All the arts that have to do with craftsmanship or philosophical reflection They have as their patron owl-eyed goddess, Athena. The city of Athens is the one that is most identified with it.

Who is the goddess Athena?

Athena was the most beloved goddess, if not of all the Greeks, then of the Athenians. It is understandable, since it was not only the patron saint of Athensthe city to which it gave its name, but it was also the one that embodied everything in which its inhabitants recognized themselves: the wisdom, intelligence, justice and inventivenessthe latter expressed in both artisanal and intellectual works. Wasn’t Athena the one who had invented the loom and the plow, the first who had taught how to build chariots and chariots, or the one who had established the first courts of justice?

As if all that were not enough, Athena was the goddess of warbut of a war that had nothing to do with the one it embodied his violent brother Ares: Athena, who always appeared armed with helmet, breastplate, spear and shieldloved fighting based on personal courage, strategy and the nobility of the winner over the defeated.

Athena, the motherless goddess

Athena was the favorite daughter of her father Zeus.undoubtedly because of its many virtues, but surely also because it was the only one of his countless offspring that he himself gave birth to.

If this was the case, it was due to a prophecy that said that the oceanic Metis, with whom the god had relations, would have a daughter and, after her, a son who would snatch the heavenly throne from him.

Zeus took the oracle so seriously that he decided to swallow Metis before she gave birth to the daughter she was already expecting. The pregnancy, however, continued and, after a while, the lord of lightning and thunder began to feel a terrible headache that nothing could relieve.

He was so desperate because of the pain that he called the god of the forge, Hephaestusand ordered him to open his head with an axe. Hephaestus obeyed and, what would not be the surprise of all the Olympians present, when From the wound emerged a girl of extraordinary beauty. and fully armed. It was Athena.

Athena, patron saint of Athens

Since his unusual birth, Athena showed a special attraction for human beings. It was she, for example, who he gave them the olive treea tree that, in addition to wood, offered a fruit that could be consumed, but from which an oil could also be extracted that could also be used to accompany meals, fry, make medicinal ointments or, burning in a lamp, dispel darkness.

The myth that refers to this gift is one of the most famous starring the goddess: according to him, Athena and her uncle Poseidon competed to see which of the two would be the patron of a city. which was being built near the Aegean Sea. To settle the dispute, each of them offered a present to the inhabitants. Poseidon, with a blow of his trident, made a fountain gush out. The crowd burst into a shout of joy, because water is not what is abundant in that area of ​​Greece. But… the water was salty.

Thus came Athena’s turn, who, after planting a seed, made the first olive tree grow. The inhabitants and the gods themselves decided that this olive tree was a better gift than a source of salt water, so The city was placed under his protection and, in his honor, it was renamed Athens..

Athena, a goddess who loves fighting

Other myths refer to the participation of Athena in the fight that the Olympian gods had with the giants. The island of Sicily was thrown upon one of them, Enceladus; Another, Pallas, he skinned and made a breastplate out of the skin.

The goddess also intervened in human conflicts, including the devastating trojan warin which fought on the side of the Greeks. It was she who suggested to Ulysses the construction of the horse of wood that, after ten years of fighting, was going to decide the fight. Later, when Ulysses found it difficult to return to his homeland Ithaca, Athena was always at his side, advising him and saving him from more than one predicament.

Athena and the contempt of love

What the myths about Athena do not talk about is love affairs. Like his stepsister Artemiswas a rare bird in its family, because he vowed to remain a virgin in order to dedicate himself entirely to ensuring that intelligence and inventiveness flourished, both in times of peace and war.

Given her beauty, not everyone understood her decision. HephaestusFor example, the same one who contributed with his ax to bring it into the world, he was so attracted to herwho once tried to rape her. Athena rejected him, but her stepbrother ejaculated and some of his semen splashed on the goddess’s leg. She, disgusted, cleaned herself and threw the cloth to the ground, which was suddenly fertilized and gave birth to a child, Ericthonius. Athena adopted him.

The wisdom of the goddess did not prevent her from sometimes being vain and thoughtless. Athena, for example, She did not forgive the Trojan prince Paris for choosing the latter as the most beautiful among her, Hera and Aphrodite..

She deprived young Tiresias, who had caught her naked while she was bathing, of his sight, although later, repenting for the impulsiveness of her action, she granted him the gift of prophecy.

What attributes and objects accompany Athena?

Athena is always represented with helmet, spear, shield and aegisa breastplate made from the skin of the giant Palante, although, according to another version of the myth, the skin was that of the Chimera, a monster that breathed fire.

On the shield he placed the head of Medusa that the hero Perseus had given him. That Medusa had been a priestess of his whom Poseidon had raped. Far from feeling sorry for her, Athena turned her beautiful hair into snakes and cursed her, condemning her to turn anyone who looked at her into stone.

In addition to their weapons, Other attributes of Athena are the olive tree and the owl.

The cult of Athena

Athena has been worshiped since ancient times.as suggested by inscriptions from the Mycenaean period (16th-12th centuries BC) in which she is called “sovereign”.

That cult was widespread throughout Greece. In cities like Megara, Sparta or Argos there were temples dedicated to her, but It was in Athens where this cult achieved greater relevance.

Its center was the temples of the Acropolis, the Athenian fortified hill. The most impressive is the Parthenonbuilt by Phidias in the 5th century BC, whose pediments and reliefs narrated the most important myths of the goddess, such as his birth or his confrontation with Poseidon for Athens. That temple also housed a wooden statue covered in ivory and gold.

Another statue, Athena Promachosstood in the center of the Acropolis and was so tall that the tip of its spear and the plume of its helmet were visible to sailors approaching Athens.

On the Acropolis there were two other temples dedicated to the goddess: that of Athena Nikebuilt as an offering for the victory of the Athenians over the Persians in 480 BC, and the Erechtheionwhere the olive tree that the goddess had given to the city was located.

Likewise, Athens celebrated several festivals in honor of the goddesslike the Panathenaeaon an annual basis, and Great Panathenaeaorganized every four years. The latter included ceremonies, sacrifices, musical, poetic and sporting contests, as well as a large procession that reached the Acropolis to present the goddess with a peplum (a type of tunic) embroidered by maidens from noble families.