minus Pandrosus again, opened the box. A crow witnessed the opening and flew away to tell Athena, who fell into a rage and dropped the mountain (now Mt. Lykabettos). Once again, Herse and Aglaulus went insane and threw themselves to their deaths off a cliff.



A woman named Arachne once boasted that she was a superior weaver to Athena, the goddess of weaving. Athena appeared to her disguised as an old woman and told Arachne to repent for her hubris but Arachne instead challenged Athena to a contest. The old woman threw off her disguise and the contest began. Athena wove a depiction of the conflict with Poseidon over Athens, while Arachne wove a depiction of Zeus' many exploits. Athena was furious at her skill (the contest was never decided), and her choice of subject, and, with a touch, struck Arachne with terrific guilt. Arachne hanged herself and Athena turned her into the first spider.



Tiresias and Chariclo

Athena (Minerva) is the subject of the $50 1915-S Panama Pacific commemorative coin. At 2 1/2-oz. gold, this is the largest (by weight) coin ever produced by the U.S. mint. This was the first $50 coin issued by the U.S. mint and no higher was produced until the production of the $100 platinum coins in 1997. Of course, in terms of face-value in adjusted dollars, the 1915 is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. mint.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Athena".

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