Athena
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, strategy, and war. She is one of the Twelve Olympians. Athena has a pet owl, and wears a breastplate, called Aegis, which was a present given to her by Zeus. She is often shown with her helmet on and with her shield, which has Medusa's head on it. This was a present to her from Perseus.
Athena is the protector of Athens, Greece. The Parthenon, which is on the Acropolis in Athens, is her most famous temple. She is also the helper of many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus, and is always with Nike, who is the goddess of victory.
[edit] Birth
There are many stories about Athena's birth. In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus had sex with Metis, but was then scared of her having a child because a prophecy had said that a son born to Metis would overthrow Zeus as he had done to his father. To try and stop Metis having a child, Zeus changed her into a fly and then swallowed her. However Zeus was too late and Metis was already pregnant.
When she was inside Zeus, Metis made a helmet and a robe for her baby. The hammering noise caused Zeus to have a headache. To try and help Zeus with the pain, Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palaemon cut his head open with a Minoan axe. Athena then came out of Zeus's head; she was fully grown and had her armor on.
[edit] Trivia
There are many stories of Athena's birth. The most common is of Zeus having an affair with the sea nymph Metis. Metis became pregnant. When Zeus learned of this, he feared that the chiled born would be more powerful than he and overthrow him like he had done to his father, Cronus. In his fit of fear, she swallowed metis whole. Zeus grew to have a monstrous headache. In his pain, he became desperate and called upon Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods and the god of fire, to split open his head with an axe. Out of Zeus' head sprang the fully grown athena, fully coated in armer and prepared for battle.
[edit] See also
- Menrva - Etruscan mythology version of Athena.
- Minerva - Roman mythology version of Athena.
Twelve Olympians |
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Zeus | Hera | Poseidon | Hades | Hestia | Demeter | Aphrodite Athena | Apollo | Artemis | Ares | Hephaestus | Hermes | Dionysus |