Athena: Goddess of War

Athena, the goddess of war, wisdom, and agriculture, was an important part of the Greek culture. In fact, she was so important that the Greeks named a city, now called Athens, after her. She was an archetype of the common soldier.

Athena was born in an unusual way. Zeus feared that Metis, his first wife, might give birth to a son that was stronger than him, so he swallowed Metis. After Zeus had swallowed her, Metis had begun to make a helmet and robe for her daughter. However, the constant pounding of hammers gave Zeus terrible headaches- they were so bad he actually cried out in agony- until Hephaestus split his skull open. “Hephaestus cleaved Zeus’s forehead with an ax, and Athena sprang forth fully armed” (Athena). The fact that she was born fully armed shows that she was destined to be a war goddess.

Athena is famous for her ruthlessness towards enemies, her wisdom, and her love of agriculture. “In Homer’s The Iliad, she is portrayed as a ruthless leader” (Hamilton 29). This shows that Homer saw her as ruthless, and so did many others that read his book. She was known to be very wise as well. As a war goddess, she had to outsmart her enemies, so she was considered both clever and wise. It is an interesting story of how she became known for her love of agriculture. According to Ryan Tuccinardi’s internet biography of Athena, both her and her uncle, Poseidon, were very fond of a certain city in Greece (Athena).In order to n order to decide who would get the city, they decided to have something similar to a contest. The contest was whoever could give the better gift to the people in the city would get the city. Poseidon offered the people a spring of water, but the water was ocean water. Athena gave the people an olive tree, which provided food, wood, and oil for the people. Athena won the city, and the city was then called Athens. Athena has no mythical creatures associated with her, but her sign is an owl.

Athena would be described as a good goddess....